Slots 5 Handpays. 1 night. 1 question.

I've been gambling for years. Typically play penny slots or dollar wheel of fortune. In all my years of action, I've only had one Handpay on a wizard of oz machine for about $2,200.

This last trip, I randomly decided to play nickels. Bets ranged from $8-$25 per spin depending on the machine. Right off the bat I hit a bonus and got only the second Handpay of my life. With a larger bankroll then I'm used to, I played nickel slots through the night. By the time it was all over, I was up about $18,500 which included four additional handpays.

My question is this: For those of you who regularly play slots at the nickel level, are you used to hitting jackpots this often, given a large enough bankroll?

 

Well, the denomination of the machine has less to do with the amount of the jackpot than the amount bet per spin. What I mean by that is although you were playing .05 cent (nickel slots), the amount you were betting per spin was very high, as much as $25/spin if I read the pictures correctly (500 x .05 = $25.00), thus the jackpot will be proportionally higher. Now, the thing we don't know is how much you played between the jackpots, but assuming it was steady gambling over a few hours 5 handpays for a total of $18000+ was a huge night, and one your probably not likely to repeat often, if ever again.

 

Congratulations on an amazing streak!

All my hand pays have been on dollar machines played max, between $2 - $20 per spin. I've never seen this many in a short time. Was this Vegas and one casino or several? I don't think it is the denomination, more the high price per spin. That said, I think the pennies that require high max bets give slightly bigger, although inconsistent, bonuses. Above pennies with a high bet your odds improve but you still had an unbelievable run.

On a personal note, I rarely if ever play nickels because I don't want to do the math. Dollars are easy when I win 50 it's $50. On $5 machines it's 5x. I have no idea why I have a brain block dividing by 20. Must be the alcohol.

 

woah a handpay for under $1200? I didn't know they did that, does that mean you had to file a W2G for a under $1200 prize?

 

No need to divide by 20. Just multiply times 5 and then pretend it's pennies.

 

Nice run! You ever notice that people want to know where you were playing? it's as if they can walk in, sit down and have lightning strike twice, or more, in the same place. Ha! Now, where did you say you were playing?

 

Shouldn't be a W2G. Some machines lock up for lower amounts.

 

Handpays can come in any size.

W2-Gs are at $1200 and higher.

I had a handpay for $250.00 at Mermaids (downtown LV)

It depends on the casino.

 

I agree with Ezzy711 that it is more likely to be a result of the higher amount bet per spin than the denomination of the machine. My experience has been that it's not unusual at all to hit frequent hand pays when betting $25 per spin.

 

That's really all that it is. Think of it this way...

The first hit is the exact same equivalent of hitting for $200 on a $2 bet on pennies. (100x)

The second - $350 on a $5 bet (70x)

The third $386 on a $3.90 bet (100x)

Fourth - $472 on a $3 bet (150x)

Fifth - $750 on a $5 bet (150x)

While all of those are good hits, the reason they are handpays is simply the bet size. As a multiple of what you were betting, I'm sure that you've often hit that same relative payout on a penny machine. Hell the first three I would expect to hit in one day if I was logging 6 hours or so a day on slots playing max bet on pennies. Again they're all good hits, but the reality is you were just winning a lot of money because you were betting 5 times more than what you normally do.

 

At $25 per spin, you will hit handpay more often. You win/loss percent will change only a a percent or two in the long run.

If you ever watch the players in the high limit area, you will see way more hand pays. At the end of the day, they still are taking negative hits, in general.

In summary, playing $25 a hand will not normally mean you win more. You just hit that handpay level quicker. And give your money away quicker.

 

Yup, just like table games. You're going to win (or lose) 10 times faster playing $100/hand on BJ vs. $10/hand. At the end of the day, you're just going to win 10x as much on a good streak, and lose 10x as much on a bad streak. OP just happened to hit a nice run of luck when he/she decided to start taking 5x bigger rips. The reversion to the mean will be 5x worse/quicker when the luck swings the other way.

 

Agree with stackinchips. If my local had 5 cent machines, I'd be betting the way you did. You're lucky wherever you went has that denomination still. They've been all removed from my local, Foxwoods, except for some VP.

 

Ok, since this topic is already going, I have been trying to wrap my brain around this with people showing the High Roller slots they play. I am Canadian and have never hit a hand pay in the states. However I have a love of Rich Girl at $1 and would get handpays like crazy. One day I won 10,000 all added up. They had to come take my pic and stupid stuff. But none of them were big pays, I was never really up. So if the government is taking 30% for taxes aren't you losing 30% extra? I am going soon and need to figure this out to keep myself reigned in haha

 

Thanks for all the great replies! All of these actually happened in the same casino. Two on the exact same machine! As I hit my final handpay before I left, a gentleman behind me hit one as well on a penny slot. I went with only about $500. Once I started playing at the higher level, I would run through about $400-$800 before another big hit. I had plenty of "smaller" hits around $1k that weren't handpays. In the meantime, my buddy who I was there with lost nearly $3k at the tables. Obviously I paid for the McDonalds breakfast on the drive home [emoji13]