Slot Guide

Everything you need to know to play slot machines in online casinos is included in our BetUS Slot Guide. Read on to learn more or go to our BetUS Online Casino to get playing!

Fundamental Slot Tips

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Some online slot players tend to get obsessed with using complex systems and blowing money on “secrets” that they believe will help them beat the house. But, at BetUS, we know that trying system after system or paying for supposed secrets is not the answer to beating slots. Instead of chasing gold at the end of a rainbow, concentrate on using these fundamental slots tips in our Slot Guide to improve.

Look at Both Payout Frequency and Payout Percentages

The majority of players look at one thing when deciding what game to play: payout percentages. Payout percentages show how much money the average online casino player will get back based on every dollar spent (e.g. a 98% payout percentage). And while this is definitely important, you also need to factor payout frequency into the equation too. Payout frequency involves looking at how many small payouts a game offers to determine how often you will be receiving payouts. And if you have a smaller bankroll, payout frequency is the most important factor because you need lots of small wins to keep playing.

Always take Advantage of Comps and Bonuses

Whether you get lucky and win a huge jackpot or suffer through some rough losing stretches, comp points and bonuses should always be there to give you a boost. Amazingly though, there are too many players that fail to take advantage of bonuses. So in the interest of not being like these people, make sure to take advantage of the deposit bonus when you sign up at a slots casino. Also, know your options in terms of the comp program and ensure that you are reaping the full benefits from it.

Play the Number of Coins you can Afford

Many players get trapped into this notion that they have to play the maximum amount of coins in every slots game to be successful. And this is simply not the case since the number of coins you wager each spin depends on the size of your individual bankroll. Of course, along with this, you also need to be choosing games that line up with your bankroll – i.e. don’t play progressive jackpot games if you can only afford to bet one coin.

Land-Based Slots vs Online Slots

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Many unassuming gamblers are under impression that there is little difference between land-based slots and online betting slots…..well, besides the fact that one is played on a physical machine while the other is played over the internet.

If your knowledge of the subject is as limited as the last statement, then you make sure to take a look at the differences between online and land-based slots.

Payouts

The most important difference between internet slots and the live version of the game is that payouts are very different from one another.

Most land-based casinos only offer players between 75% and 80% payouts while online casinos offer between 95% and 98% payouts.

The numbers tell the whole story as you can expect to earn way more money by playing online slots than you ever could playing slots in a land-based casino.

For those of you who like to play the big progressive jackpot games, it’s much easier to sustain your bankroll in an online casino while going for the top prize than it is in a land-based casino.

Rewards Programs

Another big difference between land-based and online slots is the ease with which you can join the rewards programs.

For numerous reasons, land-based casinos don’t advertise their loyalty programs heavily, and you have to inquire about joining one if you’re interested.

Online casinos, on the other hand, enroll players in loyalty programs as soon as they sign up and make a deposit. There is no inquiry or phone call that needs to be made in order to reap the benefits of a loyalty program.

Relaxed Environment

One more difference between the two slots versions is the environment where people play.

When you play online slots, you can get something to eat without paying major cash or watch whatever you want on TV when playing. Plus, you can control the volume of the slots machine unlike when you are in a land-based casino.

Progressive or Fixed Jackpot Slots?

One of the most universally asked online slots questions is: should I play progressive or fixed jackpot slots? Our Slot Guide will cover both sides. The benefits to both games are obvious since progressive slots give you the chance to win enormous amounts of money with one spin of the reels, while fixed jackpot slots offer a safer road paved with more frequent wins. If you’re stuck on the progressive and fixed slots debate, here are some things that will help you decide.

Bankroll Size Comes First

The first factor you need to look at when deciding if you’re going to play progressive or fixed jackpot slots is your bankroll. If you have $100 and the progressive slot game you’re looking at costs $3 per maximum spin, it’s not going to work out. After all, a large portion of a progressive slots game is geared towards the highest payout; so there’s a much higher chance that your tiny bankroll will run out before you see any of this money. On the other hand, you would have no trouble racking up frequent wins on a fixed limit jackpot game, which would help you stretch your $100 bankroll.

What Type of Player are you?

It’s important to focus on what kind of player you are when choosing between progressive and fixed slots. Recreational players who just want to play slots in hopes of winning a few dollars here and there will be better off with fixed slots. However, serious slots players will be much closer to their goal on a progressive game, where jackpots are often worth $1 million or more.

Balance the Two Games

Even recreational players and/or those with small bankrolls can play both fixed jackpot and progressive slots with the right approach. If you really must compete for a huge jackpot, limit your big spins on the progressive game to 5-10% of your bankroll; use the rest to play fixed jackpot games until you have a bigger bankroll someday.

The key here is to be smart and don’t play above your means so you can avoid blowing your slots bankroll too quickly.

How Much Money do you Need to Play Slots?

One of the worst feelings in the casino world is to get caught up in the excitement of trying to win huge slot jackpots only to finally realize that you’ve spent hundreds of dollars. Fortunately, there’s a good way to avoid this feeling, and it only involves some simple math.

Determining How Much Money you’ll Need for Slots

Figuring out how much money you’ll need for slots isn’t too difficult. You just need to know how long you expect to play, how many spins you make per hour, the size of your bets, and the payout percentage of the game you normally play. For our example, let’s say that you’re playing a 95% payout percentage game, you perform 500 spins every hour, you make $2 bets and you want to play for 5 hours.

