Many slot players today enjoy games largely for the bonuses that can lead to big pay days. Bonuses come in a variety of shapes and sizes: Picking, free spins, progressive chances, Hold & Spin, etc.
Others prefer to just have solid line hits and don’t stress too much about bonuses, which can sometimes be hard to land. You might see some of these players on mechanical reel slots playing games that don’t have bonuses at all. (There are video slots, like Twin Win, that have no bonuses, but those are more rare.)
But what if you could choose which experience you want on the same game? In recent years, the launch of games with two bet types, or More/Better options as they’re called by WMS on their games, you have control over where the pays are amplified.
Let’s take a look at this betting option and how it impacts games.
Choosing Between Line Hits and Bonuses
We first should start with an important point – most modern slots are designed to have the same payback percentage for a given denomination, regardless of bet. So when you’re looking at the more/better bets, your payback will still be the same as if you weren’t using the more/better bet.
Generally speaking, the more/better bet increases the frequency or payouts of bonuses. But since you’re paying a premium for it, your extra bet purchase is 100 percent going to ensure that payback percentage can be maintained with those higher payouts. Meanwhile, your line hits are being paid at the same multipliers as if you weren’t betting more/better.
Let’s say you had a game with 6 bet levels, in increments of 50 cents, from 50 cents to $3. The game also has a more/better bet at 75 cents increments (a 50% premium), so your bet options range for that range from 75 cents to $4.50. Effectively you’re paying 50% more to amplify the bonus feature, while maintaining your line hit bet, by stepping up to the more/better version of a given bet.
You could choose, for instance, to play $3 at the more/better level, get 4x line pays and more/better bonuses. Or, you could choose to pay $3 at the normal level, get 6x line pays and normal bonuses for that bet level. Keep in mind the line pays in the bonus would also be at the 6x bet.
Effectively this comes down to a choice of volatility. Betting more/better is more volatile as you’re putting more money at risk and you only get to take advantage of it when the bonuses come, but when bonuses do come you have a better shot at a strong bonus. Line hits will come more frequently and are not dependent on bonuses, so the line hit multiplier would therefore be less volatile.
So depending on your game preference, you can choose the bet that’s right for you.
Games with More/Better Bonus Bet Types
The More/Better bonus is called that as that’s what WMS has generally referred to it on many of their key games, which include:
- Many of the newest Wonka games, such as World of Wonka
- The Simpsons
- Seinfeld
- Zeus/Kronos (the newer games from the past few years, not the originals)
- Heidi’s Bier Haus
- The Flintstones (both the original video reel game and the newest version)
- The Monsters Return
- 007 games Thunderball and Casino Royale
Some of the newest games, like Zeus/Kronos Unleashed, even offer three options!
Aside from the WMS games, we’ve previously spoken how games like Mighty Cash use a similar dual-decision bet structure to let you decide how much weight you wish to put into the Mighty Cash feature.
Gimmie Games’ Dragon Lanterns has a More Lanterns feature, which is similar in concept and execution to IGT’s Ocean Magic, which has the same option for its bubbles with the Bubble Boost.
Konami offers a series of games where you can increase the jackpot chance, which is effectively an extra bet to trigger a separate jackpot feature such as the Jackpot Streams game.
Is it worth it? Brian Christopher weighed in recently on his blog and was leaning against it. But others love to push for bigger bonuses.
A Final Word of Caution
[UPDATED 6/19/20]: Reader Rob on our Facebook page made the note that you should carefully look at the max bets, as sometimes they make them look equal on both the regular and more/better bets, but they are offering different things for that wager.
The bet panel on the James Bond games with the chip bonuses, like Thunderball, give you a more/better on the chip bonus when you bet the upper panel. You’re betting 60 credit increments on the base bet, and 90 credit increments on the more/better. But they put a $5.40 max bet on both betting options.
So what does that mean for you as a player? Betting $5.40 on the base row means a 9x line hit multiplier for base game wins, but you lose out on the chip respin/upgrades. Betting $5.40 on the top row means a 6x line hit multiplier for base game wins, but you get the chip respin/upgrades.
The 50 percent premium for the feature over that same 6x option on the base row (360 credits) is still going on here, but they try to make it look even with the top bets. So just keep in mind what you’re getting, and what you’re not, when selecting your wager.
When the More/Better bet appears, what do you choose to do? Share in the comments!
