Many people confuse the meaning of frequency of a slot machine with payback percentage of a slot machine. Technically, frequency of a slot machine refers to how often a set of symbols line up under the payline that actually pays out some amount of money to the player, this could be 1 coin or 1000 coins. On the other hand, payback percentage of a slot machine refers to the fact that what percentage of the coins inserted into the slot machine will be eventually paid back to the players. This totally varies based on the slot casino or online casino policy that the player is playing in, also even inside every real casino or online casino each slot machine has its own frequency and payback percentage, and this is regardless of where the slot machines are located, sometimes two slot machines with exactly same theme, interface and payout table have different payback and frequency sitting right beside each other. Moreover, the payback can be anywhere from 75% to 99% based on the real casino or online slot casino policy, a lot of casinos with high payback put this information on their advertisements or commercials to promote their slots, also you can find this information by contacting the online slot casino or real casino you are playing in. Usually slot machines with higher payback are referred to as loose slot machines as they tend to payback more of coins inserted by players and slot machines with lower payback percentage are referred to as tight slot machines.

Real slot machines or online slots can be divided into two groups, one group of slots with high frequency and small prizes, and another group with less frequency and large prizes. A good example of first group of slots that you may practically find in every casino or online casino that offer slot machines is 5-reel slot machines with multiline play. When you play multiline slots, your bet will be multiplied by the number of lines you are playing, and usually one or two lines of the slot will pay back the player something, however this amount is too small to even out the bet. On the other hand, another group of slots have lower frequency but the payouts are much larger. So, in a way this is a trade off, if you like to play and win every few plays with small prizes or you rather keep playing and not winning until you hit something big. You have to keep in mind that the casino or the online casino is a winner in long run because they never make slot machines to payback equal or more than 100% !