A "loose" slot machine is considered to be one that pays out winnings more often than another similar machine. Conversely, a "tight" slot is one which doesn't pay out much, or with as much regularity as a loose slot machine.

Just because a sign says "97% pay-back" and you think it’s a loose slot, it does not mean that if you bet $100, you will win $97. It only means that the long-term payback (after millions of spins) will be 97%, but during your playing session, you could win the jackpot or you could bust your budget.

The mathematical way of determining whether a slot is loose or tight is to figure out the payout percentage for a jackpot on a given machine. Suppose that a slot has 3 reels, with 20 stops per reel. If the jackpot symbol is a cherry, it will only appear once on each reel, and you’d need 3 cherries in a row to hit the jackpot. To calculate the odds, multiply the number of stops on each reel (202020), giving us 8000 combinations in all. Of course, only "cherry-cherry-cherry" can be the winning combination, giving us odds of 8,000:1.

Most casinos have some loose machines in house, allowing them to claim a figure of say "98% slots" and thus creating excitement and anticipation of winning. Quite often, older casinos and some of the newer online casinos may offer machines with higher payouts in an effort to attract players.

Finding Loose Slots

There are no hard-and-fast rules, but experienced players can often sniff out the looser slots in a casino. Some good suggestions are:

• Close to the restaurant or food court

A player who isn’t playing slots or otherwise gambling is not contributing to the casino’s bottom-line. So they often locate loose slots near the food court, so that people are more likely to see and hear others winning, enticing them to rejoin the action.

• Centrally-located, high-profile areas

Placing loose slots in areas that have high visibility throughout the playing floor ensures that winners get noticed by lots of people and attract more players to the slots area.

• Near the change machines

The sound and lights near the loose slots can help entice players to wait in line to get more coins.

Apart from these suggestions, casinos will often move machines around to keep players "off balance" in their search for looser slots.