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In this article, I am going to show you how to win at slots.

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First, we start with some practical tips on how to choose a winning slot machine. Then, once you have all the Slots tips you need, you can move on the real key to win at Slots:

Find loose slot machines to play online.

This article is going to change the way you play slots. And the chances are that is what you need — because winning at slots requires time, dedication, and the right mindset.

So, are you ready to learn how to win at slots?

Let's get to it.

If you play slots for fun, there are no rules to follow. You only need a Slot app like Slotomania and enjoy their instant play games.

If you want to win at online slots in freeplay or demo mode, download Slotomania, choose a slot machine game from their collection and play, play, play. You'll get enough progressive machine games and loose slots to enjoy your gambling experience for free.

Things change when your goal is to win real money at slots when you play online.

That's when this article becomes useful. Because here is where you learn how to pick a winning slot machine and increase your chances of winning money online!

Get a new no deposit bonus and play Slots online.

Register a free account and spin the reels to win!

1. Choose Winning Slots with the Highest Payouts

When you go online to play and win money at Slots, you need to know how to pick the right Slot machine games.

Most beginners start to play casino games thinking that all slots are more or less the same thing, only with different graphics.

That's a mistake.

If you want to know how to win at slots, you need a machine that pays out more than the other ones. And to know which one is an excellent Slot to play, you need to care about the Return to player (RTP) percentage.

The Return to Player (or RTP) is a percentage of all the wagered money that a slot pays back to its players.

It is not the amount of money you'll get back when you wager on real money Slots, and it doesn't indicate whether you have fewer chances to hit a bonus round or not — but it gives you a great indication on whether a machine pays enough for you to play on it or not.

How to Find the RTP of a Slot Machine

The quickest option is to search for it online.

Use Google, Bing, Yandex, or whichever search engine you prefer.

Many Casino news websites that publish content around casino games have entire sections dedicated to the RTP percentage of the Casino Slot games they review.

You find them on PokerNews, as well. Every review includes a section dedicated to the payout of each type of Slot with easy-to-understand info about the games with frequent payouts.

If this is your first time on our site, check some related articles like these list of games. By choosing slots with a high RTP, you'll improve your chances instantly.

Also, you check the slot itself. The RTP number is always mentioned somewhere. Usually, you find it in the settings of the slot game or the 'help' section.

So, how to pick a winning slot machine and how to use the RTP to know how much slot machines pay?

The RTP is calculated on a scale from 1 to 100. Most slots have an RTP between 92-97 per cent.

Slot Machines Tips

Always choose an online slot machine game with an RTP of 96 per cent or above. This is the best slots strategy to follow every time you play — since a high payback percentage indicates that you have a better chance to win. good option.

High RTP Slot to Play: Devil's Delight

Devil's Delight is a slot by NetEnt that's set in the underworld.

It features everything you'd associate with hell:

• Devils
• Soul reapers
• Graves
• The number 666
• Pitchforks
• Skeletons
• Flames

Is anything missing from the list?

The slot also features a separate Soul Reaper Bonus Game. There, you need to guess the sins of the characters on the screen. Every time you guess the right one — you receive points that help you win more cash.

This loose video slot has five reels and 20 paylines. And despite the sinful name, Devil's Delight is generous – RTP in this game reaches 97,6 per cent!

2. Determine the Volatility of Slots

Another critical factor to consider to pick a winning slot machine is the game's volatility.

Many games and gambling news sites refer to the games' volatility as their 'variance.' If you like, you can consider this as the risk level.

The volatility of a slot machine game measures the risk involved in playing a particular slot for the real money. One of my favourite tips for playing Slots is to consider it the 'risk factor' of the game you are about to play. That's because volatility determines how you win at slots.

• Low Volatility Slots: Your odds of winning at these slots are high, and it's easier to strike winning combinations when you spin the reels. However, you should know that low volatility Slots offer smaller wins — so your winning combinations might not be worth as much as you would like them to.
• High Volatility Slots: The odds of winning at these games are smaller, but the wins pay more. With the right bankroll, tips for playing Slots, and strategy, these games can be a lot more rewarding.

