24 Feb

Understanding Online Pokies Paylines and Bet Sizes

Did you ever visit a casino intending to play penny machines, only to find that you’re spending a lot more on the pokies than you intended? This happens quite often, especially if you don’t watch out for the live and online pokies paylines and bet sizes. But bet too little, and you could be missing out.

Understanding how pokies games are designed in terms of paylines, bet sizes and coins per line can help players extend their bankroll. At the same time, knowing how much you need to wager to unlock a potential jackpot can greatly increase you profit potential.

Online Pokies PaylinesOnline Pokies Paylines

The paylines on a poker machine are the eligible lines on which a winning combination could appear. A typical game could have 9 paylines, 15 paylines, or as high as 50 paylines across.

When playing this type of game, pay special attention to how many paylines there are, because you’ll want to activate all of them to have the highest chance of winning. Some games actually have ‘Fixed Paylines‘, meaning all paylines are automatically activated. Unfortunately, fixed or not, you’ll also have to pay for each activated payline.

If you were hoping to play a penny game, but it has 40 paylines, you’re going to be paying 40 credits per spin. That can get even more expensive depending on the bet size, which brings us to…

Online Pokies Bet Sizes

Most of today’s online pokies allow players to choose a bet size that starts as low as $0.01, then scales up to as high as $1, $5, even $25 or more.

The bet size a player chooses is not the amount of money they want to wager on each spin of the reels, but rather the amount of money they want to spend per payline. If you select a $1 bet on a 30 fixed payline poker machine, you’re going to be dropping $30 per spin.

There may be some high rollers out there that don’t mind betting so high, but for the majority of us, that’s entirely too much to risk on a 5-second outcome.

Coins Per Line

If the online pokies paylines and bet size weren’t enough to jack up the price of a single spin on the reels, let’s not forget some machines also allow players to choose up to 5 coins per payline.

How does that work? Take all the information you just learned above, and multiply that by 5.

If you were to choose a $1 bet size on 30 fixed paylines, and select 5 coins per line, you’d actually be spending a whopping $150 on a single play.

Look closely at the bottom of the game’s screen, and you’ll see all of this information clearly displayed – the online pokies’ paylines (and how many are activated), the bet size, and the coins per line. You’ll also see a section that shows the full amount of your bet.

Pay close attention to that last one before you click Spin, and reduce each of those previously mentioned options accordingly until you’re happy with the price. If you reduce them completely and still aren’t happy, find a better online pokies game with fewer paylines or a lower minimum bet size.

Onlinen Pokies Bet Size

Unlocking A Jackpot

In some cases, it’s better to wager a larger amount. Always read the rules of a game before you play it to see if a minimum bet size is required to unlock a progressive jackpot. You may have to activate all paylines and play max coins, but at any bet size.

For example, in a $0.01 game with 15 paylines and 5 max coins, the minimum bet would be $0.75. That’s not a bad deal when it offers an opportunity to win a life changing amount of money.