Anybody who spends enough time looking at slots strategy is bound to discover how high stakes games offer a better payout percentage. For example, if you play a slots machine with a $1.00 minimum wager, the game might offer 96% payback. On the other hand, if you're on a $0.05 minimum bet game, the payout percentage could drop to 93% or lower.

Now it might seem strange to beginning slots players that expected payback drops when coin denominations are lower. However, there's a perfectly good explanation for why payout percentages rise and fall with coin denominations, which we'll explain below.

All about the Money

The reason why casinos offer better payback to those on higher denomination slots games revolves around profits. Gaming establishments stand to make a lot more money off of bigger bettors than those who stick with penny and nickel wagers. Because of this, their games offer better payback to the best customers.

To illustrate this point, let's go back to the previously discussed $0.05 and $1.00 machines. Assuming somebody made 100 bets on the $1 game with 96% payback, they'd lose $4 on average (100 x 1 x 0.04). If a player were to make 100 wagers on the $0.05 machine with 93% payback, they'd only lose $0.35 on average (100 x 0.05 x 0.07).

As you can see, casinos are defintitely making more money off the high stakes slots players. So they can afford to at least offer a high payout percentage to these players.

What about Online Slots?

Most online slots games offer varying payout percentages based on how much one bets on the game. A common betting range in online slots is $0.01 - $1.00.

Assuming you only bet $0.01 per spin, you would receive the low end of the long-term expected payback. However, if you were to wager $1.00 per spin, you'd qualify for the best possible payout percentage for this specific game. Going further, you'd be eligible to win the game's jackpot.

So as you can see, there are both pros and cons to betting big on slots games. That said, you should weigh these benefits and drawbacks before playing.