Becoming a Professional Slot Machine Player – Is it Realistic and Should You Try?

You might want to sit down for this. There’s no such thing as a professional slot player, just like there are no professional Big Wheel players or professional coin-flippers.

Slots are purely random games, and in the long run (which is what a “professional slot player” would be concerned with, career wise), they’re a losing proposition.

Or are they?

Is it possible that there’s a positive answer to the question, “Can you make a living playing slots”? Let’s examine what a professional slots player might be and what it would take to become one.

Can you make a living playing slots? Sure, if you win a lifetime supply of cash in one sitting. For those who want to make it their profession, that’s a different story.

While the jury’s still out on whether people make a living playing slot machines (and not simply by charging other people for access to their special slot knowledge), some people call themselves professional slot players.

From my research, most of these individuals have had success playing slot machines, but they have earned a large percentage of their money writing books describing the methods they used to win big jackpots.

Nobody pays attention to slot payouts except slot aficionados, and even these folks are inclined to pay attention only to the biggest jackpots, such as Mega Moolah.

So, the reporting of wins is left to the individual slot players. And while I would never call someone a liar without proof, some of the claims made by some of the professional slot machine players seem inauthentic, let’s say.

“Famous” might be a tad extravagant adjective to apply to the few who consider themselves professional slot machine gamblers.

Still, there are a couple who have managed to make themselves known in the gambling world.

Peter Liston wrote one of the first books on how to win consistently by playing progressive jackpot slots.

He spent a few years charging eager students nearly $10,000 for a three-day intensive tutoring in the fine art of winning big at the slots.

According to his website, Liston continues to mentor would-be slot pros around the world, although he appears to have discounted his $9,900 three-day course price to $5,900.

Can you make a living playing slot machines? I’d say it would be a lot harder if you are already starting $10,000 in the red.

Calling himself “The Slots Guru,” Cobb penned the 2009 book, Secrets to Hitting More Jackpots: Get the Winning Edge. He claims to have won more than $10 million between 2005 and 2015.

Cobb says he has given more than $8 million of his slot winnings to random people inside and outside the casinos he frequents.

While others say it’s important to lean on sound slots strategy, Cobb prefers another way. He attributes his success to the good karma he gets from sharing his winnings with random passers-by.

According to an interview he gave, each of these random acts of charity makes Cobb “tingle all over.”

Is that the secret for how to be a professional slot player? Maybe.

Brian Christopher was a very successful streamer on YouTube when one of his videos about playing slots allegedly transgressed the rules involving “violent or dangerous acts,” and it got him banned.

The ban has since been lifted, and he currently streams slot play, slot playing tips, and general merriment every week.

While he doesn’t claim to be a professional slot machine player, he is pretty serious about slots.

With his videos playing somewhere in the world at any given moment, we can credit him for having converted the slots from “what grandma does” to a game the newest crop of legal gamblers can enjoy—even if they have to pretend it’s, like, ironic.

This “Slot Queen” hails from northern California. She plays at casinos throughout the country, but one of her favorite haunts is Baldini’s Casino in Reno, Nevada, where she serves as an informal, welcoming committee and shepherd of slot players.

Baldini’s Casino has several of her YouTube videos featured if you want to pick up her slot tips.

While she doesn’t claim to have won millions, she has accumulated an impressive string of hand pays that easily qualify her to hand out business cards reading “Slot Queen – Professional Slot Player.”

Can you make a living playing slot machines? I’d say that having a popular YouTube channel certainly helps. It’s probably not the answer you were looking for, but that is something we can learn from the Slot Queen.

Danielle Aragon’s 5 Best Slot Wins – Ranking the Slot Queen’s Biggest Scores on YouTube

Known as the “Slot Queen,” YouTube’s Danielle Aragon has built a cult following from her videos. Her down-to-earth personality has won her a lot of fans, with her subscription base growing by the week. Join me as I rank my favorite Danielle Aragon...

Read More

So, you want to be a professional slot machine player, eh? The first step for how to become a professional slot player is learning how to act like a pro.

That means getting serious about everything you do concerning slots. Study, understand, and spend every waking moment learning their strengths, foibles, and vulnerabilities. 

This is your job, pal. Suck it up. You want an adventure? Marry a Kardashian.

Sorry, I got carried away there. Seriously, though, here are the main techniques and strategies you’ll need to have in your toolbox next time you hit the gaming floor or play at the best online casinos.

