Which Slots Have The Best Odds
Ever since the 1980s, casinos have discovered that they make more profits off their slot machines than they do from their table games. This is just as true of online casinos as it is of land-based gambling halls. In Las Vegas, where free drinks and loyalty rewards have long been used as inducements for slot play, the latest promotional craze is bragging about payback rates. Where are the biggest jackpots being hit? Who can offer the best slot machine odds?
The Three Best Casino Games to Play. If you walk into a casino and can't remember the details of this article, keep one thing in mind: you have the best odds of winning at a table game. They may be more intimidating than slots, but they usually work out better for the players. Slot machine: Megabucks slot machine. What’s better than winning a life-changing amount of money once? Well, winning it twice of course. That was the case for a 60-year-old woman who played on the Wheel of Fortune machine at Palace Station. She won $680,000 on her first win, before returning to play the slots titles in the same casino again.
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If you listen to Las Vegas locals, they say never play the slots at casinos that line Las Vegas Boulevard. “Strictly for tourists,” they will tell you. Then, they’ll point downtown where many of the city’s oldest casinos are grouped within easy walking distance from one another and add, “The best payouts are along Fremont Street.”
But what do the actual numbers say? Is Vegas street wisdom to be believed? And what to make of claims made by casinos themselves? Who really has the loosest slots in town?
Downtown vs. the Strip
Overall, slots generate nearly 60% of Nevada’s annual gaming revenues and almost twice as much as table games. The Nevada Gaming Control Board breaks down its Las Vegas slot statistics in two major tourist areas: downtown and the Strip. Additionally, there is a large locals market, which reports of gaming revenue classify as the Boulder Strip and North Las Vegas areas.
In the full fiscal year between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012, the payback percentages for all slots in Clark County were 93.51%. By area, the downtown paid back 93.47% and the Strip returned 92.62%, so there is a certain ring of truth to the locals’ claim. However, what goes unsaid is that North Las Vegas slots returned 93.91% and the Boulder Strip slots paid back 94.76%, so the best advice is to avoid the tourist areas and play where the locals play.
Compared to fiscal 2011, all of the areas except the Boulder Strip showed a slight reduction in paybacks in 2012. Slots located along Boulder Highway paid out exactly the same year on year; they include the machines of such popular casinos as Sam’s Town, Arizona Charlie’s, and Boulder Station, to name a few.
Odds by Slot Type
The Gaming Control Board statistics also indicate which slots pay out the best in order of the denomination of credit played. In fiscal 2012, Megabucks progressive slots showed the worst payback percentage overall, just 87.16%. However, the appeal of a massive jackpot obviously outweighs the poor odds during hard economic times, as Megabucks revenues rose 59% versus fiscal 2011—the biggest gain among all types of slots.
At the other end of the spectrum, the very best payback percentages came from high roller slots. Those accepting denominations of $5, $25 and $100 returned 94.67%, 96.52% and 96.30%, respectively—proving once again that it takes money to make money.
For those whose champagne tastes come with beer budgets, the most fruitful games are on the nickel and quarter slots, which also include video poker machines of those denominations. Fully 94.48% of all 25¢ wagers were returned in fiscal 2012. Coming in right behind were nickel slots, paying back 94.40%.
Many slot players enjoy multi-denomination slots, which were a reasonably good bet in 2012 with a 94.65% payback rate. Meanwhile, dollar machines were not bad performers, yielding a 94.42% return of the cash invested. Much less favorable to players were penny machines, returning just 89.33%—the worst bet other than Megabucks.
What About Other Games
If slots aren’t your cup of tea, and you much prefer real money blackjack, then visit our dedicated page to online blackjack. United States Blackjack typically affords better odds than the slots, especially if players are willing to learn card counting. Bet your real money wisely with the tips you garner from reading legitimatecasino.com.
Who’s Really #1?
For those looking for a specific casino to frequent or a certain machine offering the very best slot odds, it is hard to separate the hoopla from the reality. The Gaming Control Board statistics do not reveal the results casino by casino or machine by machine. And the claims made by the casinos themselves have to be taken with a grain of salt.
For example, in 2010 the Palms Casino Resort launched a massive advertising campaign based upon the results of an “independent survey by the Las Vegas Advisor (that) indicates Palms’ slots and video poker returns are better than the average payback percentages in Nevada.” Their claim was that Palms’ slots were “28.278 percent looser than Clark County and 36.856 percent looser than the Strip.”
What Slots Have The Best Odds Of Winning
Not to be outdone, in 2011 the downtown’s El Cortez Casino shot back with advertising claiming that their slots were “39% looser than the Strip,” implying looser than the Palms’ slots by inference. Most lists of “hot slots” in Las Vegas mention the two properties as #1 and #2, but with three Megabucks jackpots awarded since 2004, perhaps the Palms deserves a slight edge. The El Cortez has paid no Megabucks winners to date.
The slots with the best odds are those that have the highest Return to Player Rate (RTP) or the equivalent lowest house edge. You can find this in the information section or paytable of most slots.
Before we get to which slots have the best odds of winning though, first we need to know a little about how slots creators denote the odds.
What you’ll find here:
First you need to know what RTP means
Which Slots Have The Best Odds In Vegas
You might have heard or read the term ‘RTP’ when reading slot reviews or blog posts about casino or slots.
RTP stands for Return to Player rate and is represented by a percentage value out of 100, with the number closer to 100 offering the best odds of winning over the lifetime of the game (1 billion spins or more)
For instance in theory a casino slot which has a 94% RTP will payout less over time to players than a slot with a 97% RTP.
It’s very rare to find any slots with 100% RTP as there always needs to be a house edge for casinos and the game creators to cover costs and make some money.
You can find out more about slot RTP in our “What is slot RTP and does it matter” post.
5 slots with the best odds
Just because a slot game has a high RTP though doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to win big.
This is online gambling after all, some players will win, some will lose and sometimes the game will payout more or less than it’s theoretical RTP suggests.
If you’re interested we’ve put together a list of slots with the highest RTP for you to take a look at.
But in brief here’s our top five slots that not only offer great odds, but great features too.
- Pirates Charm – 98.49%
- Polar Paws – 97.84%
- Goldilocks and the Wild Bears – 97.84%
- Egyptian Rise – 97.76%
- Wolfpack Pays – 97.76%
The slot with the highest RTP just happens to be a really great game from Quickspin Gaming.
The Pirates Charm slot is a pirate themed slot featuring 5 reels, 243 ways to win with 0.20 min bet, 100 max bet and medium to high variance volatility.
You’ll find Mystery Respins, Mystery Symbols, and Free Spins with Sticky Mystery Symbols offering some decent payouts thanks in part to a high return to player rate.
Note: the games on this list are all medium to high volatility, meaning that there might be higher RTP slots out there with lower volatility. Also with new games coming out every day we’ll do our best to update this list with the new slot machines with the best odds when we can.
Why it’s not always best to play slots with the top odds
Best Odds Slots Las Vegas
It might seem like an almost win-win solution, find the slots with the highest odds, deposit some cash, go play and you’ll win.
However, that’s not always the case.
For us and many out there gambling isn’t just about winning, it’s about having fun too.
And in the case of slots there’s more to how a slot might payout than just the RTP. In fact the features it contains, the hit frequency of the bonus features or wins (often not published) and paytable all come into play.
So we suggest you take this into account when choosing the new casino slots you want to play.
Good luck.