You can find stories about people gambling for a living. Many people play poker for a living, and it’s easy to see why. Poker doesn’t have a built in house edge; it has what amounts to a seat charge in the form of rake. Poker players aren’t trying to win the house money, they compete for other player’s money. This is different than most other forms of gambling.
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You can also read about blackjack players that have learned how to count cards or find sloppy dealers that flash the value of down cards. Some of these players are able to play blackjack for a living. A small percentage of sports bettors, horse track bettors, and dog track bettors are also able to make enough money to gamble for a living.
But it’s rare to find people who can gamble for a living who play other casino games. Bob Dancer claims that he was able to play video poker for a living several years back, but even if his claim is true, many things have changed since then. It’s harder to find full pay video poker machines and casinos pay lower comp rates for video poker play.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that and I’m not trying to say that he didn’t make money playing. But I don’t know if anyone is making a living playing video poker today. It’s possible, but if there are players doing it, there aren’t very many.
A few authors claim to make money playing craps using dice control. This has always struck me as a way to sell books and training courses, but just like Dancer’s claim in video poker, I suppose a few people can use dice control. Also just like video poker, if people are successful at dice control, there aren’t very many of them.
Games like slots, roulette, baccarat, and other table games don’t have stories about gamblers playing them for a living. Does the lack of stories mean that these games are impossible to beat?
Slots are the most popular form of gambling in casinos. People love to play slots. This brings me to the reason for this article.
The Hard Truth
Before you continue, consider exactly what making a living means. Some people live on $25,000 a year, while others seem to need $50,000 or $100,000 a year. Many factors come into play when determining how much someone needs to live.
Some of the factors include:
- Where you live
- How many people you have to support, like a spouse and children
- How frugal your lifestyle is
- How much debt you have
For the purposes of this article I’m going to use $52,000 a year as the threshold for making a living. This works out to $1,000 a week. You can use any number that you want, but unless you live in an expensive area, most people can survive on this amount.
Another issue that must be considered when you think about playing slots for a living is the lack of health insurance and other benefits. Professional gamblers have to find health care and they don’t get paid time off. Health care is a serious expense for many people and it can be dangerous not to have some type of coverage.
Many young people don’t worry about the lack of health care coverage, but as you get older it often becomes a real concern. If you have to pay for health insurance it can take a big chunk out of your income. Keep this in mind when you determine how much you need to make to play slots for a living.
The hard truth is playing slots for a living is almost impossible unless you’re already wealthy and have enough money that you can afford to lose in the long run. It’s much more likely that you’re going to lose $1,000 a week than win $1,000 week playing slots.
While most slots players lose in the long run, it’s not 100% impossible to play slots for a living. But such a small percentage of players make money that the truth is that you should probably forget the idea.
Each machine is programmed to pay back a certain percentage of every dollar wagers and keep the rest for the casino. These numbers are called different names, but I call them pay back percentage and the house edge.
A slot machine’s pay back percentage is the amount of all bets returned to the player through wins on the machine. If a slot machine has a 95% pay back percentage that means that on average it gives back $95 out of every $100 wagered to the player.
If you consider this from the other angle you get the house edge. When the slot machine pays back $95 out of $100, it keeps the other $5 for profit. In other words, a machine that pays back $95 out of every $100 wagered has a 5% house edge.
When you add the house edge percentage and the pay back percentage together, they always equal 100%. This means that if you know one number you can subtract it from 100 to get the other number.
You can use these numbers to predict how much money you should win or lose over a set period of time, based on how much you bet per hour. Because the house edge is in the casino’s favor, it means that if you can’t figure out how to overcome the edge or get lucky, you’re going to lose in the long run.
Most slot machines have a payback percentage between 90 and 98%. This means the house edge is between 2 and 10%. With a house edge, it means that you lose between 2 and 10% of every dollar you run through the machine.
Here’s an example:
- You play on a slot machine that has a 98% pay back percentage, which means it has a 2% house edge. Your bet size is $2 per spin and you make 400 spins per hour. You can figure out your average loss rate, or what you can expect to lose on average per hour, by using this formula.
- Amount bet per spin times spins per hour times the house edge.
- $2 X 400 X 2% = $16
This means that if you play for 10 hours your expected loss is $160. You simply multiply the expected hourly loss times the number of hours you plan to play and you get the average expected loss.
Slots are run by computers, which use a program based on math. These programs, unless the programmers made a mistake, make sure that the underlying math principles always come true. It might take millions of spins, but the programs guarantees that the machine produces the programmed profit percentage for the casino.
The house edge and pay back percentage are long term things. This means that these percentages are realized over a long period of time. In the short term the house edge and pay back percentages vary, sometimes a great deal. But eventually the short term variance evens out and produces the correct results.
Most players can’t, and this is why it’s almost impossible to play slots for a living.
