Odds Of Hitting Jackpot On Slot Machine
In a typical weighted slot machine, the top jackpot stop (the one with the highest-paying jackpot image) for each reel corresponds to only one virtual stop. This means that the chance of hitting the jackpot image on one reel is 1 in 64. It’s the secret every gambler wants to know: when a slot machine is going to pay out big. While some casinos will advertise that their slot payout rate is as high as 95%, you have to keep in mind this may only apply to certain machines. And that payout may only be a few extra bucks for every $100 you feed into the machine.
20 symbol positions on the first reel X 20 symbol positions on the second reel X 20 symbol positions on the third reel=odds of 8,000:1. Over the several million times your carrot, machine is played, once in every 8,000 plays it will produce three carrots, one on each reel, perfectly aligned across the center of the viewing screen.
If a machine had four reels, the odds of hitting the jackpot would be 20*20*20=160,000:1. For five reels the odds would be 3,200,000:1.
Are the odds really that bad? Yes. But does that mean you would need to put 8,000 into a three-reel machine to win 4,000? No. The reasons are two fold:
1) When you play a three-reel slot machine you don't know if your coin is the 1st to be inserted into that machine or the 7,999th.
2) If the machine is set to pay back 80% of the money put into it, you should receive many small pay-offs before hitting the jackpot. You still might have to pull the handle 8,000 times, but it wouldn't cost you 8,000 coins.
Let's explore this further. Assume you're playing a three-reel dollar machine. The reason you're playing that particular machine is because you saw a sign in front of the casino which stated, 'Our ¡ç1 Slots Pay 97%.' You interpret the sign to mean that if you put in ¡ç100 you'll get back at least ¡ç97. Well, you could be right, you could be wrong. Your first coin could win the jackpot, your tenth coin could win the jackpot, any of your coins could win smaller payoffs, or perhaps none of your coins will win anything.
If this dollar machine really pays back 97%, it will return ¡ç7,760 for every ¡ç8,000 put into it. In other words, the machine will only retain $240, which doesn't sound like much profit for the casino. But you don't care about whether the casino makes profits, so your question is : Whose $240 will it retain? Yours? The next player's? Who knows? It may very well take $100 of your money and only give to play the machine, it may give back $30 for $1. There is no way to tell who the machine will pay. The machine may experience periods when it returns $3,000 before returning any money. Or, conversely, the machine may experience periods when it generates several jackpots in a matter of minutes or even seconds.
Slots odds are the probabilities of getting a winning combination on the reels. They depend on the type of slot machine you play. Originally the odds were very easy to calculate as the only thing the players had to consider were the number of reels and the symbols used on each of the reels. As a result, the 3-reel slot machines are traditionally believed to be better for player's winning chances, and thus the more reels and symbols on them, the lower a player's advantage.
How to Calculate Odds
The odds of getting any combination on the slot reels are easy to calculate if you know the number of symbols used on each reel. Let's take a closer look at the odds and consider an example:
If you have to make a line of 3 diamonds on one payline to win the jackpot, it is most likely that each reel has only one diamond symbol on it. If the machine is a 3-reel one and there are 20 symbols on the reels, the chances of hitting this combination are:
Possible combinations on the reels: 20 x 20 x 20 = 8000. The odds of getting this combination are 1 in 8000. For a 5-reel slot machine the chances are even less: 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 = 1/ 3,200,000 (1 in 3,200,000). The slots probabilities are usually shown as a percentage, so for 3-reel and 5-reel slot machine with 20 symbols on each reel we have these probabilities:
Watch Slot Machine Jackpots
However, the number of symbols on the reels can differ from machine to machine, and that is why the slots odds are different. Here we look at some more examples of slot machines containing 3 and 5 reels each with different number of symbols on them - for these examples: 20, 22 and 25.
| Slot Machine Type | Number of Symbols | Number of Combinations | Odds | Probabilities |
| 3-reel | 20 | 8,000 | 1 in 8,000 | 0.0125% |
| 22 | 10,648 | 1 in 10,648 | 0.0093% | |
| 25 | 15,625 | 1 in 15,625 | 0.0064% | |
| 5-reel | 20 | 3,200,000 | 1 in 3,200,000 | 0.0003125% |
| 22 | 5,153,632 | 1 in 5,153,632 | 0.0000194% | |
| 25 | 9,765,625 | 1 in 9,765,625 | 0.00001025% |
Slots Payback Percentages
The slots payback or return is the amount of money the slot machine pays out as winnings, against the total number of credits wagered by players. The payback is always shown in percentage.
The main idea behind counting the odds in slot machines lies in understanding how the machine pays out money. Unlike what many people believe, not everything is random in a slot machine. Slots are programmed to pay out a certain percent of the money put in with each play.
For example, one machine may pay back 80% of bets while another one may pay back 91% and even 100%. This means that for every dollar put in the machine the casino takes 9 cents and pays out 91 cents. But it does not do it for every dollar put in, it just pays out explosively and this is what makes the game so great.
You must remember that there are two basic types of slot machines. These are:
- Loose slots are slot machines that are programmed to return 82-98% of the wagered money, or even more if you play slots online. As a rule, high-denomination slots pay out more than those offering, for example, $0.05 or $0.25 bets. For more about typical paybacks on different slot machines please read the strategies page.
- Tight slots are machines that pay out less than 80% and sometimes down to 50% of the wagered money. To avoid playing at these slot machines try not to gamble in motels, airports, bars, gas stations, etc. The payback percentages vary from casino to casino and that is why it may be difficult to find the best machine in the gambling hall.
Winning Jackpots On Slot Machines
As you understand, one of the best slots tips on how to win at slots is always to look for the loose machines. It can be easy if the gambling hall shares this information with the visitors. In any case you can gamble on the Internet as most online casinos provide the statistic data about their slots games. So, when choosing one of the casinos recommended by SlotsDoc.com you can expect such paybacks: