Do you like playing pokies or slots but find that more often than not you’re losing money when you play these games? If so – the trick that you need to learn is how to tailor your approach so that you stand the best chance of turning a profit.

Before you do though, you need to first appreciate that there are no guarantees when it comes to slots and pokies, and every time you walk into a casino or log onto an online gambling website you are taking a risk.

What you can do however is mitigate that risk and ensure that you’ll have the best chance possible of winning when you do play!

All About the Payout Percentage

Since your focus is on making cash (i.e. turning a profit) then the first thing you’ll want to make sure is that the game of pokies which you choose will provide you with the best chance of actually winning.

To do so, you’re going to need to look at the payout percentages of these games.

Just in case you didn’t already know, the payout percentage is basically the percentage that the casino pays back to its players. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is going to definitely be what it pays back to you however!

No – the payout percentage basically works on an overall basis. So a payout percentage of 90% doesn’t mean that you’re going to be paid back 90% of your cash. Instead, what it does mean is that in the long term the casino will be paying back a total of 90% of all the cash played on that game of slots to the players who play it.

Frankly speaking, the way the payout percentage actually works is fairly involved and to understand it you’re going to need to also understand some of the inner workings of pokies such as the random number generator and the lookup table. Assuming you’re not interested in all of this however, the good news is that you don’t need to know it.

In fact, when it comes to the payout percentage there’s only one thing you need to know: Always choose the game of pokies or slots with the highest possible payout percentage.

Many a casino and online gambling website nowadays advertise the payout percentages of their games of pokies openly. If you find that the casino you’re playing at doesn’t want to let you in on the payout percentage information, it might be worth looking at playing somewhere else!

Controlling the Budget

When you’re playing pokies or slots and want to actually make a profit, you’re going to have to ensure that the control that you have over your budget is absolute. There is no room for mistakes – as they could definitely end up costing you in the long term.

There are two areas where your budget is going to serve you well when you’re playing in a casino or on an online gambling website, and ideally it should help you to:

• Limit your losses
• Ensure that you cash out when you should

The reason why this is important is because when it comes to games of pokies and slots the house always has an edge. What that means is that it is more likely that you’re going to lose than it is that you’re going to win.

With that in mind, it should be obvious that the best way to make a profit when you’re playing pokies is to make sure that when you do actually win you don’t stick around to lose it more. Also, you’ll need to avoid from taking on too many losses at any given time and then trying to break even.

The first step towards setting up this kind of budget is to determine how much you can afford to spend on a single sitting of pokies. It doesn’t matter whether you’re playing in a casino or on an online gambling website – this budget should be based on your finances and your personal circumstances.

Once you’ve figured out how large your budget should be, you need to make certain that you never, ever let yourself extend it. All too often you’ll find that it is tempting to double your budget or even triple it just so that you can stay on and play more – but frankly speaking doing so will only decrease your chances of winning.

But while you’re concentrating on that area of your budget you should also be aware that the other area you’ll need to play pokies is to determine when you’re going to walk away.

If you ever want to make a profit when you’re playing slots then you’re going to need to control yourself and walk away when you’re ahead. If not, and if you stay and play more then you’ll eventually probably end up losing whatever you won.

The longer you play – the greater your odds are of actually end up losing. If you want to turn a profit, you need to avoid this and take advantage of your good luck when you won in the first place and cash out.

Make sure that the figure you set for this portion of your budget is realistic and attainable – otherwise there wouldn’t really be much point setting it in the first place.

All said and done, you’ll find that if you play pokies using this approach – your odds of actually winning and turning a profit will be dramatically higher in the long run, and that is the best that can be asked for.