With very few exceptions, the Return to Player (RTP) for slot machines ranges between 90 and 97%. Progressive jackpots can turn a slot that offers an abysmal RTP of below 90% to one that gives the player an edge.

For instance, Mega Moolah offers an 88% RTP during regular slot play, but as the massive progressive jackpot (seeded at $2 million) ranges upwards, players can expect an RTP well over 100%.

It’s always best to research slot RTP. You’ll want to concentrate on slots that offer that sweet spot where the house has ceased to have an edge, giving you the advantage.

Some progressive jackpots offer this edge, but it takes skill and perseverance to correctly recognize when it has occurred.

So, in the slot world, you’ll want to focus on the only slots that could offer you the advantage: Progressive jackpot slots.

One online casino site that offers hourly and daily jackpots is Bovada!

Low volatility means a slot pays frequently but ungenerously. Many of your “wins” on a low volatility slot won’t even be as much as the amount you wagered on the spin (micro-wins, in other words).

Now, plenty of people prefer to play these slow volatility slots because they play for entertainment and perhaps the excitement of frequent minuscule wins.

For some people, it’s the destination. For others, it’s the journey. Either attitude is fine but decide which sort of player you are before you quit your day job to become a professional slot player.

You need to understand that the higher upside a slot presents, the higher its volatility rating—and the bigger that progressive jackpot will be.

You’ve seen that bank of identical slot machines, usually with a huge marquee above them touting a life-changing progressive jackpot.

It’s possible, even likely, that many of those machines are being played by a team. Sometimes it takes a group effort, and as a slots player on their professional journey, you’ll need all the help you can. So seek out other players to join your team to reap more benefits.

You can work out all the details with the team, but I suggest play furiously for an hour or two, and then move on to the next casino whenever the jackpot is won.

Plenty of people offer solid slot-playing tips for far less than the “professionals” might charge—and even the pros have revealed their secrets in print. Here are a few recommendations to check out:

These books will provide their experiences while offering up the best strategies for everything you need to know on how to become a professional slots gambler.

Like the old set-up question, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The best way to be successful at playing the slots is one word: Practice.

You can find many progressive jackpot slots online, including hot drops, must-drops, and even linked progressives that regularly grow into millions of dollars.

If you’re just getting started with slots – or playing casino games in general – it might be helpful to dive into our casino guide for beginners.

Can you play slots professionally? For the casual slot player, playing slots at the professional level is not a realistic goal.

The pursuit of the progressive jackpots—the only situation wherein you can find that advantage play—requires your total dedication in terms of time, practice, and study.

If you’re trying to find out how to become a professional slot player, make sure you are aware of these negatives.

As you can imagine, playing slots for great lengths of time can eat through a bankroll in short order—particularly when many (pronounced “most”) progressive jackpots require the player to be wagering max coins to qualify for the progressive win.

Monitoring progressive slots banks requires time. Even if you quit your job at the car wash to chase the big progressives at the local casinos, you will spend most of your time sipping diet coke while waiting for the RTP to go positive.

Despite everything you can do to trim the house edge to nothing and put yourself in a position to win, losing is still possible.

Not always, but if it were possible to win big progressive jackpots consistently, why are so many people who claim to be doing just that selling their strategies to all comers?

While it’s unlikely such a thing as a professional slots player actually exists, there are certainly verified methods and strategies to improve your chances of winning at the slots.

You can calculate when to start playing that must-drop $1000 progressive. You can join a bunch of like-minded friends to swamp the linked progressive jackpot slots. So that’s a big yes to the question, “Can you play slots professionally?”

Can you become a professional slot player by implementing these methods? I’d say so.

As you develop your skills to the pro level, you can spot-check your strategies by playing at online slots for real money.

In fact, you may discover that online slots are far more convenient to access and offer just as many opportunities to hit significant progressive jackpots as the brick & mortar casinos do.

One thing you can do to help out your cause is to read these five important tips for a beginner slots player.

5 Important Slot Tips Every Beginning Player Needs to Hear

My slot machine tips for beginners start with choosing the right online casino. It’s essential to know the differences between slot machines and their features. Knowing when to cash out can save you from turning a bad night into a worse one. There are many...

Read More

Footnotes:

• Global Gaming Business provided details about Earnest Cobb.
• Poker Machine School provided details about the Poker Machine King.