Money Management Tips for Slot Players
Martijn Van 't Riet 
Regarding online gambling and playing online slots, one thing often overlooked is applying correct money management.
Playing slots is exciting, entertaining, and possibly rewarding, but it can make you forget how to handle the monetary side of things.
Making the right choices when playing slots and effective budget management are crucial elements to Responsible Gaming, ensuring your financial well-being while hopefully having a good time at the casino.
In this Money Management Guide for Slot Players, we explain how to set a gambling budget, how to set limits, which slots are most suitable for each type of player, and which slots should be avoided.
We will also show you why knowing a slot’s Return to Player is vital and why not everything that glitters is gold. On the contrary.
10 Practical Tips For Proper Money Management When Playing Online Slots
We have compiled a list of ten handy tips that you can apply straightaway when playing online slots.
While these tips will not magically turn you into a winning player, they will help you become a smarter slot player.
Tip 1: Set a Budget and Stick To It
One of the hardest things about gambling is to stop on time, whether you are winning or losing.
Never forget that the casino always has a house edge, so in the long run, you will always lose. See it as a fact of life. To avoid losing more than you are comfortable with, set a healthy and realistic budget and stick to it.
Tip 2: Only Deposit What You Can Afford To Lose
Gambling should never be seen as a way to make money or even as a net-neutral proposition. Sure, you will win sometimes, but you will lose more in the end. It’s how online casinos make their money.
That is why you should only deposit what you can afford to lose. If the thought of losing your deposit makes you feel uneasy or even anxious, don’t do it.
Tip 3: Set Clear Goals And Stop When You Reach Them
A great way to ensure you stop playing in time is to set clear limits for a slot-playing session. These limits may include:
- Win limits; for example, you will stop once you have doubled your deposit. When you do, withdraw your winnings.
- Loss limits; for example, you will stop once you have reached this limit.
- Time limits; for example, you will stop playing as soon as you have played 30 minutes.
- Deposit limits; for example, you will not deposit more than £100 per month.
- Time slot limits; for example, you will not play on weekdays and not before 6 pm.
You can set many of these limits in your account in a top 10 UK Licensed Casino.
Tip 4: Determine What Kind of Slot Player You Are And Choose Accordingly
Before choosing an online slot to play, it can help to determine what kind of player you are. If you are a recreational player who sees gambling purely as entertainment, it may be wise to play slots that have lower variance and offer lots of bonus features.
You should avoid high-variance slots, which provide higher maximum wins but are much riskier. If you are on the other side of the spectrum and are looking for high max win slots, it doesn’t make sense to play on Starburst or Blood Suckers, as you will only be draining your funds, slowly but surely. It is better to play a high-variance slot on lower stakes.
Tip 5: Reduce Your Stake When Losing, Only Increase Your Stake When You Are In Profit
Many losing players tend to increase their stakes, hoping to land a big win to recoup their losses. While this may sound like a good plan in theory, most of the time, you will lose your money even quicker.
It is a better strategy to reduce your stake when losing. This way, you will get more spins before your money runs out and more chances to land a decent win. You can always return to your original stake if your balance allows it. Only increase your stake per spin if you are in profit.
Tip 6: Play Responsibly And Seek Help When Things Go Out Of Control
Online gambling can be a lot of fun, but not for everyone. At CasinoWizard.com, we advocate Responsible Gaming to ensure you seek help when things are getting out of control and gambling losses harm your relationships, financial health, emotional health and work.
Tip 7: Only Play On Slots With a High RTP
Did you know that online slots may look the same on the outside but can have different payout percentages (Return to Player or RTP) inside, depending on the casino where you play it?
Take, for example, a popular slot like Big Bass Bonanza. When we look closer at possible Big Bass Bonanza RTP levels, we find this slot may pay out 94.02%, 95.67%, or 96.71%.
Playing this slot in the highest possible payout setting makes perfect sense from a player’s perspective – you get more spins before you run out of money, giving you more chances of landing a big win.
One more thing: older slots often have higher RTPs than newer slots. Some older slots have a fixed high RTP, and even when the slot has multiple RTP versions, online casinos frequently go for the highest payout setting on online slots that have been around a long time. Of course, we do recommend you always check the RTP in the game rules before playing with real money.
Tip 8: Avoid Slots That Press You To Keep Playing
Slots that entice you to keep playing are always bad news. They either give you false signs that a bonus round is about to land, force you to keep playing to receive an extra bonus round, or work in cycles of spins.
These slots trick you into playing longer than you might want and should be avoided if you are serious about money management.
Examples of this type of slot:
- Book of 99 – landing two scatters fills an extra bonus round meter.
- Wonders of Christmas – where you must grind spins to increase the free spins multiplier.
- Jammin’ Jars 2 – here, you hope to trigger the Giga Jar feature, which takes ages and seldom recoups your “investment”.
- All slots with growing pots where you are tricked into thinking the bonus is about to pop. Newsflash: they are still triggered randomly.
- Slots with spin cycle features include Diamonds Up, Monsters Unchained (both by Red Tiger), and Babylon Riches by NetEnt.
Tip 9: Stay Well Clear Of Progressive Jackpot Slots
Progressive jackpot slots lure players with chances of winning ever-growing multi-million-pound jackpots, but the reality is that your odds of winning the jackpot are slim to none.
Besides, a significant portion (often 5%-8%) of these slots’ Return to Player is reserved for jackpot contributions, negatively impacting the base game payouts.
In other words, it is nearly impossible to win one of the big jackpots, and it is also almost impossible to win a non-jackpot payout.
If you are serious about money management when playing slots, we suggest you do not play progressive jackpot slots such as DreamDrop Jackpot slots, WowPot Jackpot slots or Mega Moolah.
Tip 10: Don’t Take Every Bonus That Is Offered To You
Casino Bonuses, whether deposit bonuses, free spins bonuses, or live casino bonuses, are designed to entice you to deposit more and keep you playing longer (due to those pesky bonus wagering requirements), increasing the chances of losing your funds.
You may be tempted to deposit more than you originally budgeted, which is an unnecessary risk. Only accept bonuses with low or zero wagering requirements.
Play Slots In These Top-Rated UK Casinos
Now that you have learned about proper money management for slot players, you may want to put it into practice at a licensed UK casino.
These casinos offer low-stakes-slots with betting options from as low as 10p per spin and provide a massive selection of online slots and other casino games.
We have carefully selected these outstanding online casinos for UK slot players.