If you still want to try to play slots for a living, the following sections have additional information you need to know. Just keep in mind that even if you use every trick and strategy in your power, you still might lose money in the long run.
Finding the Pay Back Percentage of Slots
You just learned about pay back percentage and the house edge and how these things guarantee the casino a profit. So the next question is how do you find out the house edge and pay back for slot machines?
Most casino games are designed in a way that it’s fairly easy to determine the house edge and pay back percentage, or you can easily find the numbers with a quick internet search. But slots are different. The programs that run the machines have so many variables that unless you have access to the program it’s impossible to determine the house edge and pay back percentage.
Another problem is that some machines offer different pay back percentages from the manufacturer, so each casino can order their machines with the percentage they want. You can find out more about finding slot machine pay back percentages here, but the news isn’t good.
The following sections include everything I know that can help you improve your chances to win. Four of them are strategies that you can put into action yourself, and the other one is based on hope. Sadly, hope isn’t much of a strategy, but it fits in perfectly with how most people gamble. They put their money out and hope to win.
Online Bonuses
Who Makes Casino Slot Machines Machine
Online casinos often offer bonuses for slots players when they make a deposit. You can get 100% or more of your deposit matched with bonus money you can use to play slots. This sounds like a great way to overcome the house edge, and if the money was free it would be.
While bonus money looks like it’s free, when you read the conditions and terms associated with the bonus you find out that it’s not a simple as the casino giving you free money.
Every online slots bonus comes with rules and regulations about how you can use it, what you have to do before you can cash out your money, and if you get to keep any bonus amount when you meet the terms of the offer.
The terms vary from online casino to online casino, so it’s important to read them before you make your deposit. Some bonuses are deducted from your balance when you make a cash out request, while others can be cashed out eventually.
When you accept an online slots bonus you have to meet certain requirements. These are usually called play through requirements. A play through requirement means that you have to play the bonus amount, and sometimes the deposit amount as well, a certain number of times to clear the bonus. The requirement is usually shown as a multiple, like 25X or 50X. This means you have to make wagers totaling 25 times or 50 times the bonus, and sometimes the deposit amount.
Here’s an example:
- You sign up at an online casino that offers a 100% sign up bonus on deposits up to $250. You make a $250 deposit and get a $250 bonus. This gives you a total bankroll of $500. The terms and conditions state that you have to play the deposit and bonus amount 50 times before you can cash out.
- The total of the bonus and your deposit is $500, so you multiply this by 50 to find the total amount you have to bet. 50 X $500 = $25,000, so you have to make $25,000 worth of bets before cashing out. The best can be any size as long as the total amount reaches the limit.
You can use a trick at this point to get an idea of the possibility of clearing the bonus and having money left over. You can multiply the total amount you have to wager times the house edge to find the expected loss.
Using this example, if you play on a slot machine with a 5% house edge, your expected loss is $1,250. This means that usually you’re going to run out of money before you clear the bonus. The only ways to change this are to play on a machine with a lower house edge, or find bonuses that have lower play through requirements.
You also need to make sure you understand the difference between cashable bonuses and the ones that are deducted from your balance. A bonus that can’t be cashed out when you meet the playing requirements makes it unlikely you can beat the house edge.
Here’s an example if you play a slot machine with a 2% house edge, using the same bonus numbers in the last example.
$25,000 X 2% = $500. This means that your expected loss is the same as your total bankroll of $500. Even if you get lucky and don’t lose all $500, the odds of you having more than your deposit of $250 left after clearing the bonus is slim.
You should defiantly use online slots bonuses if you want to play slots. Even a bonus that’s not cashable gives you extra money to gamble with. It also gives you extra chances to hit a big jackpot, which is the only way most slots players have of getting ahead.
Slots Tournaments
Slots tournaments aren’t run at all casinos, but some casino run them from time to time, and a few run them on a regular basis. A slots tournament offers a minimum amount of play for a set entry fee and awards prizes for the top finishers.
Some casinos offer slots tournaments as a reward for a set amount of play and/or connected to their slots club program. If you can earn a free entry into a slots tournament, anything you win helps overcome the house edge on your normal slots play.
When you’re looking for a slots tournament that has an entry fee, you should look for ones that have a guaranteed prize pool. If you can find tournaments that don’t get enough entrants to cover the prize pool you can play with an edge. It won’t greatly improve your chances of finishing in the money, but when the entry fees don’t cover the prize pool it’s profitable to play.
Here’s an example:
- The casino offers a slots tournament with a guaranteed prize pool of $1,000. The entry fee is $10 and they only get 80 people to sign up. If you divide the prize pool by the number of entrants you get the average value of playing.
- In this case, the average is $12.50. Any time the average return for playing is higher than the entry fee you’re playing with an edge.
