Don’t be fooled though, if it must be paid by $500 and it’s at $490 – it could still take another $5,000 in bets for it to actually go off (based on it going up 1 cent for every $5 bet which is not uncommon). Some Slot Machines have progressives that must be paid by a certain amount. And if it’s a wide area progressive jackpot (like Wheel of Fortune or Mega Bucks with jackpots in the millions), then your odds of winning and your payout percentage drops a further 5%. When a machine has a large progressive machine with a Grand of $10,000 or more, a large portion of each bet goes to pay out that one person. Notice I use the word ‘could’, because of course there will be that guy who bets 88cents and wins $10,000 – but probability is against him. In last weeks blog, What are Payout Percentages, we discovered that the higher denomination a machine, the higher the payout percentage! So if you’re going to bet $5/spin you may as well play that on a 10c denomination machine or $1 machine rather than a penny machine. But there are steps to take in order to get the best bang for your buck! Otherwise I would never leave the casino and just keep winning. First off, there is no sure way of winning every time.