The formula · Verified June 2026

The Mines Multiplier Formula, Explained

Every major Mines game uses the same payout rule: multiplier = 0.99 ÷ P, where P is the probability of revealing your chosen number of safe tiles. P is the product of (25 − mines − i) ÷ (25 − i) for each pick i. The 0.99 factor is the 1% house edge.

• The formula
• Worked example
• Why 0.99?
• Payout matrix
• Maximum multiplier
• Misread numbers
• In dollars
• Stake vs BC.Game
• Verify any casino
• FAQ

The exact multiplier formula

Two inputs decide every Mines payout: M, the mines you set, and k, the safe tiles you reveal before cashing out. First the survival probability:

One factor per pick: the numerator counts gems still hidden, the denominator counts tiles still hidden. Then the payout inverts it and applies the edge:

That is everything. No weighting, no per-tile values, no volatility settings hidden in the client — the number above the board is pure counting plus one percent shaved off. The probability side of this story is unpacked on odds explained.

Worked example: 3 mines, 3 gems

Set 3 mines and plan to reveal 3 tiles. Multiply the three survival fractions:

The fair payout would be the plain inverse, 1 ÷ 66.96% = 1.49×. Apply the house cut:

Open Mines at Stake or BC.Game, set 3 mines, count three picks: the bet panel shows exactly 1.48×. Every cell in every Mines payout table reproduces this way.

Why multiply by 0.99?

The 0.99 is the house edge expressed as a refund rate. A fair game returning 1/P would have zero expected profit for the operator; multiplying every payout by 0.99 means the expected return of any bet is P × 0.99/P = 99%, i.e. the site keeps 1% of turnover in the long run. It is the same mechanism as the zero on a roulette wheel, just stated honestly in the payout math. Watch for clones using 0.97 or 0.96 — visually identical games with triple the cost.

The Mines payout matrix

The formula evaluated across the most common settings:

— means the board does not have that many safe tiles. Full per-count ladders: see the payout chart or use the calculator.

What is the maximum Mines multiplier?

The biggest payout comes from maximizing how unlikely a full clear is, which happens where the combination count C(25, M) peaks: 12 or 13 mines. Clearing 13 gems through 12 mines (or 12 through 13) has probability 1 in 5,200,300 and pays:

A $1 bet would theoretically collect over $5.1 million — except every casino enforces a maximum win far below that. The cap, not the formula, is the real ceiling at high stakes; the practical takeaway is that mid-board mine counts hide the wildest tails.

Three multipliers everyone misreads

Once the formula clicks, a few published numbers stop being surprising. The 1.01× floor: the smallest payout in the game is 1 mine, 1 gem at 1.03× — risking your whole stake to win three cents per dollar, which is why serious low-risk players take several picks rather than one. The “identical twins”: 2.00× appears for both 3 mines/5 gems and 5 mines/3 gems, because P is symmetric when you swap mines and gems — same product, different order of factors. The round-number illusion: a clean 2.00× on the screen is not a 50% shot; it is a 49.57% shot. The displayed payout always embeds the 1% discount, so the true probability is 0.99 divided by the multiplier — slightly better than the “1-in-multiplier” guess, and worth knowing when you set targets in our strategy guide.

The formula in dollars: what 0.99 costs you

Abstract percentages hide the bill, so price a real session. Say you play 300 rounds of $1 at 3 mines, cashing at 3 gems (1.48×). Expected wagering: $300. Expected return: $297. The $3 difference is the 0.99 doing its work — about a coffee, which is why Mines at sensible stakes is cheap entertainment. Scale the same session to $10 bets and the expected cost is $30; to $100 bets, $300. The formula does not care about your stake, but your bankroll does: the edge is proportional, the variance is not, and overscaled bets go broke on streaks long before the 1% average matters. That interaction — fixed edge, chosen volatility — is the entire skill surface of the game.

Do Stake and BC.Game use the same formula?

Yes — identical, including the 0.99. We pulled both payout tables in June 2026 and they agree with each other and with this page on every cell we checked. The differences between the two sites are limits, bonuses and interface, which is exactly what our Stake vs BC.Game comparison covers. The same table also matches Roobet, Rainbet, Shuffle, Duel, Gamdom and Rollbit in our top 8.

How to verify any casino's payout table

1. Open the Mines game and note the advertised multiplier for, say, 5 mines and 4 gems.
2. Enter the same setting in our free calculator.
3. If the casino's number matches the calculator's payout (2.58× in this case), it uses the full 99% RTP table.
4. If it is lower, divide the casino's multiplier by the fair multiplier to expose the real edge — e.g. a displayed 2.51× here would mean a 4% edge.

Sixty seconds of checking beats a thousand words of casino marketing. It is the single most useful habit this site can teach you.

Multiplier formula FAQ