Is there a difference in payback between a standard $1 slot machine and a $1 Megabucks machine?
Sally O. A wide-area progressive, such as a Megabucks machine, typically coughs up 87% to the player, which, compared to a standard one-dollar slot that roughly pays back 94%, representing a seven percent loss in long-term return. Unfortunately, Sally, that percentage difference is tied up in a jackpot that you probably will never hit. Dear Mark: What are your thoughts on alternating between two and three coins on a slot to save money? Cindy B. Most slot machines, Cindy, offer an incentive to play the maximum coin amount. For example, two-coin inserted may pay 2,000, but three coins pays out 5,000, a bonus of 1,000 additional coins. If this were the case with the machine you had in mind, then I would always recommend playing max coins. But if the machine is a straight multiplier, say for instance the top jackpot line pays 1,000 with one coin inserted; the second pays 2,000, and the third 3,000, then, yes, occasionally betting less wouldn’t make a difference. Dear Mark: I really loved y
