Gamble Feature in Slot Machines

When slot machines first appeared, they were pretty basic compared to slots released nowadays. You had 1 or 3 reels and 1 to 3 paylines to place bets on, no Wild Symbols, no Scatters to help you out in the formation of winning combos, nada; all you had to do was land a winning combo with the regular symbols, usually displayed on the screen next to the grid.

But then, developers started improving slots, and one of the first features they added along the line, which is still popularly used in slots today, is the Gamble Feature. This feature adds another element of surprise and anticipation for players, as it allows them to gamble the win they achieved in a slot, meaning improve it or lose it.

There are several types of the Gamble Feature you could come across, but before we go into that, let’s see how the feature works.

How Does the Gamble Feature Function?

We should state right away that the Gamble Feature is not offered in all slots, even though many offer it. When offered in a slot, the Gamble feature usually works like this: you achieve a win, and then you are given the option to gamble that win.

In the past, the basic version of the Gamble Feature would ask players to choose the suit and the color of a card from a playing card deck, placed face-down on the screen. Then, the game would randomly display the card, for instance, a 2 in suits, or a 4 in hearts. If the player chose the right color, their winnings are doubled, if they chose the right suit, their winnings are quadrupled. If the guess was entirely wrong, they lose their winnings.

And even though there are several other versions of the gamble involving playing cards, nowadays, the feature is much improved. Now, usually, players are given a type of Wheel of Fortune, with red and green segments usually, or green and black, for instance. If the player hits the green segment, they get a Multiplier added to their win, from 2x to 5x, for example, but if they hit the red or black segment, they lose their win.

Most Common Gamble Feature Types

The first thing you need to do when you’re playing a slot with the Gamble Feature, as you could see, is to check how it works because it is slot-specific and it can function differently from slot to slot. You can do that by visiting the paytable. What you’ll learn here, too, is whether the gamble applies to the total win or the win on a specific spin. And there comes the first major categorization of Gamble feature types. Many other types exist, and next, we’ll mention the most common ones:

Spin Win Gamble

In some slots, when you achieve a win, the Gamble button will activate. When you press the button, you’ll see that you can gamble your win for that spin, and that spin only, and either improve the win or lose it.

Total Win Gamble

At the end of your session or whenever you choose to stop playing the slot, you might be given the option to gamble your total win. Again, you’ll be presented with a button you’d need to press that will take you to the Gamble feature.

Bonus Buy Gamble

Many contemporary online slots give you Bonus Buy options. While usually, they allow you to place an extra, bigger bet than the regular one, to go straight to the bonus game, some offer a Gamble for an extra bet, but a smaller one than the previous one taking you straight to the bonus. With the Gamble, you can either get to the bonus or you can lose access to it and again start with the regular play.

In-Bonus Gamble

In some modern slots, you are given the option to Gamble the number of Free Spins you’d play through after. In such slots, once the Free Spins are triggered, you usually get a Wheel of Fortune with different number segments and blank segments. You can either win more spins than you’ve initially triggered, or simply a big number of free spins, or you can lose access to the bonus round altogether, should your gamble go wrong.

Heads or Tails

Another popular Gamble Feature type is the Heads or Tails. Just as it works in real life, you’d need to choose heads or tails when guessing on which side the coin will fall after the flip. Correct guesses can take you to big Multipliers, incorrect make you lose your win.

Hi-Lo

A lesser-known type of the Gamble Feature that was used more in the past than the present, is the Hi-Lo. This is a gamble where you’re presented with one playing card, say 5 in hearts, and you’d need to guess whether the next card the game shows would be higher or lower than the 5 in hearts. Choose wisely and you’ll improve your win, choose poorly and you’ll lose it.