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DEPOSIT MATCHING – Some of the best online casinos on the World Wide Web offer deposit matching as an incentive to bring in new players. It’s reflective of the fact that the internet casino gambling industry is so competitive nowadays that casinos are willing to give away free money to get you through the virtual door, but it’s definitely a state of affairs that works well for players! Basically, initial deposits up to a certain amount are matched by the casino for that you have more money with which to play. Some sites will offer only a certain percentage match, but others go the whole hog and offer one hundred percent matching. These, of course, are the offers to jump on!

DOUBLE MACHINES – Double slots offer a way of really boosting your winnings and a chance to take home really phenomenal amounts of money… for a risk. You’ll know a double machine by the fact that the word “double” is almost guaranteed to show up in the name, a la Double Top Double and Double Diamond. When you score a winning combo, you have the option of doubling your winnings by taking a chance on certain combinations of symbols – usually a sequence that must present in a particular order. There are plenty of players who really get off on the risk and bravado necessary to conquer this type of slot, but  those who think that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush will likely not be comfortable with the idea of betting won money on the off chance of winning more.

DOWN CYCLE – Sometimes the slot game that you are cursing for its heartlessness is not really “cold” or “tight.” It could very well be on a “down cycle,” which makes it known as a “down slot” for the duration. See, slot games with static jackpots are constantly in one of two stages – taking money in towards the jackpot amount, or prepared to be hit with the cash for a big payout ready and waiting. If a game has just made a huge payout, it may be programmed to take some time and collect money – which is to say, go cold – until it has accumulated enough to drop another big prize. A few slots are programmed to still award smaller payouts on a down cycle, but not all are. Unfortunately, we often have no indication of whether a slot machine is on an “up” or “down” cycle, so we can only implement good bankroll management techniques to keep from wasting too much cash on a losing battle. Of course, if you have just witnessed a player striking it rich on Slot Machine “X”, it might be a good idea to leave that one alone for a while. Online slots do not have to experience “up/down” cycles due to their nature, but many internet gambling sites will still program their titles to have occasional “rest” periods for a more authentic “feel.”

A notable exception to the up/down slot cycle is, of course, progressive jackpots that start building from their lowest amount as soon as a player has broken one. We have actually reported on one case of a regional progressive jackpot being hit twice within three minutes, in such a short time that the progressive meter had not even had the chance to reset for the unlucky second player.

DRILLING – Drilling is another odious scamming technique used by the criminals whose lives’ pursuit is to rip off slot machines. Luckily, this is one method of illegal treasure mining that is rapidly becoming obsolete. Drillers use a drill (not that you would have guessed that!) to bore holes into the mechanisms of slot games and hopefully hit something to make the game put out an artificial jackpot. The vast majority of casino slots are now video-based games, and lack the physical components that make drilling a viable means of tampering with the equipment. This is another criminal and completely not-recommended activity.

DROP BOX – This is a term pertinent to the internal makeup of slot machine terminals. Within the “guts” of a slot cabinet lies the hopper, into which coins drop when they are deposited by players. The hopper holds onto coins until they are needed to pay out a jackpot or smaller winning. Occasionally, too many coins or tokens are played into the machine before it can play out a prize or jackpot, and the hopper overflows. The residual coins are funneled into the drop box, a locked receptacle that can be collected and emptied on a regular basis by casino staff. Slot machines with lower-denomination bets may have a simple “drop bucket,” but those dealing in high-dollar wagers feature the extra security of a drop box.

DROP-THROUGH – This peculiar form of slot game is a hybrid form of Pachinko’s epic popularity in Japan and elsewhere. Drop-through slots are arranged like a vertical pinball machine board, and house tiny balls that drop through obstacles on the board to accumulate bonus winnings, usually as part of a bonus game that is “extra” with the slots.

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