You still have to finish in the money to win some money, but if you play in enough of these types of situations you come out ahead eventually.
Playing Slots for Comps and Promotions
Every time you play slots you should be earning comps. Sign up for the slots club at your local casino and look for online casinos that have a rewards program. The casinos don’t give back enough in comps to overcome the normal house edge, but every penny you get back in comps helps lower your cost to play.
Casinos also run promotions from time to time. You might be able to find free slots play vouchers and match play coupons in the local paper or on the web site of the casino where you’re planning to ply. Promotions and coupons are a great way offset the built in house edge of the slot machines.
Getting Lucky
I hate to say it, but the only way most people can play slots for a living is to get lucky. If you’re lucky enough to hit a big jackpot sometime in your life, and are smart with the money, you can afford to play slots full time.
The only slot machines I play are the ones that offer either a progressive jackpot or ones that have a set top jackpot prize of $100,000 or higher. I know I can’t overcome the long term house edge without a big win, so I don’t waste my time on machines that can’t make a big deposit into my bank.
Getting lucky isn’t a strategy, but if you don’t put yourself in position where you have the chance to be lucky you don’t even have reason to hope. If you want to play slots for a living focus on slots with big jackpot possibilities.
Progressive Jackpots
The only way to truly play slots with an edge over the house is to play a progressive jackpot slot machine where the top prize has grown so high that it overcomes the edge. The problem with this is the same as I discussed earlier. If you don’t know the house edge you can’t determine how high the progressive jackpot has to climb before it makes the play profitable.
If you don’t know the house edge, simply play the slots that have the highest jackpots. Most casinos, both online and off, have at least one slots game with a jackpot over $1,000,000.
If you can’t find one with a jackpot over $1 million, look for the highest one you can find. A $500,000 jackpot win might not set you up financially for life, but it’s enough to help out quite a bit.
Conclusion
Playing slots for a living is a dream of many gamblers. But the truth is that it’s almost impossible to succeed. The house edge locks in a long term profit for the casinos, so very few people win.
You can use the tips and strategies on this page to give yourself the best chance to overcome the house edge, but if you want to gamble for a living your best bet is to stop playing slots and pick a different game.
Whether you choose to play at an online casino or a brick and mortar establishment, slots are by far the most popular of all casino games. Right from the very start when slots were first introduced to casinos, they proved to be instantly popular. Why? Because slots are easy to play and they are easy to understand. While some casino games like roulette or baccarat require learning and practice, slots can be played right away, making them accessible to anyone.
Technology is also often associated with advancements in gambling. For example, the very first slot machines were extremely simple. They consisted of a wooden box, primitive wooden reels, and real poker cards as symbols. The prizes were very basic, often consisting of a bar of soap, a free beer at the bar, or a pack of gum. Nevertheless, at the time they represented the height of innovation in technology.
Today’s slots are incredibly advanced, featuring everything from bonus rounds and innovative game symbols to touch screen and mobile gaming. One thing is always the common denominator though technology is always driving slots into new realms of excitement and playability.
Online gaming delivers a modern take on the features and how accessible the games are. Not only do online casinos make it fast, simple, and easy to play, but they also attract more land-based gamers by offering higher payout percentages, more game variations, higher progressive jackpots, and gaming features land-based casinos simply can’t keep up with.
Online casinos offer the ultimate in casino gaming convenience, allowing players to access their favorite slots where ever they like. Modern online casinos have become a central hub, offering a range of casino gaming entertainment which is available on multiple platforms, including Instant Play (in-browser) as well as mobile gaming. The best online casinos use the latest security measures to ensure that players always enjoy a rewarding online slots and casino gaming experience.
Let’s have a look at what slots have to offer and why they’ve become so addictive.
It’s All in the Structure
The first and most important fact attributable to modern video slots must be the potential opportunities they provide. Multi payline games offer a much better chance of winning regularly, making it very attractive for good reasons.
If you play at online casinos, you’ll know that games with less than 10 paylines are a lot less common in new releases. In fact, most games are structured with 20 paylines and the new craze is to offer 243 or even 1024 ways to win. Basically, these imply that three or more of the same symbols appearing from left to right is sure to produce a winning combination. Naturally, these benefits are very attractive.
In combination with multiple paylines offering more ways to win, game developers include fantastic bonus features. Older games tend to include a regular wild symbol, a scatter, and sometimes a special feature such as free spins. New games, on the other hand, combine themed bonus features. The wilds don’t just substitute; they shift from one reel to the next, expand, or appear completely at random. When it comes to free spins, new slot games don’t only issue you with a few free spins that you might win from, but these free spins also include levels and special benefits that you can unlock by collecting items, for example. One of the biggest modern-day slot benefits also relates to jackpot winnings, where you have the opportunity to win millions.