Both options are quite popular online since people play both types. Every useful casino guide gives you plenty of choices to find the right online slots game for you — with welcome bonus codes to try them for free before you invest your money in them.

Pick the Slot machine time that feels right for you. But keep this in mind:

To play high volatility slots, you need to be patient, have enough money to invest in a lengthy online gaming session, and have read enough casino blog posts to know all the secrets of slots optimal play.

Otherwise, low volatility slots may be a better option for you.

High volatility slots are a bit riskier, too. You never know how much time and money you need to invest in hitting a lucky spin and celebrating yet another day of winning money on slots.

How to Find the Volatility of a Slot Machine Game

Casino sites don't make the variance of the games as accessible as the RTP numbers — and that's in part because they don't want to help you improve your odds.

An easy way to choose games with the right variance is to use 'Google operators and let the world's largest search engine do the work for you.

Let's see an example:

You have seen some progressive slots with random jackpots, and the Mega Moolah game caught your eye. The most effective way to find the variance of this game is to:

1. Open www.google.com
2. Type 'Mega Moolah' variance in the search bar
3. Analyse the search results

Alternatively, you can explore the games and try to figure out their variance yourself. If you play the slot long enough, you should be able to see how often the game pays out and what kind of winnings you get.

If successes are rare but significant, you are onto a high volatility game. If you win often, but the wins are nerve-wracking and small, you just found a low-volatility game.

An excellent welcome bonus, a deposit bonus, and free spins are an excellent way to do this and discover the games' volatility by playing. These options help you learn more about the games and give you useful info that might help you understand how to win at slots in the long run.

High Volatility Slot to Play: King of Atlantis

King of Atlantis is a high volatility slot by IGT. The game plays on five reels and 40 paylines.

The symbols featured in this game include seashells, gold rings, gem-encrusted crowns, mermaids, dolphins, and the almighty god of the sea – Poseidon.

This high volatility slot machine doesn't have many bonus games or features (even if you bet the maximum). The only 'special feature' you get, is a round of eight free spins that activates when a trident symbol lands next to Poseidon.

Low Volatility Slot to Try: Hotline

Hotline is one of NetEnt's most popular Slots these days.

Beating the Slot requires you to travel back in time to the '80s, wear some clothes you'd not be proud of today, and use your ability to solve a police case. Somehow based on the cult TV series Miami Vice, beating the slot needs you to help two detectives to catch a jewellery thief.

The slot runs on a classic random number generator and features all the classic features NetEnt players love so much. Wilds, expanding wilds, re-spins, free spins - you name it. Also, there is a unique bonus bet where you can choose one, two, or all three reels. It increases your chances of getting Expanding Wilds.

As pay table of this slot suggests, Hotline is a low volatility game where wins are more frequent (but small in size). If this is what you are looking for, pick this slot machine, enjoy the game, and relax.

3. Don't Go with the Obvious Option

No matter how impressive an online casino is, you need to do some research before you start to spin reels on slots.

All casino sites (like all poker sites, let's face it) want your credit card and your money. They offer free spins or deposit bonus codes to get you on their platform and then have you play as much as possible. In other words, they want your money.

If you can afford to play real money on Slots, that's great, As long as the site you agree to play on and where you look for the next loose machine to try is a legitimate and regulated online casino.

Regulators like the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC), the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) work hard to eliminate dangerous companies from the online gambling industry. Their licensing systems are your best allies to be sure to play slot machine games on legitimate sites, use audited random number generators, and pay out winnings to the players.

An important factor to consider when you want to know how to pick a winning slot machine is to see if the site you wish to register on holds a license by the UKGC and/or the MGA. Regardless of the casino bonus they offer you or the insane fixed maximum amount of free spins they promise.

You should never play online poker or pick slot machines on unlicensed casino sites.

You find a full list of all the online casinos allowed in your country on this page.

A Loose Slot to Play: Himalayas: Roof of the World

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How did I find this slot? I scrolled down to the bottom of the slots page at one of my favourite online casinos. And then, I just decided to pick a Slot machine I had never seen before.

