Odds of hitting a slot machine jackpot

[vegas40]

A common mistake is to reason that if a lot of machines that all cost .75 to play, you might as well choose the one with the biggest jackpot, because that will be the best deal for your money, but this misses several important things such as the following:


1. The bigger the jackpot is, the harder it is hit.

2. Among the flat-tops machines without a meter which keeps going up, the overall odds are generally similar no matter how high the jackpot is.

3. The higher the jackpot, the more likely you will lose in the short-term. It takes a lot of play to fund those real big jackpots.

4. The machines with the huge jackpots like Wheel of Fortune and Megabucks have lousy odds. Not just for getting the jackpot, but for the small pays, too. Yes, they cost the same amount to play as regular machines, but they definitely suck up your money much faster.