So, why are these games addictive?
Well, the answer should be quite clear. Developers of online gaming software find improved ways to deliver advantages that simply make games so much more attractive and exciting. This includes more bonus rounds, with more innovative and rewarding gaming features. For example, newer slots will often feature expanding or sticky wilds, huge bonus multipliers, and exciting additional bonus round games. All of these add up to far more addictive slots gaming, time after time.
Casino games are no longer just about winning; they’ve become an excellent source of entertainment.
Does RNG Determine How Addictive Slots Are?
RNG (Random Number Generator) technology has changed in many ways over the last few decades. These randomizing systems form part of just about all video slots, especially those found at online casinos.
While many may think of an RNG as a way for the casino to keep winning, it’s actually a great system that ensures all the payouts occur at complete random, making it impossible to rig the game in anyone’s favor. This is a benefit for you and the casino. For yours, it ensures the casino cannot rig the results as independent auditors run the games through stringent random tests to ensure fairness via legally required certification. For the casinos, the higher RNG percentage attracts more gamers while also ensuring the game delivers an overall profit.
Well, an RNG system works in a unique way. Sometimes, the return to player rate would be well in your favor, which is when you may receive impressive payouts almost all the time. The period of how long the rate remains in your favor is unknown to everyone, including the casino. Other times it may seem as if you’re spinning away, but only receive a few small wins, barely enough to cover the value of your next spin.
The reason the RNG adds to the addictiveness of a slot is that it challenges you. At times the game would not provide any winnings and suddenly it gives you a massive payout. This becomes a rush, making you feel as if you knew that a win was coming, which is why you keep spinning. RNG is also the system that makes you think “just one more spin” and another after that. While the additional spins are sometimes well worth it, at the end of the day, the RNG system plays a major role, since it adds even more fuel to the reason why these games are addictive.
Are Slots More Addictive at Night?
Since slot games have become a method of relaxation and comfort, studies revealed that most players engage in gaming sessions at night. However, since they are so easily accessible, many tend to enjoy the features and excitement throughout the day, even while at the office.
Since the RNG keeps the rewards random, it’s hard to tell if the game you’re playing will deliver a win at a certain time of day. Therefore, slots have become addictive throughout the day, especially with mobile gaming that allows access anywhere within seconds.
We all know that feeling of walking on the casino floor with a card filled with casino credits. It’s almost as if you need to play the next game you see. The atmosphere on the casino floor is charged with excitement as most players come to play at night after work to unwind and have fun. Well, with online casino games, the same feeling applies, only now you can access them at any time and from anywhere. Therefore, a moment of relaxation or taking a break from work presents an opportunity to “select a game at random.”
When you arrive home in the evening and simply want to relax, you may think that the best way to do it is with a few casino games, especially when you have funds in your casino account. Nowadays, weekends at home hold the chance of winning real money, all while you’re relaxing on the couch with your favorite series playing in the background. Mobile and online gaming provide many new advantages, not only with its technology but with convenience as well.
So, the time of day doesn’t really influence when games are most addictive. Instead, it relates to when you have a free moment and the cash in your casino account is itching to gain some more winnings.
Are Online Casinos More Addictive?
Land-based casinos still possess a few benefits of their own, but when it comes to playing more games, gaining extra rewards, and having access to regular new releases, there’s no match when comparing to online casinos.
Casino Machine Slot
Firstly, online casinos have an edge when it comes to operational and overhead costs. Unlike land-based casinos, they require far less staff. They don’t necessitate physical gaming machines and they aren’t limited by floor space. That’s why online casinos can offer a much higher payout percentage and still gain a massive overall profit.
To you, the player, this also comes with many benefits. Not only do you gain the opportunity to access the casino without traveling, you can also play all the same or similar games that you would normally find at a land-based casino. In addition, you will also be able to benefit from being exposed to many other, newer games at a much earlier date. Furthermore, online casino promotions are unique, giving you free cash with most of your deposits, which is once again not something a land-based casino can afford to do.
The list of online benefits can stretch for much longer, but you get the idea. Online casinos have a lot more to offer and remain extremely convenient with everything from quick, easy registration to playing games and making withdrawals. Therefore, they’ve become a lot more accessible which makes them more addictive than land-based casinos, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Instead, it should be considered as a benefit, since online establishments feature many great opportunities to enjoy vast gaming entertainment and winning possibilities.
Our Thoughts
Clearly, slots are addictive by pure design and, whether you prefer to play them online or at your favorite brick and mortar casino, you will be able to find something that is tailor-made for your specific needs.
We’ve looked at the effects of RNG’s, time, layout and structure on the addictiveness of slots, as well as the effects of online casino gaming. However, ultimately it really boils down to you, the player knowing your own particular limits and needs so that you can always enjoy a positive and rewarding slots gaming experience.