Not all games make it to online casinos' front pages — especially those that have a combination of volatility and RTP that plays in favour of the players and that come from underdog developers. And Himalayas: Roof of the World comes from Barcrest, a provider that isn't often in the spotlight.

Also, Himalayas: Roof of the World offers good odds of winning on slots!. The game features an RTP of 97,75 per cent, which is above average. Combine that to medium volatility — and you know how to pick a winning slot machine.

4. Make Higher Bets

Every collection of slot machines tips or casino strategies tells you that you can't win a progressive jackpot with a minimum bet. And that's correct.

Top wins are always connected to the fixed maximum bets. You can forget your dream to become a multi-millionaire with just 0.01. In slots, like in video poker, the higher the bet — the more you can win. And, at the same time, the smaller the bet...the smaller the wins.

So, yes: your bet determines how to win at slots.

Slot machine payouts are proportional to what you wager in the game. If your slot machine strategy is to play small bets, don't change it. Just don't expect to score unreasonably huge wins.

As you understand now, betting more money helps to win more on line slots...but it also put your slot machine strategy in danger and makes you risk to lose all your bankroll much faster.

That's why higher denomination slots are also riskier than lower denomination slots. People play them in the same way and following the same slot tips...but the big wins happen only on the high denomination slots, which are also the game where you can risk to lose a lot of money.

Keep in mind this, especially if you love playing slots with progressive jackpots. Jackpot slots can be costly . Many games give you access to the top wins only when you bet the maximum — and that is why a correct slot strategy and bankroll strategy are essential to winning at Slots.

Risk is always an essential factor in gambling. And you decide how risky you want to play yourself. Never play more money than you can afford to lose and never underestimate the risks of gambling addiction — even then you play fun slot machine games.

One Expensive Slot to Play with Maximum Bets: Space Wars

Space Wars is another online slot by NetEnt. This online game is based on a popular slot you can play in all the casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

When you play Space Wars for real money, you can choose to bet anywhere from 0.4 (minimum bet) to 20 (maximum bet) per spin. The currency depends on your location.

This game does not feature a progressive jackpot, so you don't really need to bet max every time you spin. Start with smaller bets and go up. You'll see the difference in payouts.

Space Wars is a fast-paced video slot with five reels, four rows, and 40 paylines. The RTP is 96,8 per cent.

5. Trust Other Players

This is one of those Slot tips that you should not apply to many other casino games. While it may be valid for video poker, it's one you should not follow if you play online poker.

But when it comes to playing Slots...yes, you can trust your fellow Slot players and look how people play.

If a slot doesn't pay, the other players will call it out. Fast.

That's why you should use the information available on every casino blog and casino sites to your advantage. Browse through forums, spend some time on Reddit, and read what Las Vegas and Atlantic City players say about each game.

You can also join Facebook groups and ask for help there. In other words, take advantage of your internet connection before the casino takes advantage of you.

A Classic Slot People Play and Love: Gonzo's Quest

Released in 2010, Gonzo's Quest still didn't let go of its place as one of the top slot machines online. That's quite an achievement, I'd say.

This popular Slot game features five reels, 20 paylines, and an adventurer (Gonzalo 'Gonzo' Pizzarro) looking for the lost city of gold.

Players love this little guy and follow his adventures. Gonzo's Quest is one of the top-rated slot machines of all time by players, casinos, and casino critics alike.

6. Avoid Branded Slots

Branded slots are fantastic to play. We can play with all our favourite heroes and spin the reels feeling part of the movies, TV series, and shows we love.

While these games are a lot of fun, branded slots are also the 'bait' a lot of online casinos use to attract us, the players.

Remember the point about 'not going for the obvious choice'? If you are a huge Game of Thrones fan, how likely is it that you would go straight for the Game of Thrones games when you see them on the list?

Very likely.

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You don't need to be a psychologist, a consumed marketer, or casino operator to realise that. Fortunately, you don't need to be a hardcore gambler to know how to pick a winning slot machine either. That's what this article is for!

Developers with slots that feature popular brands paid a pretty penny to use the name. So, they won't let you go low with the bets. And those games will not be the easiest ones to beat either.

