Online Slots Strategy: Do Big Bets Still Help You Win More?

Most online slots offer a wide range of stakes. The average internet slot lets you wager between $0.20 and $100 per spin.

This betting range should suffice no matter if you’re a low or high roller. Given the volatility of online slots, you’re more likely to bet closer to $0.20 than $100.

For years, though, many players have preached that you should bet higher amounts per round. They argue that larger wagers improve your chances of winning.

This advice reigns true in certain situations, but is it still valid across the board? I’ll answer this question by discussing the relevancy of bigger slots bets and if they’ll ultimately help you win more money.

What’s the Strategy behind Larger Bets?

Each online slot game offers a certain payout percentage. The return to player (RTP) varies based on the individual game and casino operator’s preferences.

In the latter case, some developers give operators the chance to choose the RTP setting. For example, an online casino might be able to pick 95%, 96%, or 97% RTP for a specific game.

Some slots also factor the bet size into payback as well. Simply put, you could enjoy higher RTP when risking more.

This aspect dates back to the early days of online slots. Some operators would only allow you to win the jackpot and/or trigger features when betting a certain amount or more.

By this logic, you’ll enjoy higher payback when placing bigger bets. Here are a couple of examples where the RTP and extras hinge on your wager size:

• Shopping Spree requires you to bet $1.25 on all nine paylines ($11.25 total) to qualify for the jackpot.
• Megasaur requires you to place the maximum bet to win 100% of the progressive jackpot. You can still play for 10% of the top prize with any smaller wager.

You don’t necessarily need to bet the max with games like these. However, you may miss out on the jackpot and other opportunities by not placing a larger wager.

Bet Sizes Don’t Usually Correlate with RTP Any Longer

The days when developers tied payback in with wager sizes are largely gone. Most software providers offer the same RTP regardless of how much you bet.

That said, you can look forward to the highest RTP that a game offers no matter if you risk $0.20 or $20 on each spin.

Of course, some of the older slots that link wagers to RTP/features/jackpots are still around. Shopping Spree and Megasaur are widely available at real money online casinos.

But newer games typically don’t force you to bet more for higher payback. Instead, you can still enjoy the highest RTP available with the minimum wager.

Modern Slots Focus on Stake-Based Prizes

As explained earlier, certain online slots force you to bet more to qualify for progressive jackpots. However, the modern gaming world has gone away from this approach.

Most games don’t even offer a progressive jackpot these days. Instead, every payout is based on your overall stake.

Star Clusters Megaclusters, for example, features a maximum payout worth 23,000x your stake. It doesn’t matter if you wager the $0.20 minimum or $20 max because you’ll still qualify for the top 10,000x payout regardless.

Of course, you stand to win $460,000 by betting $20 on each spin. But chances are that you don’t have the kind of bankroll to do this consistently.

Therefore, you can wager a much lower amount and still take a shot at winning serious money. You’ll also qualify for the same RTP regardless of how much you’re risking.

After all, the available payouts don’t change just because you’re wagering more or less. You still stand to win a 10,000x payout regardless.

Situations Where Your Bet Size Matters

Again, slots developers have transitioned away from tying bet size and RTP together. However, this isn’t to say that your wager amount doesn’t matter in every case. You can see some different situations where your bet does affect the payback below.

Progressive Slots with Minimum Betting Requirements

Not all slots with progressive jackpots place betting requirements on winning the top prize. However, some of these games do require a certain wager for the progressive payout.

Again, Shopping Spree makes you wager $11.25 ($1.25 on each line) to win the jackpot. Of course, you may find betting $11.25 worthwhile when considering that Shopping Spree’s jackpot is currently worth over $322,000 at the time of this writing.

On the other hand, some progressive jackpots with betting qualifications don’t offer huge prizes. You might rethink your decision to play such games.

Random Progressive Jackpots

A random progressive jackpot refers to when a slot randomly pays out its top prize. With these games, you don’t need to worry about lining up certain symbols in a payline.

Instead, the game randomly determines when the jackpot will hit. You could theoretically lose on a spin and still win the top prize in these cases.

The benefit to a random progressive jackpot is that you can qualify for the largest payout regardless of your bet size.

But these games also give you a stronger chance to win the jackpot when you wager more. For example, you might have better odds when wagering $5 per spin versus $0.50.

Classic Slots with Fixed Jackpots

Classic slots are games with three reels, limited paylines, and a few betting options. Many classic games feature fixed jackpots that, like progressive payouts, always stay the same.

However, these slots offer varying jackpots based on how many coins you risk. Here’s an example:

• Jackpot on a 1-coin bet pays 800 coins (800 per coin).
• Jackpot on a 2-coin bet pays 1,600 coins (800 per coin).
• Jackpot on a 3-coin bet pays 3,000 coins (1,000 per coin).

Given that you get the most value out of the three-coin jackpot, you’ll also enjoy the highest RTP when risking three coins.

Bet-Based Bonus Requirements

The modern slots with stake-based jackpots don’t make you risk more to unlock bonuses. Some of the older games, though, do you make you bet more to trigger all of the features.

For instance, a slot may allow you to play anywhere from 1-20 paylines. But it might only offer the bonus on the 20th line—meaning you’ll need to play all 20 lines to unlock the feature.

You don’t necessarily have to use every payline. It’s in your best interests, though, to do so and have a chance at the bonus round and highest RTP.

Buy Feature Option

Some online slots feature an option that lets you purchase the bonus immediately. You pay a certain multiple of your stake to trigger the bonus on the ensuing spin.

Here’s an example:

• A slot offers free spins for the bonus.
• You normally must land three scatter symbols to trigger free spins.
• The feature buy costs 80x your stake (e.g. 80 x 1 = $80).

80x your normal bet is a tremendous amount to spend on one round. However, this investment can pay off if you notch a big bonus payout.

Can You Enjoy High RTP with Smaller Bets?

In the instances above, you’ll need to spend a fair amount of money earning the highest payback. However, you don’t necessarily have to risk that much to enjoy high RTP.

Many real money online slots see you qualify for the maximum payout percentage without wagering much. In fact, you’ll often enjoy 96% RTP or higher for just $0.20 or whatever the minimum bet may be.

Of course, you should always check the payback before playing a game. You can do so by visiting the info screen.

The info section also explains if you need to meet certain qualifications to achieve the top payout percentage. Most modern games, however, don’t force you to bet any specific amount.

Conclusion

The scenarios where you must wager more to achieve the best-available RTP are limited. You might need to bet more when playing a progressive slot, random-progressive game, or using feature buy.

However, you don’t usually need to risk any more than the minimum bet. Most slots only offer one payback setting regardless of if you’re wagering $0.20 or $100.

Of course, you may decide to bet more because you want a chance at larger prizes. Most slots today base their largest payouts on your stake (e.g. 10,000x). But you normally can place the minimum wager and still benefit from the top-available RTP.