Is There a Trick to Pokies? How to Increase Your Chances of Winning?

Slot games are hugely popular for many reasons – the fun themes and extra features make the games exciting and appealing to all different types of players. And, of course, you might grab a real money win. 

If you’ve played pokies online (or even at a land-based casino) before, you’ll probably know that the way they work is random. There aren’t any special skills that can help you win at slot games, but even so, you might wonder if there’s a trick to pokies. 

There will be some people who might encourage you to try to cheat at slots. In years gone by, there were whole gangs that tried to outsmart the machines in Las Vegas casinos. But we wouldn’t recommend any of those dodgy techniques because they won’t work with online slots, and you could get caught and penalised. 

That said, we do have a few pokies tips that might help you secure a win. These include selecting your game carefully and taking advantage of free bonuses. This guide will tell you everything you need to know about increasing your win chances. 

How Do Pokies Work?

It’s important to understand that the pokies at reputable Australian online gambling sites all use Random Number Generator (RNG) technology, which means you have a fair chance of winning.

RNG is a sophisticated algorithm that uses equations to determine where the symbols will land each time you spin. You cannot change which symbols will land on the grid at any time when you play pokies.

Now that you understand the games, it’s time to learn how to play pokies. In most cases, it’s simply a case of creating an account at one of our recommended online casino sites, making your first deposit and then heading to the games lobby to find the slot you want.

You’ll need to use the options on the screen to set your stake (sometimes this is impacted by the number of paylines you choose) and then click the spin button. You don’t need to do anything special after that – the game will let you know if you’ve won anything after each spin, and the money will be automatically added to your casino account. 

If you haven’t played pokies online before, we have a full Betsquare slots guide that explains precisely what to do, and we recommend you read it thoroughly before you spend any real cash. 

As we mentioned, Random Number Generator technology makes online pokies fair, but even so, you can use a few pokies winning tips to give yourself a better chance of winning. We’ve put together a guide to some tricks for playing slots that could help set you on the course for a juicy win. 

From selecting the games carefully to using demo mode first, the more you understand how the game works, the more likely you are to maximise the features to give yourself a chance at winning.

But don’t forget, even if you’re on a winning streak, you should always gamble responsibly when you play slots online.

Opt for Bigger Bets

One of the most important tips for pokies is to optimise your bet size. If it’s within the budget you’ve set for yourself, you might want to opt for bigger bets. This is because any wins you have at a higher stake will result in a bigger payout.

Depending on the game, most casino games have a maximum stake of between $20 and $100, so it’s possible to choose quite a high stake. 

If the slot you’re playing can adjust the number of active paylines, you might want to do that, too. Playing with more active paylines will give you more chances to win, but it will also be more expensive per spin.

Of course, this method isn’t without its risks, so if you’re playing with a smaller bankroll, you might prefer to play lower-value spins to enjoy playing pokies online for longer. 

Test Pokies for Free

Many of the best Australian online casinos have free slots, which offer the perfect opportunity to test out the game before you decide to play for real.

In some cases, you can play before you even sign up for your online casino account, but you’ll usually have to register and log in for the first time before you can play free online pokies. Look out for the “demo mode” or “fun play” option in the lobby, and when you open up the game, you’ll get some fake money to use for your spins. You can get a feel for the game and even check out the special features without a monetary commitment. 

Another way to play free pokies is by visiting a social casino site. For example, some of these sites give you free virtual coins to play real slot games (although you won’t be able to win cash). You can try the games for free, then move on to your preferred online casino to play for real money. 

Choose the Most Beneficial Games (Like Jackpot Pokies)

While most casino games online operate with a similar mechanism (matching the same symbol on adjacent reels on one of the paylines results in a win), they’re all different.

When you’re choosing the game you want to play, you might want to look for a theme that appeals to you, a high Return to Player percentage to give you a better chance of winning, or lots of special features like free spins rounds or multipliers, which can be lucrative. 

If you’re wondering what type of game you should choose, we recommend a progressive jackpot pokie. The prize pots in these games increase every time someone spins so that they can reach as high as eight figures, and the biggest prize can often drop on any spin. One of the major jackpot pokies we love is Mega Moolah, and the game comes with lots of spinoffs, each with its own theme. 

 

Don’t Chase Your Losses

Put very simply, it’s never a good idea to chase your losses when you’re playing online casino games. Yes, if you’re on a losing streak and just keep going, there’s a chance that you’ll win at some point, but more likely than not, you’ll simply lose a lot of extra money.

That’s why setting a budget is so necessary—it helps you accept your losses rather than try to win them back.