While the casino and the developer have invested a lot on the names you see on the screen, you are the one who can make it worth the investment. Or not.

Slot to Play Instead of the Branded Ones: Pamplona

What's so attractive about branded slots? Well-known name and faces. The stories behind the games and the characters we all know and love.

Can you have all that in a non-branded slot?

Take the Pamplona slot machine, for example.

This IGT slot is all about Spain, bulls, and matadors. A unique tradition turned into an exciting slot game.

In a way, it is a 'brand' because Pamplona's running of the bulls' festival is known worldwide. And it's more known than some actual brands, to be honest.

But to use this theme, developers didn't have to pay as they do for the brands. Thus, the payouts are way better.

The slot has five reels and 1024 paylines. Matador symbol acts as a Wild and Bull is a Scatter. Three scatters can trigger the El Toro Bonus where you can choose your option of Free Spins.

7. Take Advantage of Free Spins

How to win at slots with free spins when there are hundreds of hidden terms and conditions for withdrawals?

The wagering requirements can take the fun out of playing slots with free spins. No arguing there. But there are still free spins bonuses that can be worth your while.

The wager-free bonus offers.

On a limited number of online casinos you get wager free spins with no deposit on registration (yes, no deposit is required to play). And with no strings attached to them.

There is no cap on winnings, you can cash out anything you want, anytime you want, and there are no wagering requirements. How good is that?

Slot to Play with Free Spins: Pyramid Quest For Immortality

From Pamplona to Egypt. You can travel the world with slots...and the right free spins welcome bonus!

The Pyramid: Quest for Immortality slot features five reels, 720 paylines, and an RTP of 96.4%. This game takes you to ancient Egypt and brings you to explore the hidden and mystical world of Pharaohs, Gods...and pyramids, of course.

So, how to beat slot machines?

First and foremost, the best way to beat the Slots is not to continue asking the wrong questions and stop looking for simple hacks or Slots tips tho beat the casino.

If you want better odds to win on Slots, you need to:

1. Choose the slots that have high payouts
2. Choose the slots with the correct volatility level
3. Choose the slot with the highest Return to Player
4. Read reviews of the Slots on casino sites, forum, and Reddit
5. Sign up to get a bonus with low wagering requirements
6. Play on a licensed online casino site

While this might not be enough for you to beat slot machines and pick the winning Slot machine every time you play, it will help you win more often and - more importantly - enjoy playing Slots a lot more!

FAQ

How do you pick a winning slot machine?

To pick a winning slot machine and get better odds to win when you spin the reels, you need to choose games that offer the right combination of betting limits, volatility, Return-to-Player, and wagering requirements (in case you play with a bonus).

What casino game has the best chance of winning?

In general, Blackjack is the casino game with the best odds. In terms of slots, the best choice is to pick a game that offers a return-to-player over 97% like the Slot Devil's Delight (RTP: 97.7%).

Are slot machines rigged?

The slot machines you find on regulated casino sites are not rigged as their Random Number Generator (RNG) is subject to frequent audits by state-owned gambling authorities. The same controls do not apply to unlicensed casinos — and that's why you should never play your games there.

_{This article was first published on July 14, 2018. Last update: January 10, 2020}

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by John Robison
Do the slot machines on the ends of aisles pay better than the machines in the middle? How about the machines near the table games? They’re tight, right? And are the machines near the coin redemption booths loose? Join us on our journey for finding loose slot machines.
The loose slot machine is the slot player’s Holy Grail. Much as King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table searched Britain for the Holy Grail of myth, slot players search casinos for loose machines. Slot players have formulated many theories about where casinos place their loose machines to aid them in their quest.

Before we can figure out where the loose machines are, we have to figure out what they are. There is no U.S.D.A. system for grading the looseness of machines and no national or international standard that determines whether a machine is tight or loose.

So, what is a loose slot machine?

