Unlike blackjack and poker where gamblers can increase their odds of winning with a proper strategy, slots are games of pure chance and one of the most important things a slots player can learn is good bankroll management. It is the only skill that would enable them to avoid losing their money and, sometimes, even end up at a profit. This may not be the most ambitious goal when starting to play but it is the most reasonable one when we realize that slots are, after all, a negative expectation game.
Bankroll management typically has many aspects, including determining a set budget, setting up some limits on the loss and win amount, etc. Many gambling experts online would also argue that discipline is crucial unless players want to lose all their money. Controlling your emotions, however, does not always work when gambling online, especially when playing slots. The reason for this is simple, yet not so obvious – slots are popular among casino players for their entertainment value, not their favorable rules or good odds, and it is the emotional response every slots fan is eager to experience when playing them. The sooner players understand that, the better.
Still, good bankroll management skills could help slots players make their money last and make the most of even the smallest budget. This article explains in short why bankroll management is so important when playing online slots. It also outlines the few most crucial steps in developing money management skills – what to do and what to avoid when playing slot games.
Bankroll and Game Sessions
The first thing players need to know is what a gambling bankroll is. This is money specifically intended for wagering on casino games, whether that would be slots, blackjack, or roulette. The bankroll should not include funds one would spend for food, rent, bills, or for living expenses, in general. There are also a few more basic questions players should ask themselves before entering a casino – what percentage of their entire bankroll should they spend per game session and how much they should bet on each spin based on their fixed budget.
General Guidelines for Setting up a Bankroll
Game Sessions and Betting Units
Loss Limits and Win Goals
General Guidelines for Setting up a Bankroll
To set up a proper gambling bankroll, players need to determine the amount of money they can afford to gamble away for a specified period – a month, a week, or a day. This is the money they are comfortable risking on slots. In other words, the money they are willing to lose without feeling that the loss would be devastating in any way. For many people, this would not be more than $200 per month, for instance, although some slots players would be able to set aside $1,000 for slots play.
So, the size of one’s bankroll would depend on their personal finances but also their tolerance for risk. Once players determine an amount they are comfortable with, they should divide it into several smaller portions for each game session they plan to have. For instance, if they have a monthly bankroll of $200 and plan to visit their favorite online or land-based casino four times during the month, they would divide their entire budget by four to determine the budget per visit. One trip to the casino could then include a single game session with a bankroll of $50 or two sessions of $25 each.
Experienced gamblers would commonly recommend having a session budget that is between 5% and 10% of the entire bankroll. However, this tactic would not be effective with small bankrolls of $200, for example, since players would have to play with only $10 or $20 per session. Another strategy is to simply set up a session bankroll without planning a long-term budget for slots play. This is, of course, much easier than sticking to a monthly bankroll, especially for novices who are just starting to implement bankroll management in their gambling routine.
Game Sessions and Betting Units
The next important step in setting up one’s bankroll is to determine how much to bet on each spin. Novices should stick to fixed stakes amounts, while experienced players may come up with a betting range that would fit their budget. Typically, the minimum amount they are willing to play with would be considered their basic betting unit. This could be $0.02, $0.10, $0.25, $1.00, etc. The general rule here is to have a session bankroll that is at least 100 times the betting unit.
Most slots players prefer playing with a bankroll that is 200 or 300 times the betting unit. This is the only way to ensure that they can get 200 or 300 spins on the slot game with the money they have even if they lose every single round, which is, of course, highly unlikely, yet entirely possible. Assume we choose to bet $0.25 per spin – this means our session bankroll should be $50 (200x the betting unit) or $75 (300x the betting unit). If we increase the bet size to $1.00, however, we will need at least $200 for the game session.
Loss Limits and Win Goals
It is also crucial to know when to walk away when playing slots. This rule applies to all types of casino games and all forms of gambling. Some gamblers believe it is best to set aside their winnings and play only with the money they started the session with. However, this is not the most practical piece of advice. Instead, slots players should set up specific loss limits and win goals for their game sessions. Once they reach them, they should stop playing and walk away with the funds they have left.
A good starting point is to have a loss limit of 30% to 50% of your session bankroll. This conservative, safe approach is suitable to novices and it makes sure that they will not lose more than half of their budget even if they are on a long losing streak. The same applies to the win goal – after they turn a profit of 30% or 50%, they should stop playing and preserve their winnings.
