Slot players see this feature enough, and periodically have questions about it, that it’s time to revisit this popular topic:
What determines if you play the “Lucky Chance Spin” or not?
Rhonda
More slots nowadays give players one last crack at a win if there’s not enough money for a full spin. This is in the form of the Lucky Chance Spin, Wager Saver, or similar features offered by many slot manufacturers.
The idea is that your odds of getting a spin are proportional to your credit amount on the machine vs. the cost of a spin. For instance, if a spin costs $1, and you have 80 cents left in the machine, if you play for it you have an 80 percent chance of getting it.
In this way it’s true odds of getting a spin, which makes sense because the house edge is baked into the spins themselves.
So, what determines if you get the feature?
Does the Slot Offer It?
Many slots today offer it, but not all of them do, so there will be times when you simply can’t take advantage of it because it won’t pop up. So that’s going to be the first hurdle.
Has the Casino Enabled It?
The ability for it to be offered or not is something the casino has the choice to configure. So there will be games that have it but casinos that choose not to offer it for one reason or another. That can explain why it’s somethings an inconsistent experience over whether a slot offers it.
The exception does seem to be Aristrocrat’s link games, which have it as a core feature that’s always present on them.
When Should You Play It?
Brian Christopher’s preference is generally to give it a go when there’s at least a 50 percent chance a spin can occur, which means at least half the bet amount is on the credit meter at the time of the attempt.
Sometimes he’ll purposely put in less money than a spin cost ($100 for a $125 spin, for example), just to try to get some spins at a cheaper price, even though 20 percent of the time, on average, his attempt should fail based on the ratio. That said, one of his more exciting moments came doing exactly that.
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