Wouldn't it be grand if you could find a slot machine game that cost just $0.01 to play? No doubt you’re eager to shout out: What about penny slots? Nowadays most people believe that the only thing you can get for a penny is a good fortune – that's good enough for penny slots games. Rare are the days of dirt-cheap classic slots and video slots games, but we’ve got good news for you!     

Today, penny slots games require a minimum wager based on a set number of lines that you need to play. True to form, the minimum coin value is one penny, but you may be required to spend 50 – 100 credits to get the game started. At a value of $0.01 per coin, that translates into a minimum spin value of $0.50 – $1.00. Nonetheless, penny slots games are lots of fun. They are also the cheapest option at online casinos and land-based casinos alike.

FUN FACT: Ever wondered how much revenue penny slots generate at casinos in Las Vegas? According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) figures from July 2017, the Vegas Strip featured 13,831 penny slot machine games. Collectively, they generated a total of $105,408,000. That translates into $246 per slot machine per day. 

Each credit that you bet on a penny slots game has a value of $0.01. Most penny slots require you to wager multiple credits per spin. If you're playing a 5-reel, 25-line slot machine game, and you’re betting 5 credits per line, expect to spend $1.25 on each spin. 

Given how quickly these games play out, you'll be spinning up a storm, burning through hundreds of dollars every hour. This leads us to tip #1 for how to win penny slots games: Come prepared with a fixed budget.  Too many players get sidetracked by the fact that it's a penny slots game that they get burned with the minimum credit requirement.

Luckily, there are plenty of penny slots games to play at online casinos and land-based casinos. Do some homework and you'll find lots of diamonds in the rough. If you're looking to maximize your budget and your entertainment pleasure – that's a definite win-win situation – then seek out penny slots that cost just a penny to play!

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HOW CAN YOU WIN AT PENNY SLOTS?

How do we define winning? Is it leaving the casino with more money than you came with? Is it getting maximum bang for your buck? Truth be told, it's a combination of both. A successful online casino session is easy to determine. You just feel great! 

Winning is a big plus and that's where we're going to focus our attention. It should be known right off the bat that your winnings are going to be commensurate with the value of your bets with penny slots games. You can’t expect multi-million-dollar payouts when you're betting pennies on every spin.

When playing penny slots games, you may want to check out those games which are linked to progressive jackpots. By clicking on the info button, you will usually see the jackpot prize pool, if any, including the maximum payout on that particular game. If you're looking for the big money, stick to online slots games that have bigger paydays. 

As always, carefully read the wagering requirements, and T&C to ensure that you meet the jackpot conditions. This typically involves betting the right amount on each spin. If you can't afford to play maximum number of credits per pay line, at least play every payline. If jackpot requirements necessitate a specified bet amount, then that's what you need to do.

FUN FACT: There is no guaranteed strategy to help you win penny slots games every time. Never pay for advice on how to win penny slots games, and don't waste your money buying books, DVDs, or paying a ‘professional’ gambler for advice. There are several techniques you can employ to help you pick the best penny slots games. While certainly not a guarantee of winnings, these tips offer you the best chance of winning.

BEST 9 TIPS FOR PICKING A WINNING PENNY SLOT GAME:

1. Pick a penny slot with a high RTP (return to player)

2. Always capitalize on free spins for penny slots games

3. Listen to what other players are saying about penny slots

4. Practice penny slots in demo mode before you play for real

5. Collect your online casino slots bonus and use it on penny slots

6. Place higher bets (if you can afford to) when playing for the jackpot

7. Choose low volatility games for frequent but small penny slots payouts 

8. Choose high volatility games for infrequent but large penny slots payouts

9. Dig deep when picking a penny slot game – avoid the highly-promoted, branded games

Many of the tips for picking a winning penny slot game also apply to other casino games like blackjack, baccarat, and video poker. Players tend to prefer games with high RTPs – they just seem like a safer bet (pun intended). 

The same rules hold true for live casino games with real dealers in real time. Always play a game that you enjoy, at bets you can afford. At the tables, blackjack (99.63% RTP with perfect strategy) and baccarat (banker bets with a 1.06% house advantage) are great games to play.

WHAT ARE THE BEST PENNY SLOT GAMES TO PLAY?

That depends where you are. If you're at a land-based casino in Atlantic City or Las Vegas, you’re definitely not going to get the same RTP on penny slots games compared to the RTP at a reputable online casino. 

Why? Because land-based casinos have much higher fixed costs of operations then online casinos. As a result, the RTPs on casino slots are much lower on the Atlantic City Boardwalk or the Las Vegas Strip. 

Reputable online casinos can afford to offer higher RTPs to players because their costs of operations are so much lower. That's why you are always better off playing Penny slots at an online casino. Better yet, whatever games you pick – blackjack, baccarat, roulette, video poker – you don't have to go on an epic quest to find anything – it's a click away. 

Online casinos offer you a fabulous variety of penny slots games to play. Remember, the minimum coin size is $0.01 but that isn't necessarily the minimum bet per spin. 

Over the years, many exciting penny slots games graced the stage, and many remain!

