Slot Variance

Slots as any other casino game are made in a way, that will always earn money to the makers/operators. All slot machines have an edge against you. Mathematical, statistical or call it whatever you want. If you play an online slot often enough, you'll understand that you have no chance to win at it long term. Slot Variance plays a big factor in this. Yes, short-term luck exists and is a big factor for those, who play once or few times a year. However, for those more addicted, long term is king. When you reach it, everything becomes clear. Check Out Some Slots At Bovada

Slot Variance and House Edge in Slots

House edge is a term used to describe what a casino holds over a player in a particular game. Slots are one of those games where a casino holds the largest edge over a player. Depending on the place you play and other factors, the house edge can be starting from 1% and all the way up to 25%.

How does house edge work exactly? Lets say, you bet $100 per spin.  The slot machine you are playing at Bovada features a 20% house edge. Every time you hit the ”spin” button your mathematical expectation or expected value from a $100 bet is $80. So in long term, you expect to loose $20 in every spin you make. Of course, 20% house edge is pretty huge. Most common slot machines will feature a way smaller edge, thus your mathematical expectation will also be better.

Variance in Slots

While your expectation by playing slots at Bovada will always be in negative, you won't loose the same amount over and over again. By using the previous example, where your expected value is -$20 in every spin you make, you won't loose $20 in every spin. This is because of mathematical variance and statistics. If casino has an edge of 20%, you still expect to win 40% of the time. For example, 20% edge in 10 spins would mean 6 wins out of 10 spins and 4 losses. This is exactly why people play slots at all – you can win at them too! However, the longer you play the more clear and visible the house edge is.

Variance vs a chance to hit a big one

While everyone talks about how -EV it is to play slots (-EV meaning a negative expected value), what people don't really get is that most people will never hit that long term time frame. Part-time players, who play for fun won't grind the slots for hours every day, as it's not fun after you do it for a while. They will often play for few times a month and keep doing it throughout the year, thus it will take years, for them to get anywhere close to some sort of a distance or long term.

It's obviously still -EV mathematically, but slots which offer a huge, life changing payouts can turn it all around. It doesn't matter, that you are -EV long term, as you will never reach that long term and all will depend on short-term luck. If you get really, really lucky, you might never have to work that 9-5 again!


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