Should you play “max” coins on all slot machines?
Slot machines have evolved from the old “one-arm bandits” to the video slot machine games of today. Just like the slots have changed, so have the best ways to play them. Many of the older 3-reel, 3-coin slot machines give an extra bonus if you win the jackpot with maximum coins played. An example would be a jackpot of 500 with one coin played, 1000 with two coins played, and 5000 with a maximum three coins played.
The best advice for any machine that is like the example above is to ALWAYS play maximum credits. This especially holds true when the jackpot is a progressive jackpot. If you are going to play high dollar progressive machines you MUST play the maximum number of coins to qualify. If you don’t play the max coins and you happen to hit the jackpot you will never forgive yourself.
Many players that have hit the jackpot without playing max coins try to make themselves feel better by saying the machine would not have hit the jackpot if they were playing max coins. However, this is not true. The random number generator (RNG), the computer program that operates the machine, does not “know” how many coins someone is playing. It operates the same for any coin amount.
Many of the newer video slots have a proportional jackpot which means there is no advantage to playing higher credits. The jackpot is based on the number of coins you bet and there is no bonus given for betting max coins. An example would be: a 45 credit max machine that has a jackpot payout of 100 for 1-coin bet and 4,500 for the full 45-coin max bet. The jackpot increases in proportion so there is no reason to play more coins it does not give you an advantage.
Make sure you evaluate each machine before you play to determine how many coins to bet. If you are playing a slot machine with a progressive jackpot and cannot afford to play max credits, then switch to a lower denomination machine but do not play with less than max credits. Slot machines are hard enough to win at, but if you do happen to hit the jackpot you want to make sure you are fully compensated.
