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"Hey John! You have to settle something for us."
Anything for a couple of readers, I told the guys who'd called.
"We were talking about slot myths," said an older, gray-haired man.
"The idea that the machine pays more when you only bet one coin and gives you less winners when you bet the max," added a younger, bearded fellow. "Is it OK go online and bet less than the max?"
The random number generator that determines what you see on the screen reels doesn't know whether you've bet maximum coins. But loads of people believe myths like that.
"Right," said the bearded one. "What we want to know is, what do you think is the biggest myth? If you could play 'Mythbusters,' like the TV show, where would you like to put the big 'Busted!' sign?"
I told them I had one that might surprise them. The biggest myth surrounding slot machines today is that players should always bet maximum coins.
"That's a myth?" said Mr. Gray, giving me a double-take. "I thought you were supposed to always bet the max."
"I know what he means," his friend Mr. Beard piped in. "It's the five-reel games, the ones that take 45 coins or more. Who's going to bet the max on those?"
Five-reel slots certainly are part of it. Not only does it take 45, 90, even 200 or more coins to bet the max on a video slot, but many are pure multipliers. They multiply winnings by the number of coins wagered per line, with no disproportionate reward for betting the max.
"OK, I understand that," Mr. Gray said. "But three-reel games usually do have a jump in the top jackpot. So you should always bet the max, right?"
In the long run, you will get the machine's highest payback percentage by betting the max. But that's not the same thing as saying you should always bet maximum coins.
"How is it different?" Mr. Beard asked.
One of the most important things in gaming, regardless of whether it's online or offline, is to play within your bankroll. A player who can't really afford to bet the max shouldn't force it. Anyway, on most machines you actually lose more money by betting maximum coins, even though you're getting back a higher percentage of your wagers.
It was Mr. Beard's turn. "What do you mean?"
I took a notebook and pen out of my pocket to show them in blue and white. I outlined a two-coin, three-reel game that paid 400 coins for a top jackpot with one coin bet, but which jumped to a 1,000-coin jackpot with maximum coins.
Let's say that with maximum coins wagered, 95 percent of all coins are paid back to players. And let's say that game pays its jackpot at a moderate average of once per 10,000 spins. In 10,000 spins, the max-coins player would wager 20,000 coins and get back an average of 19,000 --- understanding that sometimes returns would be much lower, and sometimes higher.
Of coins returned, 1,000 come from the jackpot, meaning 18,000 come from smaller hits. We can say that our 10,000 first-coin wagers bring us back 9,400 coins --- 400 for the jackpot, and 9,000 as half the smaller returns. The second coin brings us 9,600 coins --- 600 for its share of the jackpot, and 9,000 for the smaller hits.
If we made only one-coin wagers, we average 600 coins in losses per 10,000 wagers. By betting the max, we average 1,000 coins in losses instead.
Mr. Gray looked puzzled. "So we shouldn't bet the max?"
I wouldn't say "shouldn't." The risk is greater, but so are the rewards. If your bankroll is sufficient, betting the max still gives you the best shot at a big payday. And there are certainly bet-the-max situations. Always bet the max on progressive slots, and give yourself a chance at the big jackpot that is the most attractive feature of the game.
But for a non-progressive machine in which paybacks are proportionate to coins wagered except for a max-coins bonus at the top of the pay table, it's really player's choice. Bet within your comfort level.
"What do you say to that?" asked Mr. Beard, turning to his friend.
"I have the money," said Mr. Gray. "I'll keep betting the max."
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