The majority of slot machines have done away with the ability to decide how many lines you want to bet, just having preset bet options. But with that shift, bets also began to become somewhat disconnected from the line count as well, as the bet size increased but the number of lines did not:
Hey, I have a question about Mo Mummy. Has anybody else seen the pay structure on the spins? It’s a 30 line game 1 cent denomination but costs 75 cents to spin. The game doesn’t say it’s charging you 45 cent for the chance at the bonus games. Basically they are stealing from you before you spin because they don’t give you the chance to play without paying for the bonus chances. Which is in my opinion another reason why I say the game is rigged.
Robert L.
It’s not rigged. It’s not stealing. If that’s how you think about a slot machine’s design that simply doesn’t work for you, we don’t recommend going into a casino at all – it’s clearly not a healthy relationship you have with these machines.
To specifically address the question, as players have expected bigger bonuses, and are willing to forego bigger line hits for it, game design has shifted more of the emphasis to the bonuses versus the line hits.
To ensure the money’s there for those bigger bonuses, the bets have grown, even though the line counts have not. Some games will put more credits towards the line hits from the get-go, but most use the extra coin-in to supplement the bonuses.
We’ve recently written about the evolution of the Buffalo series – Buffalo Gold Revolution has the same pay table as Buffalo, despite its base bets being nearly twice as much. Other changes are introduced that help both the base game and the bonus pay more for that higher bet, but players don’t have a choice to opt out on Buffalo Gold Revolution either (other than going and finding the original Buffalo instead in that case).
If you want to play a slot where you’re not playing for bonuses, there are a subset of games out there where you can reduce your bet and just play for line hits. This reduction in bet might also mean a reduction in payback, because you’re not paying what’s known as “cost to cover” – the amount you need to bet to be eligible for all of the payouts on the pay table.
Since the pays may be distributed differently from the wagers, you might be skipping an outsized part of the payback by turning off bonuses. But on the other hand, there are slots with no bonuses at all – games like Cash Machine and Twin Win don’t have any money going to bonuses, because all of the pays are assigned to the line hits.
What won’t be different is the overall payback percentage, presuming similar denominations and/or bet amounts. Game design can assign the pays to various parts of the game, but in the long run they’ll achieve a certain level of payback to the player. Certainly pushing more of that payback to bonuses makes a game harder, so if you go awhile without a bonus it can feel difficult. But the money’s in there.
So they’re not stealing, and it’s not a ripoff. It’s a choice. And as a consumer, you’re not obligated to buy the item being sold. Buy something else. But as we said from the beginning, if your relationship with gambling is this negative, it may be best to put your entertainment budget to some other use.
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For group pulls—how do you decide which machine to play? Do you poll those participating in the group pull?
Hey Debbie! Your timing is great as we just posted an article on this topic this morning! We hope it helps :)
Watching Brian’s videos I can become familiar with how a slot plays before spending my own money. There is a machine called Cha Ching. I don’t get it…what am I trying for, is there a bonus? I keep hoping Brian will give it a try in a video so I can learn about it. 🤞
Cha-Ching is primarily an instant win style where you click a present and hopefully win a prize. But there are three bonuses, connected to the pots at the top of the screen, which can trigger additional opportunities to win!
As far as Brian trying it, here’s a YouTube search link that shows videos where he played the game.