The first step in the equation is to figure out how many total spins you’ll be making; taking 500 X 5, you would come up with 2,500 spins. Now that you have this number, your equation would look like this: $2 X 2,500 spins X 0.05 = $250. As you may have guessed, the 0.05 represents 5% of the money that you’ll lose out on with a 95% payout game.

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Not an Exact Science

While $250 is a nice, neat figure for how much you’d need to play slots in the aforementioned scenario, it’s not an exact science. For starters, the 95% payout percentage only represents the payouts for everyone as a whole – jackpot winners included. Assuming you never won a big jackpot, your total payout percentage might be closer to 90% or less.

Another thing to keep in mind is that it’s hard to figure out how many spins you make per hour. Most players perform around 8-10 spins a minute, so you can multiply this number by 60 to come up with an hourly estimate. But as mentioned before, it’s not totally accurate.

In short, you want to have a larger bankroll than the figure that you ultimately come up with. To be on the safe side, you should have $350 or more instead of just $250.

Umbrella Slots Strategy

Those who are tired of hitting the bet button over and over again in online slots might enjoy trying the Umbrella strategy. This strategy involves players varying the number of coins they bet on each spin in hopes of turning more profit. The Umbrella works great for people who want to be more aggressive with slots games, assuming they have the bankroll size to do so. Let’s get into how the Umbrella works.

Umbrella Strategy Basics

The cool thing about the Umbrella is that there’s no rigid method for how it works. This being said, you can use the Umbrella strategy in a few different ways. Here is a look at how some sample Umbrella betting strategies work:
#1 Strategy: 1 coin, 1 coin, 2 coins, 4 coins, 5 coins, 4 coins, 2 coins, 1 coin, 1 coin
#2 Strategy: 1 coin, 1 coin, 1 coin, 2 coins, 4 coins, 5 coins, 4 coins, 2 coins, 1 coin, 1 coin, 1 coin
# 3 Strategy: 1 coin, 2 coins, 3 coins, 4 coins, 5 coins, 4 coins, 3 coins, 2 coins, 1 coin

As you can see from the pattern, the bets form somewhat of an umbrella shape where they start low, and gradually increase to a point at the top before leveling back down. The idea here is that you want to mix bets between low and high so you are giving yourself more chances to win major money, while also conserving your bankroll.

If you think that this slots strategy is a little too aggressive – especially when it reaches the 4 and 5 coin bets- you can always modify your umbrellas to include more 1 coin bets on each side. Likewise, you can modify the umbrella to include more 3, 4, and 5 coin bets if you want to play more aggressively too.

Why Timing Slots Spins Doesn’t Work

Because of the fact that there aren’t a whole of lot things you can do to affect the outcome of slots spins, people are always inventing little superstitious ways to win. And one of these superstition things is timing a slots spin. Whether it’s done online or in a land-based casino, slot players believe that they can win more money by correctly timing their spins. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no way in which a person can win by timing slots spins, and here’s a look at why.

Fractions of a Second

Do you think that you could perform a slots spin within 1/1000th of a second? I didn’t think so. This is why you’ll never be able to beat a slots game by timing spins. Slot games determine spin results precisely within 1/1000th of a second or more so there is virtually nothing you can do to influence the outcome. Furthermore, you have no idea what thousandth of a second the slots game will make big payouts at anyways, which makes spin timing even more unreliable.

Concentrate on Percentages

Instead of trying to act with the speed of light, you should focus on payout percentages. The best way to see a higher return on your investment is to play the games that offer high payout returns. For instance, most online slots games offer payout percentages of 95% to 98% so you will always be getting good value out of these machines. This still gives the house an edge, but it also gives you a better shot of one day winning a jackpot and beating the house.
But if you’re bored after so many spins and looking for a way to make slots more fun, then by all means try to time some of your spins perfectly. There’s honestly no rhythm that will help you beat the house in slots, but this is still a great way to add some extra fun to the game.

The Myth of Penny Slots

As the word “penny” implies, you’d expect penny slots to be one of the best values in online casinos. They’re cheap to play, and penny slots allow people to maximize their gambling time. But as you’ll find out, names can be misleading and very costly in the end.

Lower Payouts

It’s true that you can mess around on penny slots for hours and still not run through your slots bankroll. However, the value that you’re getting out of these machines isn’t as good as some of the other games. That’s because most penny slots games offer returns in the low 90 percent while the average online slots game makes 95-98% payouts. This alone means that you’re getting less value and payouts by playing penny slots.
And if you choose to turn some of the bigger slots games (coin sizes ranging from $0.01 to $5) into penny slots, you aren’t doing yourself any favors here either. Furthermore, you’ll earn less frequent player points by playing penny slots, which makes things even worse.

Disguised by a Name

Just because a game is given the penny slots label doesn’t mean that people stick to the penny denominations. In fact, a lot of people choose to bet the maximum coin amount across all of the pay lines, which usually adds up to a dollar or more. So basically, people are playing these games under the assumption that they’re betting pennies….yet they end up spending a dollar or more per spin on games with poor payout rates.

Still Great Entertainment

Even though penny slots might not offer people the best value perse, there is still one good reason to play them: cheap entertainment! If you’re not a serious slots player with eyes on the jackpot, penny slots are an excellent way to spend your free time. You can stick to the lowest coin amount, and spin the reels over and over while hoping to hit a small jackpot. Just double-check to make sure you’re only betting a penny on each spin though!

Now that you’ve read our Slot Guide, head over to the BetUS Online Casino to start playing!