Slot machines are the most popular game in any casino. Sure, people bet more on the lottery, and the worldwide sports betting market is huge. But slot machines are the game du jour in most casinos, especially in the United States. Sadly, slot machines games also offer the worst odds in the casino except maybe for keno. The compounding effect of. You can find video slots at a 50 cent level and get a similar experience to a $5 pennies bet. Many Ainsworth video slots at quarters for 20 lines or 50 cents for 10 lines will be the same games you can play at lower denominations. Dragon Link has a 5 line option at the $1 level within the machine.

Normally, wagering propositions involve so-called games of skill, such as sports betting, playing the horses, or poker. But the reality is that in nearly all casinos, the most money is not wagered on games where skill — or lack thereof — is a determining factor.

Rather, the majority of casino revenue is generated by that game where the results are decided by pure luck — slot machines.

About 70 percent of casino revenue in New Jersey is generated by slot machines, according to a recent report on slots by the American Gaming Association. And while playing the slots is devoid of a skill factor, and the odds are always in the casino's favor, you're better off if you can make some informed decisions as you go about playing them.

The first choice is determining whether you want to go for a huge, life-changing jackpot or simply want to get the most play possible for your investment. Usually, you can't have both.

So, how can you tell a high-jackpot (also known as high-volatility) machine as opposed to a high-hit frequency (low-volatility) machine?

'You have to look at the denomination of the machine, the maximum bet, and compare it to the highest jackpot,' said Chris Downey, director of slot operations for Resorts Atlantic City.

Downey cited the traditional Blazing 7s $1 machines at his casino as an example of a high-frequency machine because the maximum wager is $3, and the jackpots are in the $1,000 to $1,200 range. Those aren't life-changing jackpots, but they hit relatively often, and so do the smaller payouts.

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Another machine with the same $3 max bet that pays $5,000 or $10,000 might be more tempting because of the sweeter top prize, but the hit frequency will be lower for both the big jackpot and smaller payoffs.

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'The best advice is to read the award panel on the machine and don't play until you understand it,' Downey said.

One rule of thumb regarding slots has been to always play a machine where you can afford the maximum bet, because if you wager less than that, you'll miss out on the grand prize jackpot if it does hit.

While that's often true, it is not the case in a new generation of slots at Resorts and other casinos, Konami's Advantage Revolution machines. In addition to having some whiz-bang graphics and animation where the screen seems to spin on an axis in bonus rounds, the Advantage Revolution slots have a triple-tiered progressive jackpot, and even the minimum bet, 35 cents at Resorts, allows the player to be eligible for the top prize because 10 cents goes into the progressive payoff pool. So, whether a player puts in the minimum (35 cents) or the maximum ($2.60), the jackpot is in play.

Here are some basics any slot player should know:

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Slot machines are governed by something called a random number generator. The RNG assigns a number to each reel, and that number is translated into a symbol that appears on a pay line.

In New Jersey, each machine has a computer chip that determines that machine's payback. The state mandates a minimum payback of 83 percent, but machines are often set much higher, often 90 percent or better.

The notion that a slot machine is 'due' to hit is simply gambler superstition. Theoretically, slot machines are programmed to go through cycles that should yield that machine's — or rather its computer chip's — overall payback. But that cycle is made up of many thousands of plays, and even a few hours of play on a single machine represents only a fraction of the cycle. So, a player might experience long droughts or a profitable run that is below or exceeds the machine's programmed payback.

Also nonsense is the dread that if you leave a seemingly cold machine, the next player will hit big on it. If such a thing does happen, understand that there is almost no way that your next pull would have produced the same result. The RNG is in constant operation even when the machine is not being played, so you would have had to pull the handle or hit the play button at the very same nanosecond to have gotten that jackpot.

It is true that higher-denomination machines have larger paybacks than lower-denomination machines. So, if a penny machine requires $3 for a maximum bet, and a $1 machine also requires $3 for a maximum bet, mathematically a gambler will do better on the $1 machine over the long haul. In fact, information on casino win percentage by slot denomination is available on the New Jersey Casino Control Commission website.

The bottom line on slot machines is that, as is the case with any game of chance, the experience should be viewed as entertainment, not as a way to make money. In part, that's why slot machine manufacturers have incorporated pop culture and show business themes into slots, such as the enormously popular 'Sex and the City' machines.

And remember, despite the siren call of those slots featuring Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte, they're still one-armed bandits at the core of their computerized hearts.

