Odds Of Hitting A Slot Machine Jackpot Articles | Casino

By: Richard Bleuze

Odds of hitting a slot machine jackpot

A common mistake made by slot players is to reason that if a bunch of slot machines all cost $0.25 to play, you might as well choose the one with the biggest jackpot, because that will be the best deal for your $0.25.  This is wrong!  The above thinking misses several important things:

The bigger the jackpot, the harder it is to actually hit.  If you want to play a slot machine, than play a slot machine that does not offer a huge jackpot.  Smaller jackpots are generally easier to hit.  An exception, would be flat top slot machines (machines without a meter which keeps going up), the overall odds are generally similar no matter how high the jackpot is.

As a general rule, the higher the jackpot, the more likely you will lose in the short-term.  Just remember, that it takes a lot of play to fund those extra-big jackpots.

The slot machines with the huge jackpots like Wheel of Fortune and Megabucks have lousy odds, although they are very popular for both land based and online slot players.  Yes, they cost the same amount to play as regular slot machines, but these slot machines definitely suck your money away faster.

Remember this point - To have the best chance of winning in the short term, choose the slot machines with the smallest jackpots.

You will find it very rare that any slot machine article online will actually tell you the actual odds of hitting a slot machine jackpot.  Thus, let me lift the veil off that mystery right now.  Below are the odds of hitting the top jackpots that on various popular slot machines.

Double Diamond

 2500 coins
 1 in 46,656
 
Blazing 7's

 5000 coins
 1 in 93, 312
 
Red White & Blue

 2400 coins
 1 in 262,144
 
Double Strike

 5000 coins
 1 in 500,000
 
Money Storm

10,000 to 50,000
1 in 2,188,411
 
Lucky Larry's Lobstermania

 10,000 to 50,000
 1 in 8,107,500
 
Megabucks

 $8 to $33 million (progressive)
 1 in 49,836,032
 
Please be advised that there are often different versions of slot machines with the same name.  However, the above odds apply to most slot machines.  What you should really take from this is that as the jackpot goes up, so does the difficulty in actually hitting it.

In addition, you should remember that it does not matter how long it has been since the slot machine hit its last jackpot.  If the odds of hitting a jackpot on one spin are 1 in 46,656, then they will always be 1 in 46,656, whether the last jackpot hit last year or ten minutes ago.  Just remember, no slot machine is ever "due" to hit.  That is the way probability works.  The odds of getting heads on a coin flip are always 1 in 2, no matter what you got on previous flips.   If you just flipped ten heads in a row, then you are just as likely to get heads yet again as you are to get tails.   The point to remember, is that past events have no effect on future events.  Many people, both at land based and online casinos think that they can get an edge by playing a slot machine that has not paid out big in a while, thinking it is "due", but it is not.  Slot machines are never "due".

Ignore claims such as "Loosest Slots" or "High Payback" made by many online casinos.  Those terms are meaningless since they are not specific.  In addition, ignore specific numbers married to vagueness, such as "up to 98% return" made by online casinos.  The slot machines have to be labeled without qualification for the claim to be meaningful.

Learn other games that are offered by your online casino.

I suggest playing anything but slots and you will almost certainly lose less money.  Video poker is a good game to graduate to because it is still a slot machine sort of, for those who like slot machines.  However, table games are best because the odds are better since you get to play with other human beings.

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