Another good reason why you should never chase losses on slot games is because of the house edge. You’ll see that all pokies come with a Return to Player percentage (RTP), which can be between 94% and 97%. That’s how much the game tends to pay out in the long run, while the inverse is known as the house edge – that’s what the casino keeps in profits, and it’s never zero.

Know Your Odds

Before you spend any real money playing online casino games, understanding the pokies odds is a good idea. The odds will be different for every game, but as a rule of thumb, it’s a good idea to look for slots with an RTP of at least 96%, giving you a decent chance of landing a win. You can always find the RTP within the game info, or your online casino might have the RTP for every game listed on one page. 

In some cases, games that come jam-packed with certain special features might have lower RTP percentages – progressive jackpots are known for this. You might even notice that the bonus rounds of certain games have a different RTP than the base game. On the flip side, more simple games offer fewer chances to win, but they could result in bigger payouts. However, extra features tend to add more layers of thrill; it’s up to you to decide what you prefer here. 

When you understand the odds of winning, you’ll be able to make informed choices about whether or not you should play the game and the kind of budget you need to play with. 

Take Advantage of Bonuses and Promotions

An excellent way to boost your balance at online casinos is to claim an online pokies no-deposit bonus when you sign up. These offers allow you to start playing the games for free, and you might even bag a real money win. Other online casinos give you deposit match offers or free spins on deposit, allowing you to play more and boost your chances of winning.

Even if you don’t have a sign-up offer, many bonus buy slots allow you to purchase your way into the bonus round. As the bonus round can often be the most lucrative (and the most fun), this is a great way to give yourself a better chance of winning.

The bonus round costs a certain number of times your stake amount (for example, 75x or 100x), but these rounds often come with special features like multipliers and jackpots, which make them worth your time and money. 

Avoid Thinking of ‘Due’ Payouts

It might make sense to think that if you’ve lost a lot of money or haven’t had any winning spins recently, you might be due a big one soon. That’s not how slots online work, as they all use Random Number Generators.

The notion that online pokies can be “hot” or “cold” is false because even if you’ve just had a huge win, you could have another one straight away, or your losing streak could continue for hundreds and hundreds of spins. There’s no telling what the RNG will do, so it’s not a good idea to predict it, as you could just end up losing money. 

One thing that might be helpful to understand is the volatility of the slot game. A highly volatile slot will likely pay out less often, but the wins will be higher, while low volatility slots are the opposite. However, even this isn’t an indication of whether or not you’ll win during a single gaming session. 

Stick to Your Pokies Strategy

People use all sorts of different strategies when playing slot games. Some might decide to take $100 and divide it up between five different casino games online; others prefer to stick to one game and play until triggering the bonus round.

The choice is entirely yours, but it’s a good idea to choose a pokies strategy and stick to it. This will help you make informed choices about managing your bankroll and help you control your spending. Choosing one strategy can also help you set and manage expectations about exactly how much you’d like to win. 

Set a Budget

Setting a budget and sticking to it is one of the most important things you can do when playing online casino games.

You must decide how much money you want to spend on pokies per day, week or month – or in a single gaming session. We recommend only ever playing with money you can afford to lose. Stop playing rather than topping up your balance if you’ve lost your entire bankroll. Even if you’re winning, you might want to set a time when you’ll stop rather than trying to continue winning more money, which you could end up losing instead. 

All the best Australian gambling sites have responsible gaming tools to help you stick to your budget. Choose to limit how much you can deposit, wager, or lose within a certain period, or you can set a reality check to remind you how long you’ve been playing. If you need a break, block access to your account using a timeout or a self-exclusion. 

Know When to Finish

Knowing when to stop is closely tied to responsible online gambling. As we mentioned, there’s no point in chasing your losses, so you should be willing to walk away as soon as you’ve reached the limits of your budget.

And just because you decided you had $100 to play with, it doesn’t mean you need to spend all of it. You should be comfortable walking away from the online slots at any time, even if you’ve only spent a few dollars of your budget or even if you’re winning. 

As long as you stay in control at all times and know exactly when you walk away, you can continue enjoying a safe and fun experience at the best casino sites. 

Conclusion

While online pokies are primarily based on chance and luck, there are a few pokies winning tips you can apply. For example, by claiming bonuses and promotions, you can boost your bankroll and keep playing for longer, and by choosing high RTP or jackpot games, you give yourself a better chance of winning.

Just remember, you should never try to cheat online pokies (not that it’s possible anyway), and responsible gambling using a budget that suits you is very important. 

If you’re satisfied that you know all the tricks to pokies, you’ll be ready to sign up at one of our top payout online casinos. Creating your account only takes a few minutes, and we promise you’ll have an outstanding sign-up bonus awaiting you. You’ll be enjoying all of your favourite pokies in no time.