How to Get the Most of a Game Session
Following the aforementioned bankroll management tips would be effective but there are other important things casino patrons need to consider before starting to play slots for real money. To make the most of any game session, they should take into account several factors that would be unique to them and the game they choose to play.
Watch How to Get Most of a Game Session Video
Consider the RTP of the Slot
Penny Slots or High-Roller Games
Low and High Variance Games
Playing Slots Slowly
Bonuses and Comp Points
Consider the RTP of the Slot
Unlike land-based casinos, most online casinos typically display the average return of the games they offer. It is expressed as a percentage and is usually referred to as RTP or Return to Player, ranging between 92% and 97% for most slot games. If a game has an RTP of 95%, this means that players can expect to win back $95 of every $100 wager they make on average.
This theoretical return is calculated based on the odds for each possible winning combination and its respective payout. Generally, games with higher RTP rates are more profitable, so players should always look for slot machines with returns of at least 95%. They should know, however, that real-time sessions usually end up with an outcome that is much different than the theoretical expectation. After betting a total of $100 on a slot with 95% RTP, they can end up losing $25. In other cases, they can score a profit of $12. These are short-term results, while the RTP should be considered a more general indication of the profitability of a game.
Penny Slots or High-Roller Games
One of the most important things to consider before betting real money is the type of slot you intend to play and, more precisely, the coin denomination. Usually, the RTP percentage of these games increases with the denomination due to the higher payouts when playing with maximum coins, the max coin size, and all possible paylines.
There are slots where the maximum bet per spin is $1.00 or $2.00, for instance, and they are often called penny slots since spins are available from as little as a penny ($0.01). Other slot games work with stakes from $1.25 to $50 per spin and are more suitable for high-rollers and players whose goal is to hit the jackpot of the game. It is important to choose the proper game and adjust the size of your bet to ensure you have at least 50 or 100 spins on this particular slot.
Usually, you do not need to have a session bankroll of 300x your bet if your stake is $5 per spin – this could require having $1,500 in your pocket for a single game session. It would be more reasonable to set up a bankroll of 50x to 100x your bet.
Low and High Variance Games
Variance is another term in gambling theory that many casino players tend to pay no attention to. It is associated with the risk and it indicates how a game would pay out over time – whether it will bring frequent, yet small rewards, or it will pay less frequently but when it does, these would be big wins. Low variance slots tend to pay frequently, while when playing games with higher variance, players may experience longer losing streaks followed by big wins or even a jackpot hit.
The variance is important in money management simply because high-variance slots typically require larger bets to be made and more spins to be played until the player can turn a profit. This could cost a lot, which is why players should set up a larger session bankroll if they plan to play such games. Betting on low-variance slots, on the other hand, would not lead to such dramatic fluctuations in the bankroll. These games are more suited to players with smaller budgets – they cannot expect larger wins of 300x or 500x their stake, however.
The next step is a bit trickier – to find the variance of a given slot game. Some game developers would publish it but there is also a way to determine roughly the variance even if we do not have access to this information. We need to look at the paytable of the game and see if the payouts for 3 and 4-symbol combinations differ significantly from the payout for a 5-symbol combo. If the 5-symbol combination offers 10x the payout for getting 4 symbols in a row, then we are most probably looking at a high-variance game. If the gaps between the payouts are not so large, the slot probably has low variance.
Playing Slots Slowly
One of the best ways to control your spending while playing slot games is simply to play slowly. This way you are risking less money per hour. Many players would spin the reels around 500 or 600 times per hour, which at a $1 machine, means they are risking $600 within just an hour. The Autospin function only intensifies this effect and could lead to losing one’s bankroll very quickly. By slowing down and playing 200 or 300 spins per hour, for instance, players would be able to cut their losses in half.
Bonuses and Comp Points
Bonuses, special promotions, and comp point programs may have a huge impact on players’ slot bankroll if they are used properly. There are various types of bonuses offered online, including welcome bonuses, free spins, reload bonuses, cashback, while comp or loyalty points are typically given for betting on different games. What players should pay extra attention to before claiming a bonus, besides its amount, of course, is the long list of Bonus Terms and Conditions that comes with it.
Often, some conditions are simply not possible to meet. A good example would be the huge welcome bonuses, which are given when players make their first deposit into the casino. Let’s say the bonus is 100% match on the deposit and it is worth $200 but it has a wagering requirement of 50 times. This means that players would not be able to withdraw even $5 from their balance before gambling $10,000 ($200×50) away in the casino. There are, on the other hand, small free bonuses, which are cashable and do not include such restrictive conditions.