Say we have two 94% payback machines. Are they loose? I bet some people say yes and some say no. Why isn’t there agreement? Let me add a little more information to the scenario to see if it gives you an idea of why one person calls a 94% payback machine loose and another calls it tight. What if I told you that one machine was a nickel machine and the other a dollar machine? For most people who play nickel machines, a 94% machine is among the best-paying machines in their area. For most people who play dollar machines, on the other hand, a 94% machine is among the worst-paying machines in their area. The person who called 94% loose probably plays lower-denomination machines, while the person who called 94% tight probably plays higher-denomination machines.
Let me add one more piece of information. The dollar machine is a video poker machine. Dollar video poker players would rather have root canals on all their teeth with no anesthesia while their fingernails and toenails are ripped off than play a 94% payback machine. They have many adjectives for a 94% payback machine, but loose is not one of them.
You see, loose isn’t an absolute. Looseness depends on your frame of reference. Looseness is actually a comparison. We shouldn’t say “loose.” We should really say “looser”. We should really be asking where the looser machines are. But let’s bow to common usage and continue using the term loose machine.

So, what is a loose machine?

Quite simply, a loose machine is a machine that has a higher long-term payback percentage than another machine. The loose machines in a casino are those machines that have the highest paybacks. These are the machines that will take the smallest bites out of your bankroll in the long run. No wonder slot players are constantly searching for them.
Over the years, players have developed a number of theories about finding loose slot machines. Casinos place loose machines near the entrances, for example, so passersby can see players winning and are enticed to enter the casino and try their luck. The loose machines are also at the ends of the aisles to draw players into the aisle, where the tight machines are.
And, of course, a loose machine is always surrounded by tight machines. You never have two loose machines side by side. That’s done for players who like to play more than one machine at a time. If they should happen to stumble upon one of the loose machines, they’ll be pumping their winnings from it into the tight machines around it.
More theories. The machines near the table games are tight because table games players don’t want to hear a lot of bells and buzzers going off and happy slot players whooping it up after a big win. Another reason the machines near the table games are tight is because table games players will occasionally drop a few coins into a slot machine and they don’t expect to win anything, so why give them a high payback.
Similarly, the machines near the buffet and show lines are tight. People waiting in line are just killing time and getting rid of their spare change. They’re not going to play for a long time or develop a relationship with those machines, so the machines can be like piggy banks – for the casino! Money goes in and rarely comes back out.
The machines near the coin redemption booths, on the other hand, are loose. Players waiting in line for coin redemption are slot players and the casino wants them to see other players winning. Seeing all those players winning will make them anxious to get back on the slot floor to try their luck again.
Finally, finding loose machines in highly visible locations is most likely. Again, casinos want players to see players winning and be enticed into trying to get a piece of the casino’s bankroll themselves.
These are the theories I can think of off the top of my head. Maybe you know of some others. Most of the theories have a basis in psychology. When we see others winning, we’ll want to play too because 1) we’re greedy, 2) we’re envious, or 3) we see that at least some machines really do pay off and if we keep trying we might find one too.
Based on my own discussions with slot directors, interviews with slot directors, and seminars I’ve attended, I don’t think these theories are relevant in today’s slot world. To see why, we have to look at how slot machines and slot floors have changed.
Picture a slot floor of 10-20 years ago. Even if you don’t go back that far, I’m sure you’ve seen pictures on TV or in books. The slot machines on a casino floor in that era are arranged in long rows, much like products out for sale in a supermarket aisle. There’s no imagination used in placing the machines on the floor. The machines are placed using cold, mechanical precision.
On page 193 in Slot Machines: A Pictorial History of the First 100 Years by Marshall Fey, there’s a great picture of Bally’s casino floor in Atlantic City that illustrates my point. The picture shows hundreds of slot machines all lined up in perfect rows like little soldiers. The caption reads, “Like a Nebraska cornfield, rows upon rows of Bally slots extend as far as the eye can see.”

