Online Slots Players: Playing to Win

Like good little troopers, recreational online slot players are loyal to their endeavors. They will consistently sign onto their favorite iGaming sites and make yet another attempt to defy the odds. What are the odds? Beating the casino's built-in advantage.

While it might seem like doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result is "insane," it's really more about investing a little bit of money for a few hours of fun adult online entertainment, win or lose. What if you could increase your chances of winning money while playing online slots? Would you be interested in that kind of information?

To be clear, the house's advantage is the house's advantage. Nothing on planet Earth will change that. But... You can do some things to significantly increase your chances of winning at slots. Let's take a closer look.

What is the House's Advantage on Slots

If you have any designs on winning as an online slot player, you will need to know the enemy. The enemy is the online casino's built-in advantage, otherwise referred to as the "Return to Player" (RTP) percentage carried by online slots.

The RTP percentage represents the amount of every dollar wagered that gets paid back to players as gross winnings over the life of the video slot in question. This percentage is determined by an auditing firm that runs hundreds of thousands of game iterations to determine how much money gets returned.

FYI: The standard RTP percentage for online video slots ranges from 85% up to as high as 97%. If a slot has an RTP percentage of 96% (the standard), that means the game will eventually payout 96% of all the money wagered on the slot over time. That also means the casino will be keeping 4% (100% - 96%), which represents it's advantage.

Six (6) Things You Can Do to Increase Your Chances of Playing Winning Slots

Without further adieu, we would like to suggest that there are some things you can do to play winning slots. For your benefit, we would like to suggest that you follow these six (6) tips:

1. Find the Video Slots With the Highest RTP Percentages

First on the list is the most obvious tip. You should confine your online slot playing to the games that have the highest RTP percentages. That kind of information is available somewhere within each slot's rules and regulations. As a rule of thumb, we would suggest that you focus solely on games that have RTP percentages of at least 96%. The only exception should be playing a progressive jackpot game that might have an RTP percentage of 88% to 90%.

2. Bet the Max

If you want to win money while playing slots, be serious about winning money while playing slots. That means you need to get in the habit of wagering the maximum allowed on every spin.

For a moment, imagine that you are playing a progressive slot game. While placing minimum wagers, you suddenly hit the reel alignment that leads to a chance to play the progressive jackpot feature. Unfortunately, you come to find out that access to the feature is reserved for players who have wagered the per-spin maximum. Ouch! You have been denied access to a chance to play the progressive feature because you were trying to save a little money.

If you are going to invest in playing slots, bet the max with every spin and let the cards fall as they may.

3. Take Much-Needed Breaks

Playing online slots can turn into a grind. You might have to invest a lot of time and money playing a particular video slot before you might get a big payout. If you are playing a stubborn game, that might take hours or days.

The biggest mistake gamblers make is playing too long during an online gambling session. As the eyes and brain get tired, mistakes are bound to happen. Indeed, gambling mistakes are going to cost money.

Here's a thought. Set reasonable time limits for each of your gambling sessions. Play long enough to have fun but not so long that your mind becomes your enemy. Take those much-needed breaks, knowing the same video slot will still be there when you are rested and ready to return to action. Online casino operators aren't fond of rested slot players.

4. Don't Turn Wins Into Losses

There is something about the human spirit that responds to rewards by having the desire for more rewards. How many times have you had a decent win while playing online slots but ended up with net losses because you refused to walk away and secure your winnings? More times than you would like to admit?

The truth is you can only win while playing online slots if you are willing to walk away after a big hit. Remember, those big hits don't come often. When they do, you need to honor them by tucking some of those winnings away for a rainy day.

As a rule of thumb, you should start each slot-playing session with a monetary winning goal. Once that goal has been set, you have to have the discipline to abide by the goal you have set for yourself. Every time you reach your goal either walk away completely or take half of your net winnings and put them in the bank.

5. How to Turn Losses Into Wins

Sometimes, it's not going to be your day. Despite your best efforts, you'll lose spin after spin as the frustration mounts. Those are the times to walk away and cut your losses. By simply learning to cut your losses on unlucky days, you can actually play winning slots by reserving some of your gambling bankroll for another day.

6. Shoot for the Moon By Playing Progressive Slot Games

If you really want to shoot for the big payday, you'll want to focus on progressive jackpot games like "Mega Moolah" (Microgaming) and "Mega Fortune" (NetEnt). No matter what U.S. online casino website you are using, you should have access to multiple progressive video slots.

As we indicated above, progressive slots typically have lower RTP percentages, sometimes as low as 85%. That can be directly attributed to the fact that progressive jackpots are infinitely harder to hit. With that said, the potential rewards make these games worthy of attention.

It's commonplace for progressive jackpot slots to offer progressive jackpots at 6-figures or more. In the case of Microgaming's Mega Moolah, the mega jackpot has frequently reached 10 figures while currently holding the world record for video slot payoffs at an astounding $20+ million. Would that kind of money change your life?

Always Gamble Responsibly

Any kind of gambling is going to come with some level of risk. It doesn't matter if you are playing bingo, the lottery, video slots, casino table games, the horses (horse racing), or betting on sports. There will always be less than a 50% chance you are going to win.

Given the inherent risk, you are expected to be responsible as a gambler. That means staying in control of your gambling activities and never wagering more money than you can afford to lose.

The tried and true standard by which you should set your gambling limits is only to gamble with discretionary money. What is discretionary money? It's the money you have remaining after your bills have been paid and some kind of savings have been set aside for the future. By sticking to this standard of responsible gambling, it's very unlikely that you will fall victim to gambling addiction. In a way, that makes you a winner.

If at any point you feel your gambling is leading you down an unsavory path, it's time to stop. If you have trouble stopping, most online gambling sites will give you access to problem gambling resources.