• Fire Opals
• Cash Cave
• Family Guy
• Eagle Bucks
• Flying Horse
• OMG Kittens 
• Mustang Money
• Wonder Woman
• Rumble Rumble

THE ULTIMATE PENNY SLOTS STRATEGY

If you want to know how to win big on penny slots, read on! Crafting an effective penny slots strategy requires an understanding of RTPs. We briefly touched on this earlier in our expose, but let's get a quick refresher: Return to Player (RTP) is the average expected payout over the long term. The higher the RTP, the better the player odds and the lower the house edge. 

In practical terms, you can expect a 97% RTP to return $0.97 on every dollar over the long term. Of course, this means nothing in the short-term since you can win a jackpot or lose your bankroll at any time. It's safe to say that the higher the RTP, the better. If you start playing with $200 and the RTP is 97%, you should lose $6 in the long term… But anything can happen!

Given a $200 bankroll, and an RTP of 97%, you can expect to lose $6 along the way, meaning that you are left with $194. If you only win 97% of that back (RTP is constant), you can expect to walk away with $188.18. The money quickly gets eroded away as you play, unless you hit it big on a penny slots game. In terms of a penny slot strategy, your best bet is to have a thorough understanding of the rules. 

Forget the myths – they are simply there to create an atmosphere. Going with a set budget, divide your penny slots gaming sessions up into manageable units of time, and always quit when you're ahead. The world's most experienced players understand that variance is always at play. Variance describes hot and cold sessions of play when you're either winning or losing successive rounds. It's better to walk away and play another day than to lose the shirt off your back.

Never bet more than you are willing to lose, and never gamble with money designated for living expenses. Contrary to popular advice, most penny slots strategies will encourage you to bet the maximum per spin to qualify for the jackpot. Every seasoned slot machine connoisseur already knows that you have to maximize your welcome bonus, free spins bonuses, gamble features (if applicable), and in-game bonus rounds. 

If it is more beneficial to play at a higher bet per spin (in terms of payouts), then that's precisely the slots strategy that you should adopt. By now, you are fully aware that a penny slot game costs a lot more than a penny to play. Sometimes, you'll be able to play 1000 credits per spin, translating into $10 a pop. Many online casino players are blinded by the minimum bet requirements that penny slots can drain your bankroll pretty quickly.

FUN FACT: It can get pretty tedious playing penny slots at low bets per spin. That's why you may want to consider Autoplay functionality at pre-set bet levels to spin up a storm. With Autoplay, you can leave the penny slot machine game in autopilot mode while you're grabbing a cold one!

Now that you know how to win penny slots games, you can confidently go out and practice lots of penny slots online in demo mode before you deposit, collect your bonus and play for real money. Remember that old English expression? Penny wise and pound foolish? Don't get suckered into a penny slot game simply because of its name – check how many pennies you need to bet per spin and remember to apply our penny slots strategy to your gaming sessions.

HOW MUCH CAN YOU WIN ON PENNY SLOTS?

A cursory reading of the literature on penny slots winnings certainly doesn't win many plaudits from players. Las Vegas forums, player feedback, and guides typically indicate that payouts generally aren't substantial, but they certainly can be. For example, a Canadian player bet $0.25 on a penny slots game named Pompeii and he scooped up $549 in the bonus round.

Once you really start reading about players’ winnings, everything quickly comes into sharp focus. Penny slots are arguably some of the most underrated games in terms of how much you can win. We sent our gaming detectives out into the field to gather important data on penny slots winnings. Boy oh boy were we surprised with what we found!
 
• Wizard of Oz slot machine game paid out a whopping jackpot to Charles Watters from Nevada. After betting $15, Watters was elated when he learned that he didn't win $9,000, he won $953,220.95.

• Alberto Lopez fed $100 into a penny slot machine game and purportedly won an incredible $1,129,009.20 at a casino in Jackson, Rancherio.

• A gentleman from Michigan, Tyler Morris, won an incredible $7.2 million playing penny slots. The venue – Palace Casino Resort in Biloxi, Mississippi – was the scene of the monstrous jackpot slot. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship Machine spewed out $7,217,175.15 creating a veritable legacy for the extended Morris family.

• A California player named Dorothy Reynolds hit pay dirt in 2010 at Planet Hollywood. Her prize was a staggering $2.9 million. While impressive, it wasn't as grand as the $0.01 Wheel of Fortune slot machine in Atlantic City that paid out $3.5 million to an anonymous player.

• Another anonymous player from Nevada bet $44 and landed 5 x Eagle symbols on Penny Megabucks. The payout on the MegaJackpot totaled $18,799,414 – a life-changing payday on a penny slot game.

HOW DO PENNY SLOTS WORK?

First things first. Penny slot machine games don't cost pennies – they cost substantially more to play. Penny slots games, like other casino slots, card games, and table games have a built-in house edge. That means over time, the house wins more money than it loses on these games. Penny slots RTPs typically range from 88% – 95%, depending on where you play. Expect anywhere from 50 coins per spin to 100 coins per spin on average, with the number of required paylines significantly increasing the size of your bets. 
 
The trick to playing penny slots games and key insight into how penny slots work is the bankroll requirement. You must have enough coins to meet the minimum requirements, play your way through bonus rounds, and be able to ride out variance until good fortune comes your way.

Like any low-paying casino game, penny slots rely on an element of psychology to reward players with small, incremental wins over time. However, if you're not careful, your money will be whittled away into nothing unless you hit a jackpot.

Big paydays are triggered randomly when the right symbols land in combination. To qualify for these, however, you must meet the minimum bet requirement. That's how penny slots work!