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Compare that image with the slot floor layout at a casino that was designed in the last five or so years. Studies have shown that players feel very uncomfortable playing in long aisles. They feel trapped when they’re playing in the middle of a long aisle, particularly if the casino is crowded. As a result, modern casinos have shorter aisles and when a long aisle can’t be avoided, it will be wider than others so players won’t feel like they can’t get out.
One of the finding loose machines theories has casinos placing loose machines at the ends of aisles to draw people into the aisles. Having shorter aisles means having more machines at the ends of those aisles. Can all of these machines be loose?
In addition to being uncomfortable in long aisles, players are also uncomfortable being put out on display for the other players. Perhaps they feel like they might become a target if their good luck is too visible.
One slot director I heard speak said that he tried to create “comfortable niches” for his players. Instead of being in a fish bowl, visible to most of the slot floor, players in his niches can be easily seen by only the other players in that niche.
Another theory about loose machine placement is that casinos place them in highly visible areas. Modern casinos still have highly visible areas, but the areas are visible to a smaller number of players. A loose machine in this area will influence fewer players than before.
The last change in the slot floor that I want to mention is perhaps the biggest change of all. Casinos used to have hundreds of slot machines. Now they have thousands. One slot director in Las Vegas said in an interview a few years ago that with so many machines on his floor, he didn’t have time to micro-manage them. He and his management decided the hold percentage they wanted for each denomination and he ordered payback programs close to that percentage for his machines. Furthermore, he said this was the common practice in Las Vegas.
As much as the slot floor has changed, the changes on the floor are dwarfed by the changes in the slot machines themselves. One thing that struck me about that picture of Bally’s is how all the machines look alike. They really do look like soldiers being inspecting, all standing at attention and in identical uniforms, or like rows of indistinguishable corn plants. In fact, it looks like there are only three different games in the 10 machines in the first row in the picture. Granted, the majority of the machines in Bally’s casino were Bally machines. Still I’m surprised by the lack of variety in the machines in the front row in the picture.
I heard that one theory why Americans have gotten heavier is that we have access to a wider variety of foods today than we had before. When meals consisted of the same thing time after time, it was easy to pass up second helpings of gruel and eat just enough to no longer be hungry. But now we have Chinese one night, Mexican the next, followed by Thai, burgers, pizza, and pasta -- it’s easy to overeat on our culinary trip around the world.
Just as variety in food creates desire, so does variety in slot machines. “Hey, I used to watch The Munsters all the time. I’ll try that machine.” “I never miss The Apprentice. I’ll give that machine a go.” “I played Monopoly all the time as a kid.” “I have a cat and a dog and a chainsaw and a toaster.”
Not only is there more variety in themes on machines, there’s also more variety in paytables. Back in the 1920s, a revolutionary change in slot machine design was paying an extra coin for a certain combination. Adding a hopper to the machine in the electro-mechanical era made it possible for the machine to pay larger jackpots itself instead of requiring a handpay from a jackpot girl. Adding a computer to the slot machine made it possible for today’s machines to pay modest jackpots of a few thousand coins all the way up to life-changing jackpots of millions of dollars.
The computer also makes it possible to add more gimmicks to machines. Gimmicks like “spin-til-you win,” symbols that nudge up or down to the payline, haywire repeat-pays, and double spin all add more variety and interest to the games.
Today’s machines are immeasurably more interesting and fun to play than those of even just a decade ago. Each new generation of machines has crisper graphics and better sound than the prior generation. Slot designers are working overtime to devise compelling bonus rounds that will keep players playing for just one more crack at the round. How many people playing Wheel of Fortune are trying to win the jackpot? Not many. Most people keep playing to get one more spin of the wheel.
Slot directors today don’t need to pepper their slot floors with loose machines to stimulate play. Today’s machines themselves generate more desire to play than seeing a player doing well.
Now I'll finish our discussion of where slot directors place loose machines with some additional thoughts, with a few anecdotes I've heard at slot seminars, and with what I think will be the final nail in the coffin of loose machine placement philosophies.
One of the placement theories says that tight machines should be placed near the table games because the table games players don’t like a lot of noise while they’re playing. Have the people putting forth this theory ever been near a craps table? A craps table with a shooter on a hot roll has to be one of the loudest places -- if not the loudest place -- in the casino. Craps players can be a boisterous lot even when the table isn’t hot. Okay, I can see players needing peace and quiet at blackjack tables (It’s difficult to count cards even in a quiet casino.), but not at craps, roulette, Let It Ride, and other tables. In any case, the casino can adjust the volume level on a machine. The slot director can put a very quiet, loose machine near the tables and not disturb a single table games player.
