Slot Session Bankroll for losers

I was working with generative ai to figure out a 4hour $1 session bankroll calculation and this is what it helped me come up with. Thoughts?


I've been studying how much of a bankroll is needed to have fun when I hit the casinos. I do love the new slot machines that are currently offered in practically all casinos nowadays. No more boring triple reel play like the days of old. But at what cost?

The below formula assumes you play around 600 spins per hour, and you are taking around a 5% chance you will bust before your 4 hrs are up.

Bankroll = 800 × (Bet Size) × (1 + Variance Level)

Where the variance levels can be 1 (low), 2 (Medium), 3 (High)
Low = Old Three Wheel Slot
Medium = Average Video Slot
High = Progressive Slot

Again, I'm assuming 4 hrs of play in a weekend. The X800 rule can be modified lower if you are playing less time or want to take on more risk but it's not a perfect linear equation.

So a $1 player, playing for four hours, would need $2400.00 to be fairly sure they stayed in action the full weekend. This doesn't mean you will lose this much money. Most likely is that you will lose around $144.00 for 4 hrs of play due to the 6% house edge. There is just so much variance in those games you have to have a huge bankroll to survive that amount of play.

Actionable Recommendations
For the $1 Slot Player Wanting 4 Hours:
Player Type Recommended Bankroll Strategy
Ultra-Conservative $2,000-3,000 Play max bet on high RTP (>96%) games
Conservative $1,000-1,500 Mix low and medium variance games
Typical Recreational $500-800 Accept 30-40% risk of early bust
Budget Player $200-300 Be prepared for 1-2 hour session
Smart Adjustments:
Lower Your Bet: Play $0.50 spins instead of $1.00 → doubles your play time

Mix Games: Alternate between low variance (to preserve bankroll) and high variance (for excitement)

Use Player's Club: At least get some comps for your expected loss

Set a Win Goal: Quit if you're up 50-100% of starting bankroll

Set a Loss Limit: Quit if you lose 50% of bankroll before 4 hours

I think you'll have trouble placing $1 bets at a 96% RTP.

I suggest refiguring for 89%.

Group pulls are an overlooked approach.

Interesting! I'm not going to try to do the math myself but I see what you mean by pooling resources. I believe the idea is that a pooled approach lowers the amount of pulls each player makes but since the gains and losses are shared equally the risk is reduced.

Single-player bankroll 89% RTP, 5% RoR (entire 4-hour session):
Bankrollsingle=850×Bet Size×(1+Variance Level)

Single-player bankroll 89% RTP, 5% RoR ( Only 2-hour session):
Bankrollsingle=600×Bet Size×(1+Variance Level)

Two player bankroll each player playing half the time, in the pool:
Per-player bankroll = (850/2)×Bet Size×(1+Variance Level)

According to Deepthink, a two player bankroll multiplier for the 4 hours is 425 per player (850/2), but if a single player tried to play for two hours they would need a larger multiplier of 600. So we have a substantial reduction in bankroll necessary for each player.

Neat!

I don't know about 4 hours, but my strategy starts with $300 on a 50 line, multiplier of 2, on the $0.01 denom ($1 spins) for Dragon Link and its variants. If I get up +2 Mini JP's then I raise my bet by 50% or so, and keep going up the higher I get; and fall back to a lower bet if I fall below certain credit values. I don't play the game, so I don't know. It wouldn't hurt to have another couple $300 buy-in sessions.

By the time I'm up +14 Mini JP's I'll have $1,500 on the credit meter, and the 500X orb that shows up would be worth $7,500, and I'll be at $15/spin, and the Mini & Minor would be at $300/$600. If I win +4 Mini JP's more I'll be at $3,100 on the credit meter with $50/spin bets and the Mini & Minor would be at $1,000/$2,000 which would start setting off Hand Pays for 2026. I could just stop with $3,100 as a win goal and take +9 $300 session buy-ins as a next step. I'd be up about 320 spins ahead (+16 Mini JP's X 20 spins), which is about what my buy-ins are (300 spins), and a cash-out would turn it into 3,000 spins over 10 sessions. Or I could win +4 more Mini JP's and get to $10,100 with $250 spins and the MIni & Minor at $5K/$10K and the 500X orb at $125K. Trying to play on machine max bets of $1,000 per spin ($2 with a multiplier of 10 on 50 lines), I'd take it from $40K to $80K on the credit meter with the Mini & Minor at $20K/$40K, and the 500X orb at $500K. I'd be up +28 Mini JP's, or +560 spins by the time I got to $80K, which could be cashed out for 266 X $300 sessions or nearly 80,000 additional spins.

Quote: BoisePlayer

I was working with generative ai to figure out a 4hour $1 session bankroll calculation and this is what it helped me come up with. Thoughts?

<snip>

Set a Loss Limit: Quit if you lose 50% of bankroll before 4 hours
link to original post

BoisePlayer,

Just a comment on this last point: if you plan to quit if you lose 50% of your BR, then your BR is in fact only ½ the amount you thought.

If your BR is $3,000, but you plan to quit if you get down to $1,500, then in fact you're playing with a $1,500 bankroll because you'll never touch the last $1,500. You might just as well leave 15 Benjies at home and use a "Loss Limit" of 100% of your $1,500.

Think about it.

Dog Hand