Regular readers of the site know that the math has literally been changing on slots. Bonuses are harder to get, but have the potential to be bigger, than slots from 10 or 20 years ago.
Someone watching a video of Brian Christopher’s and some of his bigger bets had some criticisms that led us to want to visit the question: What constitutes a big win?
Fun fact. $740 from a $30 spin is 24x. If u are betting $1 that means it is a $24 bonus. If u are betting 50 cents that is $12. … idk about anyone else, but that isn’t a good payout to me. Considering a $3 bet is $74. I think it’s a little mathed up. Inflation isn’t Inflationing it seems. Apparently we have some miniaturization going on on top of the gouging.
Dream_Kaream on YouTube
Actually you may be proving our point. The inflation is there in peoples’ expectations of a bonus.
A big win celebration on a slot machine traditionally occurs anywhere between 10x and 25x your bet, depending on the manufacturer. IGT typically leans more towards the 10x side, whereas many Light & Wonder games are closer to that 25x for a Big Win. A bonus 15-20 years ago would likely aim for an average of 25x your bet as a payout – and we as players found those exciting!
So why is a 24x win no longer sufficient? Are we as players getting a lot of 24x wins on slots? Probably not – if anything the frequency of wins has gone down, while the amount of the wins can and occasionally does go above that.
And that’s where the inflation has gone – players now want and expect bigger bonuses. To provide this, slot makers reduce the frequency of the bonuses (what would come every 50 spins or so 15-20 years ago now average more like once every 120 spins nowadays), so basically we’re sacrificing the frequency of the bonuses to have a chance at bigger ones.
Slot payouts haven’t really changed all that much in recent years – it’s less winners winning more – that’s the definition of higher volatility. This is why we don’t have as many winning sessions or bonuses, but when we do they tend to be better. The highs and lows are more extreme.
So yes, that means celebrating any sort of a big win when they happen, regardless of bet. 24x is nothing to scoff at, even though it’s not a 100x win, which remain rare enough that you can go multiple sessions at times without seeing one.
And as far as “gouging,” we point to our other content on what’s been changing for clarity on why slots are harder.
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I wanna win
We’re with you on that, Jeffery!