Another problem with following a loose machine placement philosophy is that it limits the flexibility slot directors have in moving their machines around on the slot floor. If the directors are going to give up a little bit in payback on some machines, they certainly will want to get their money’s worth and ensure that these machines are in locations where they’ll be played, be seen being played, and entice other players to play. Slot floors have only a limited number of high visibility areas. Slot directors won’t want to waste any of their high-paying machines in the more numerous less visible areas, where the machines won’t be encouraging other players.
Now I’d like to share some anecdotes I’ve heard at panel discussions during the big gaming show (first the World Gaming Congress, then the Global Gaming Expo) that’s held in Las Vegas each year.
First, one slot director described an experiment he conducted in his casino. He had a carousel of 5 Times Pay machines that all had the same long-term payback. He ordered new chips to lower the payback percentages on a couple of the machines to see if anyone would notice. The machines with the lower long-term paybacks received just as much play as the higher-paying machines. No player, furthermore, ever complained that some of the machines in the carousel were tighter than others.
In another seminar, a slot director shared the philosophy he used to place some machines that he had inherited from another property. These machines, he said, had lower long-term paybacks than the payback he usually ordered for machines on his slot floor. He said, 'I read the same books that the players read. I put these lower payback machines in the spots that the books said should have the high payback machines.'
My last anecdote is about a decision made by the slot director at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas many years ago. He was ordering 10 Times Pay machines for his slot floor and he was concerned about the low hit frequencies available for those machines. (Machines with multiplying symbols tend to have low hit frequencies, and usually the higher the multiplier, the lower the hit frequency.) The slot director was afraid that his players would think the machines were very tight because they hit so infrequently. He said that he ordered higher paybacks than he usually does for those machines in an attempt to offset the low hit frequency. The machines would still have a low hit frequency, but at least the average value of a hit would be a little higher than if he had ordered a payback percentage nearer the percentage he usually ordered. He hoped that would be enough to keep his players from thinking these were tighter than the other machines on his slot floor.
Although I think these anecdotes are the exceptions that prove the rule that some casinos at least order the same long-term paybacks for machines of a particular denomination, there is evidence that some casinos may not. In the first edition of Casino Operations Management, for example, Kilby and Fox list a number of “general philosophies that influence specific slot placement” including: “low hold (loose) machines should be placed in busy walkways to create an atmosphere of activity” and “loose machines are normally placed at the beginning and end of traffic patterns.”
They then say that “high hit frequency machines located around the casino pit area will create an atmosphere of slot activity.” I’m not sure whether they’re saying high hit frequency should or shouldn’t be placed near the pit. In any case, note that one philosophy said that loose machines create an atmosphere of activity and another said that high hit frequency machines also create an atmosphere of activity. This is the perfect segue into what I think puts the final nail in the coffin about loose machine placement theories.
There is no correlation between long-term payback and hit frequency. A low hit frequency machine can have a high long-term payback. High hit frequency machines, in addition, can have low long-term paybacks. Larry Mak, author of Secrets of Modern Slot Playing, recently queried the Nevada Gaming Control Board to find out the payback reported on penny machines. The Board said it was 90.167%. Most of the penny video slots have very high hit frequencies, yet the overall average long-term payback is very low.
The usual reasoning behind putting loose machines in highly visible areas is so slot players can see other players winning. Maybe we should be more precise here and say that players will see other players hitting and assume that they are winning because they are playing loose machines. But because there’s no correlation between hit frequency and long-term payback, these players can actually be playing machines with low long-term paybacks.
I don’t put much stock in loose machine placement theories, but I do believe slot directors may follow a hit frequency placement philosophy. Slot directors may try to place high hit frequency machines in visible areas to encourage play. This philosophy says and implies nothing about the long-term payback of the machines.

John Robison is the author of 'The Slot Expert's Guide
to Playing Slots.' His website iswww.slotexpert.com