Do online slots have better odds?

Here’s an interesting bit of news if you enjoy playing slot games. You may actually increase your chances of winning if you play slots online rather than at a live casino.  Now, before you run off to spend your money, let’s take a more in depth look at this.

First, slots are money making games for all casinos, everywhere. So, saying the odds are better online doesn’t guarantee a win. But it does mean that you increase your chances a percentage point or two over land based and tribal casinos. You can check out bestpayingonlinecasinos.org to see what some of the payouts look like at top online casinos. There are a couple of reasons that online casino offer better odds on slot games. First, they don’t have the real estate overhead that land based casinos have. Space is virtual online so, casinos can offer more slot games. But more than saving money, online casinos know that it’s easy for their players to visit another online casino, so they need to make their play competitive. They also know that smart players are checking sites to see who offers the best pay out rate and they want it to be them.

Now, while casinos can adjust the payouts for slot games, this doesn’t mean that you’ll get better odds on a game like blackjack of you play online. Card based games like blackjack and video poker are based on the 52 card deck and therefore the odds are the same everywhere. But you can still check the payout tables for games, especially video poker, to see that the casino offers top tables.

If you don’t play online, you can check online for payout rates for slot at land based casinos. I’ve found that generally the more competition in the neighborhood, the more competitive the casino will be to bring in players. If competition is limited, like on a cruise ship, the casino knows they have a captive audience and that shows in the pay outs.

 

Want to see that slot game in action before you play?

Want to see how a slot game plays before you put any money in the machine? Well, if you go to Las Vegas or any land casino, you’ll have to sneak up behind someone and watch over their shoulder while they play. Be aware that this is a move that could have bad consequences. They may summon casino security, who may want to know what you’re doing stalking people. So,  it’s probably not the best process to follow.  Online players have it much easier since most casinos make their games available in a free or practice play mode. But then, many online casinos still require players to have an account with them before they can play the games and for some games, players may have to download the casino software to access the game.  But the option is still there.

But what if you want to check out a live slot game you’ve heard about or you don’t want to join an online casino to check out how to play an online slot game?  There’s still an option available to you. Many slot developers have started making videos of their slot games in action and uploading them to youtube.com.   Now I don’t find watching a slot in play on Youtube to be as much fun as playing it myself if I have access to the game at an online casino, but in cases where I want to check out a live casino game, the online video may be my best or only option. It’s also great for checking to see if the online and live version of a slot game plays the same way.  I write about slots a lot, but I can’t always run out to the casino to check out a game, so Youtube has become my slot game friend.

 

Checking out 3D slot games

I have found a new type of slot game to draw me in and keep me playing. Now there are plenty of slot games out there and I often categorize them by type of action when I want to play. If you check out the Yahoo Gambling Directory you’ll find plenty of info on the various slot types. For example, 3 reel slots are generally the simplest of slot games, with three reels and often only one pay line.  They’re great when you want to understand exactly how a slot game works. Also, since I can play some for as little as a penny a spin, they’re good for working of small bonus money wins on some casinos.  From there the slot games get more and more complicated. For a while, increasing the number of paylines seemed to be the way slots were going.  Then paylines went away and there were hundreds of potential ways to win. But that really didn’t seem to me to be the best way to grab me if you wanted me to play. I didn’t need more paylines. I wanted more fun.

Then the 3D slot games starting hitting the market. These games take the art and animation to the best level I’ve seen in slots. It’s not just that the symbols are well done. It’s that the games now have characters and story lines and actual interact with the players during the game. And the bonus games have improved over earlier bonus games. Oh, there are still free spins, one of the most popular bonuses out there, but the second screen bonuses will have you doing everything from chasing away tigers to casting spells  on ogres. If you’re interested in reading about some of the games, check out the reviews over at Romancing the Slots. It’s the one spot where the reviews seem to be doing the new slot designs justice. Then go play some of the 3D slots because that’s where you’ll find me.

 

The importance of slot platforms

If you play slots online you may have noticed that different online casinos offer different games and that the games they offer depend on the software or gambling platform that the online casino runs on. So let’s take a look at what that means to you as a player.

 

Online casinos don’t generally develop their own software for the games they offer, be it slots or blackjack, instead they partner with a developer who is an expert in what they do. The developers will create the games and also make sure that they are fair for the player to play. This creates a bit of distance between the game and the casino because if a casino developed their own games, well, it might be a bit too tempting to make sure they won as often as possible. However developers are encouraged to make sure the casinos don’t cheat since that would reflect badly on them and make it more difficult for them to sell their software.