Remember the movie National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation, when gambling fever consumes Chevy Chase’s character, Clark W. Griswold? He goes on a losing streak to beat all losing streaks while his son, Rusty, wins four cars by playing the slot machines. Maybe Clark would have done better if he had read Probability For Dummies! In this article, you discover the basic ideas behind slot machines and how they work, so that you can get past the myths and develop a strategy based on sound probability.

Understanding average payout

When casinos advertise that their slot machines pay out an average of 90 percent, the fine print they don’t want you to read says that you lose 10 cents from each dollar you put into the machines in the long term. (In probability terms, this advertisement means that your expected winnings are minus 10 cents on every dollar you spend every time the money goes through the machines.)

Suppose you start with $100 and bet a dollar at a time, for example. After inserting all $100 into the slot, 100 pulls later you’ll end up on average with $90, because you lose 10 percent of your money. If you run the $90 back through the machine, you’ll end up with 90 percent of it back, which is 0.90 x 90 = $81. If you run that amount through in 81 pulls, you’ll have $72.90 afterward (0.90 x 81 = 72.90). If you keep going for 44 rounds, on average, the money will be gone, unless you have the luck of Rusty Griswold!

How many pulls on the machine does your $100 give you at this rate? Each time you have less money to run through the machine, so you have fewer pulls left. If you insert $1 at a time, you can expect 972 total pulls in the long term with these average payouts (that’s the total pulls in 44 rounds). But keep in mind that casinos are designing slot machines to go faster and faster between spins. Some are even doing away with the handles and tokens by using digital readouts on gaming cards that you put into the machines. The faster machines can play up to 25 spins per hour, and 972 spins divided by 25 spins per minute is 38.88 minutes. You don’t have a very long time to enjoy your $100 before it’s gone!

The worst part? Casinos often advertise that their “average payouts” are even as high as 95 percent. But beware: That number applies only to certain machines, and the casinos don’t rush to tell you which ones. You really need to read or ask about the fine print before playing. You can also try to check the information on the machine to see if it lists its payouts. (Don’t expect this information to be front and center.)

Implementing a simple strategy for slots

Advice varies regarding whether you should play nickel, quarter, or dollar slot machines and whether you should max out the number of coins you bet or not (you usually get to choose between one and five coins to bet on a standard slot machine). In this section, you’ll find a few tips for getting the most bang for your buck (or nickel) when playing slot machines.

Basically, when it comes to slot machines, strategy boils down to this: Know the rules, your probability of winning, and the expected payouts; dispel any myths; and quit while you’re ahead. If you win $100, cash out $50 and play with the rest, for example. After you lose a certain amount (determined by you in advance), don’t hesitate to quit. Go to the all-you-can-eat buffet and try your luck with the casino food; odds are it’s pretty good!

Choosing among nickel, quarter, and dollar machines

The machines that have the higher denominations usually give the best payouts. So, between the nickel and quarter slots, for example, the quarter slots generally give better payouts. However, you run the risk of getting in way over your head in a hurry, so don’t bet more than you can afford to lose. The bottom line: Always choose a level that you have fun playing at and that allows you to play for your full set time limit.

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Deciding how many coins to play at a time

When deciding on the number of coins you should play per spin, keep in mind that more is sometimes better. If the slot machine gives you more than two times the payout when you put in two times the number of coins, for example, you should max it out instead of playing single coins because you increase your chances of winning a bigger pot, and the expected value is higher. If the machine just gives you k times the payout for k coins, it doesn’t matter if you use the maximum number of coins. You may as well play one at a time until you can make some money and leave so your money lasts a little longer.

For example, say a quarter machine pays 10 credits for the outcome 777 when you play only a single quarter, but if you play two quarters, it gives you 25 credits for the same outcome. And if you play the maximum number of quarters (say, four), a 777 results in 1,000 credits. You can see that playing four quarters at a time gives you a better chance of winning a bigger pot in the long run (if you win, that is) compared to playing a single quarter at a time for four consecutive tries.

The latest slot machine sweeping the nation is the so-called “penny slot machine.” Although it professes to require only a penny for a spin, you get this rate only if you want to bet one penny at a time. The machines entice you to bet way more than one penny at a time; in fact, on some machines, you can bet more than 1,000 coins (called lines) on each spin — $10 a shot here, folks. Because these machines take any denomination of paper bill, as well as credit cards, your money can go faster on penny machines than on dollar machines because you can quickly lose track of your spendings. Pinching pennies may not be worth it after all!