Page 12 - Jackpot Magazine Tunica ~ April, 2026

PLAY TO WIN
Keep more money with management plan
“If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes and the quitting time.”
~ Chinese Proverb
We are four months into the new year and it is time to look back at some of the resolutions we’ve made. How are we doing on our diets? Have we been to the gym? Stopped procrastinating on the household chores? And what about saving money and watching our pennies — especially when it comes to our hobbies?
There are many gamblers who believe that through various money management methods they can overcome the house edges on the bets they make and come out ahead in the long run. They are under the impression they can beat the casino by managing their money properly. According to gaming enthusiast and author Frank Scoblete, those gamblers are wrong.
In a past column for
Jackpot!, Scoblete wrote that
money management only
works positively when the
player plays a game where he
has the edge over the house. However, since the casino has the
edge over the player in almost all games at all times, there is no amount of money management that can turn such a negative into a positive. That would be called a miracle if it could happen
So then what is money management when it comes to slot machines? Simply put, managing your money properly at the slots prevents you from losing your discipline and subsequently losing more money than you wanted or, worse, losing more money than you can afford.
Think of money management in terms of the reins on a horse. Done properly, it can rein you in, especially if
you’re the type who
has a tendency to go overboard. Sticking
to a solid money management plan can make playing fun and safe.
Conservative is by far the best way to play casino games. Your money is important and is not to be risked because you have become too emotionally involved in your play. Lose your head — lose your cash is a simple but totally true statement.
Figure out how much you play on a machine in a spin. Let’s say you put in $3 per spin. Take that spin and multiply it by six, which is the average number of spins you will take in a minute (no more). This comes to $18 played per minute. Now, multiply that by
60 minutes and you play $1,080 through the machine every hour. Unless you hit a losing streak
of galactic proportions, the chances of losing all $1,080 are more than remote. So that is what you bring to the machine for a session of play — the full amount of a possible galactic loss of $1,080. You play this money, called a session stake, through the machine once and whatever you win you keep. So whatever comes
out of the machine is yours to keep.
It is possible that what comes out will be more than what you put in, although more than likely over time it won’t be. Still, you will never go back to your room totally broke. You will always have some money that you take away from the machine. That beats ambling back
to your room, head down and busted. Now, what happens if after one hour of play, and maybe a few drinks along the way, you are substantially ahead and you want to keep playing? Take the
original $1,080 and put it aside and take half of your win and play with that.
Let’s say you won $800. Take $400 as your playing money and put $400 aside as your win. Doing so guarantees that you will leave this
session a winner.
Now let’s get really positive and say
you just won another $800 during your second run through. Well, do the same thing if you desire to continue playing. Take $400 and put it in the bank, and play with the other $400. As long as you keep winning when putting your money through the machine, then you can keep playing if you so desire.
If you wind up with less than $1,080 after putting your money through the machine, your session is over. Do not play any more of that session stake. It is now time for a break.
Once your session is over, do not play with any money you won. That money is put away for keeps. You take a second $1,080 and use that for your next session. Using this type of money management system will prevent you from experiencing disasters at the machines. It will allow you to come home with some money after each and every trip. You might not come home with a win; but you won’t come home with empty pockets.
In the above example we used $3 as the amount of a single bet, but you can make the amount whatever your bet is on the machines you enjoy playing. If you bet 75-cents per spin, then multiply that by six, which is $4.50, then by 60 which is $270 per hour. Use these as your figures but play as explained.
Money management can’t save you from the house edge, but it can save you from allowing that edge to destroy you.
Play To Win Again
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