 

Now an online casino is usually limited to offering the games that the developers have in their catalogue. While the top casinos offer a selection of great games, many slot fans will have accounts at more than one online casino so they can play games offered by different developers.  And some platforms may be more available in one country than others.  If you play slots for real money, it’s important to find a casino that is available in your area.  But many players have discovered that they can often check out other games in the casinos free or demo setting.  While you can’t win money this way, it can be a fun way to check out different slot games.

 

At this time, the slot platform most available to US players is the Realtime Gaming platform. Now a good thing about top platforms like this is that it’s easy to find information on them. Just check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realtime_Gaming for an entire article on RTG.

 

Where to find new slot games

Slots. They’re the most popular games in the casino and probably the most fun to play. Certainly modern slot games can draw you in with bonus games, fantastic graphics and themes designed around the latest movies.  But how do you go about finding these fantastic slot games and more importantly, finding them somewhere where you can play them.

The first thing most of us do these days when looking for information on the internet is to try a search engine such as Google.  These have become the modern method of finding anything. Science has shown that our brains have even stopped trying to remember information if it knows we can find it on Google. (It’s true. Google it.)

Now search engines are a great way of finding information, but there is one little catch – you have to have some idea of what you’re searching for.  In fact, to get the best results, you have to be fairly specific about what you’re looking for.  If you want the Lord of the Rings slot and search for Lord of the Rings Slot, you’ll do fine.  But try searching on “Fantasy Slot Games” and you won’t get Lord of the Rings slots back as an answer. Try it. Then try searching on Fantasy books. Guess what, Tolkien and his books are right there at the top.  Search engines just don’t always think the way we do.

That’s why I try to bookmark a few sites and blogs out there that I know will cover slot games. Sites like http://playslotgames.ws/ and a few other favorites.  Then when I’m looking for new slot games, I can drop in and read what they’ve been up to lately. Sometimes they help me find games that I would never have thought to search for.  Of course, if I know the slot game I’m looking for, well, Google can be your best friend.

 

Where to play free slots

Where do you go to play free slot games? The answer isn’t Las Vegas. The casinos there might spot you for a free buffet, but not free time on the slot machines. Those machines bring in serious money and you aren’t going to get to take up space playing for free.  Which is a shame because when I play a slot game for free I find I actually pay more attention to the game itself rather than my ups and downs in the money. Which is why I love playing some of the fancier 3D slot games as a free option instead of a real money option. When I play for free I can explore all the subtlety that the developers put into the game.

But where do you go to play free slot games?  Well, most online casino will let you sign up for a free play account and they don’t ask for much more than an email address before you’re in and playing. You may want to set aside a free hotmail or other email account for the casinos so that the offers for bonus money are filtered out of your regular account. But don’t lie about the email. I’ve had more than one casino give me a few dollars to play on with no deposit needed.

And these days some casino information sites are offering slot games in a free demo play mode so that newcomers can experience the fun of slots and see how much the games have advanced over the years.  The new 3D slots aren’t your grandmother’s slot games. They’ve moved beyond the simple spinning reels to include arcade style bonus games and even fully plotted story lines. Give them a try. I bet you can’t resist spending a little time playing when you don’t have to spend any money playing.

 

Are slots a form of meditation

Excuse me for a moment while I go all funky and New Age on you, but the news in intriguing. We’ve all heard for years that mediation is good for you. Well, if you haven’t heard, you’re hearing it now. Meditation can help calm you down, lower your blood pressure and potentially lead to spiritual enlightenment. That last part may depend on how you meditate. Anyone up for an experiment?

See, a clinical professor of psychiatry has done a study that shows playing slot machines is a form of meditation. Or at least that players enter into a meditative state when playing the games. Yes, there’s science behind this. It seems that when we play slots, our brain releases dopamine and natural drug that creates that meditative sense of oneness with everything.  Or at least oneness with the slot machines.

This, the psychiatrist says, explains why people enjoying playing slot games even when they lose.  The very act of playing makes us feel good. Oh, winning will make us feel even better, but even when we lose; we’re actually getting a good body response just by watching the reels spin.  This also goes a long way toward explaining why we like loose slots — those games that don’t pay out big but feed us enough money to keep playing. Those slot games help us extend that great feeling we get from playing.

So, all this has me wondering if it’s possible to obtain spiritual enlightenment by playing slot games. I could start my own religion, or at least a cult.  I could build a casino and install a bunch of slot machines and declare it to be a church. And playing slots a form of prayer.  Oh, sure, you think I’m being silly, but I bet I’d see you in “church” every Sunday if I really did that.

 

Tight or loose slot games

As a slots player, you’ll often hear people refer to a slot game as being either tight or loose. You may wonder what those terms mean and more importantly, how do the change how you play the slot machine. Because not all slot machine games are created equal. So, let’s discuss tight and loose slots, who they appeal to, and how to play them.

