The conversation about max betting a slot comes up often, and one player wonders why:
Curious: why does everyone emphasize max bet?
Christian F.
In a previous era, some slots were designed to only unlock all potential payouts if you played at the max bet. The thinking was by incentivizing a player, the savvier ones would want access to all the payouts, and it was indeed sometimes the case that unlocking all the payouts meant a better return to player (RTP) over time.
Of course, slots back then could have a max bet of $3, $1.50 or even 75 cents (three quarters in an old mechanical reels slot)!
Things have changed, with multi-denomination slots becoming pretty standard, and bet ranges running from 50 cents to the tens of dollars a spin, sometimes even within the same denomination! On one hand, it allows a single slot to be accessible to players of just about any bet level, but on the other hand, it makes it really hard to build a game where you have to max bet.
Games that previously had max betting requirements are moving away from that. The newest Quick Hit slots don’t require a max bet to qualify for the progressives. Megabucks still has a $3 bet requirement to be eligible, but some of the games go well beyond a $3 max bet.
This is actually helpful for those of us who are not big bettors – we can have access to some potentially big prizes at smaller bet amounts. We see pictures in our Rudies fan club pretty often of low betting players yielding some phenomenal outcomes.
Replacing max bet as the key to pay attention to is something different, called Cost to Cover – it’s the amount you need to bet per spin to make sure you’re eligible for all of the payouts a machine offers. Bet more than that and your chances improve, but bet less than that and you run the risk of missing out on some payout opportunities.
With the new structure, bigger bets increase your chances of winning those special prizes, but lower bets often mean some chance is still there. The machine will confirm if you need to bet a certain amount, oftentimes for things like wide area progressives that are shared across many machines, but for most, you can bet whatever you want really.
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Thanks Brian. I have been following you since 2020. I just love you (and Marco, of course). I think you are awesome. You are very respectful, you are fun and a delight to watch. You and Marco are great together. I have high regards for both of you.
Thanks so much for the kind words and the support, Pat!