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How To Select Progressive Slots

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There are a large number of progressive jackpot slots available on Internet casinos and players are not strapped for choice. In fact there is a problem of plenty. So the question arises "how does a player decide on which progressive slot he should wager". There are two broad approaches. One is based on the content of the slot game and the other on some sort of number crunching.

Most players become familiar and comfortable with a software developer and tend to restrict the choice to the progressives offered by that developer. If this is done after checking out what is on offer in the market then it is fine. If not, then players are advised to play the progressive slots of different software developers because the variety is immense. There are a number of themes to choose from with appropriate visual and sound effects. Hence if the thematic content of slots appeals to you then this can be a basis for choice. However the nature of bonus games often is the determining factor. Some of the important differences are highlighted. If free spins are what you like then look for progressives that offer more free spins and those in which free spins can be re-triggered. Those who are the extreme gambling type can go for slots with gamble games in which players can double or even quadruple their winnings at the risk of losing all.

Some players like to choose from the head and not the heart and think that there is a more systematic way of selecting the progressive slot. In this connection there are two indicators that are often touted on various sites on the Internet. One is the average hit amount and the other is the average time between hits. The implication is that if the time since the last hit is greater than the average time between hits then the slot is ripe for a hit. Similarly the implication is that if the progressive jackpot is ticking at a value greater than the average hit value then it is more likely to hit. This reasoning suffers from the gambler’s fallacy. Each spin of the slot game is equally likely to produce a jackpot hit. It does not matter whether the last hit was one day ago or one year ago.

Two numbers are important however. One is the maximum bet on the slot and the other is the current jackpot amount. Progressive jackpots can be hit only on maximum bets. The maximum bet is the product of the number of paylines in the slot, the maximum coin denomination and the maximum number of coins that can be wagered per line. This amount varies a great deal, from a few ten dollars to a few hundred dollars. So the first thing a player needs to check if the max bet is in his budget. Players who are not constrained by budgets tend to choose the highest available jackpots. The prospect of winning $5 million is no doubt exciting. The question that needs to be asked is how much has to be staked to avail of that chance. In this context the ratio of the jackpot amount to the max bet makes a reasonable indicator. A progressive slot that offers a jackpot of $500,000 at a max bet of $30 would be a better return on investment than a slot game that offers a jackpot of $1 million at a max bet of $100.

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