A tight slot machine is one that holds on to its nickels, figuratively speaking. What this means is that tight machines don’t pay out very often but when they do, it’s more likely to be a sizable sum.  This type of slot machine appeals to those who are playing with the thought of winning a fortune. An easy example of a tight slot machine would be a progressive slot machine. Just think about it for a moment. You play a progressive slot because you want that big slot jackpot. And to win that jackpot, you have to be willing to bet the maximum number of coins to qualify. So, sit down at a dollar progressive machine in a big casino, and you can expect to drop $5 or so on each spin. Which tells you what you really need to know about playing the tight slot machine — you’re going to need a decent size bankroll. These machines won’t let you get away with small bets and winning just enough money to keep playing. They require an investment.

Which brings us to loose slot machines. These are the slot games for the casual player. The person who wants to spend some quality time playing slots but is more interested in the fun of the game than the big jackpot. Not that anything is wrong with winning a jackpot, but the loose slot machine player is the player who wants to sit down at a nickel machine with $10 in their hands and play all night. Casinos have done studies on these players and realized that they’re perfectly happy if they walk out at the end of the night without that $10 as long as they got to play slots for a long time. So loose slot machines are designed to dribble back winnings to these players to keep them playing longer.  These will be smaller winnings, but they keep the player at the slot game longer.

Now, neither of these methods is better than the other. Yes, the tight slots player can argue that they’re more likely to win big. But they’re also more likely to lose big. The loose slot player will win more often, but at the end of the night, all they’ll have to show for it is the enjoyment of the game. Which isn’t a bad thing.

 

Slot tournaments gaining popularity

If you play slots, either online or at a land based casino, you may have run across some slot tournaments and wondered what these are all about. Slot tournaments are gaining in popularity. In fact, The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Pennsylvania will be holding its first slot tournaments this December, which provides an excellent chance to compare online slot tournaments with a land based casino tournament.

Now a slot tournament is essentially a race to accumulate as many points as possible during the period of time that the tournament runs.  So, you sign up for a slot tournament and generally pay an entry fee. For that fee, you get a specific number of credits and a place at the slot game. Then you spin as fast and furiously as possible to gain as many credits as you can. Now in a tournament, you won’t win the money amount that shows on your machine. Instead you’re competing for prize amounts set by the casino. These can be very large when a casino wants to offer a big tournament. Online casinos often hold frequent tournaments with smaller prizes and low entry fees.

Now the Pennsylvania casino seems to be learning a lesson from online slot games because their slot tournament is a free entry tournament. In the past, I’ve check out Las Vegas casinos and found that they can charge entry fees over $100 for a slot tournament. The average online tournament will probably run you about $5 for entry.

Now, there is a trick I use when assessing a slot tournament. First – if it’s free, enter it. After all, you can’t actually lose money playing for free. (Don’t rebuy chips. That’s how the casino makes money.) If it has an entry fee, look at the prize levels available and how many prizes are being awarded. An online casino may award 500 levels of prizes with hundreds of players potentially winning back their entry fee plus a little bonus cash. So, even if I don’t get the grand prize, I’ll have the fun of playing plus a little extra money.

Check out the slot tournaments at your favorite casino. They can be a fun, fast and furious way to win!

 

Determining your slots bankroll

I read lots of articles on gambling and how to determine your bankroll for various games. Okay, I probably read too many articles on it. Some of the methods make me feel like I’m back in my college Calculus class. Unfortunately gambling returns can’t be demonstrated by a line infinitely approaching zero.  That’s about all I really remember about calculus class. Lines approaching zero and never getting there. If you’ve ever gambled, you probably know that getting your bankroll to approach and achieve zero is a lot easier.  So, that’s the principle I base my bankroll principles on – zero exists. Hey, it’s calculus so it has to be right.

So, here’s how you determine your slots bankroll.  This is amount 1.

Contact your bank and ask how much money you have. This is amount 2.

Look at all your bills and determine how much money you need to pay them each month (or as they become due). This is amount 3.

Now, calculate how much you spend each week on food and clothing and other stuff you need. This is amount 4.

Don’t forget, you should probably be saving or investing each week. This is amount 5.

Now, we do something that may be familiar if you’ve ever filled out a tax form for the IRS.  Add amounts 2, 3, 4 and 5. Subtract them from amount 1. The remain number, amount 6, is money you can spend on things like gambling. Since you probably want to do things other than gamble, your bankroll is LESS than amount 6. If amount 6 is zero or less than zero, you should skip gambling, since your bankroll is zero.  If amount 5 is zero, you may also skip gambling and your bankroll is zero.

Now my method is firmly grounded in theory that you probably won’t actually win the money for that house payment every month on a slot game. And that players chasing the win usually find their money quickly achieves zero. So, don’t gamble what you can’t afford to win when play an online casino real money game.