The concept of a jackpot handpay is exciting – win enough, and your slot machine locks up, requiring a member of the casino staff to come over and pay you cash into your hand. But how do you get one?
How do I get a handpay? Is it how much you put in the machine or doesn’t matter? I want to know how you get your handpay.
Dan
A jackpot handpay is awarded when you win at least $1,200 on a single wager on an electronic machine (with covers slots, Video Poker/keno, and electronic table games). The threshold will increase to $2,000 as of January 1, 2026.
What doesn’t matter towards getting a jackpot:
- How much your bet was. It could be $1, it could be $100 – the threshold is the same.
- How much you put in the machine. You could have started with $20 or $1,000, the threshold is the same.
- What you put in the machine. The jackpot threshold is the same whether you’re playing with cash, a ticket or free play.
Given that, it will be easier to get a jackpot handpay on higher bets, because it requires less of a win as a multiple of your bet to reach that $1,200 threshold than on a smaller bet. Just consider the difference:
- $1 bet: 1,200x your bet to hit a jackpot
- $10 bet: 120x your bet to hit a jackpot
- $100 bet: 12x your bet to hit a jackpot
When you see Brian getting $25 or $50 a spin, he just needs a win of 25-50x or so to hit a jackpot – not a huge lift on a slot machine really, and it’s why you see him getting them so often.
The concept of a jackpot handpay is certainly exciting, particularly on lower bets where they’re less common and so can be quite unexpected. But we encourage players to consider other thresholds that can make more sense on smaller bets, such as 100x your wager, which is an accomplishment of its own given it doesn’t happen that often.
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Last year I won $1500 on Ultimate Fire Link China Street, on a $.50 bet with $20 in. 20 days later I got $2100 on Dancing Drums Explosion betting $.88. Both class II games. That was fun!
That’s pretty amazing, Mike – managing two minimum bet handpays is not easy, but it shows it can be done!