Key facts
- In a mines gambling game you pick tiles on a grid. Safe tiles (Spribe uses stars) raise your multiplier; hitting a mine loses the bet. You can cash out after any safe pick.
- Spribe lists its Mines at a 97% return to player. BGaming's mine-themed Minesweeper lists 98.4%, with a top multiplier of x15.11.
- If a game pays 97% of the fair price at every step, your expected return is 97% whether you cash out after one pick or ten. Stopping early or late changes the risk, not the cost.
- On a 25 tile board with 3 mines, in our model, the first pick is safe 88% of the time, five safe picks in a row 49.6%, and ten in a row 19.8%.
- Real money mines is an online casino-style game that cannot legally be offered to people in Australia under the Interactive Gambling Act.
How the mines casino game works
Mines is a grid of hidden tiles. Some hide mines, the rest are safe. You choose your bet and the game settings, then uncover tiles one at a time. Each safe tile pushes up a multiplier on your bet. You can cash out after any safe pick and take bet x multiplier. Hit a mine and the round is over, bet gone.
Spribe describes its version simply: stars and land mines are hidden on the field, the goal is to open as many stars as possible without hitting a mine, winnings rise with each star, and the player "can cash out after each successful guess". It lists the game as a "Mini Game" with a return to player of 97%, and an autoplay option.
BGaming's mine-themed game, Minesweeper, works as a path instead of a grid: you cross a field in 3 to 15 moves, each move a row of 2 to 6 squares with one bomb. It lists a 98.4% RTP and a top multiplier of x15.11.
The odds of surviving each pick
The chance of surviving depends on how many tiles and mines are left. For our worked model we use a 25 tile board (5 x 5) and let the number of mines vary; check the grid size and mine count in the game you are looking at.
With m mines on 25 tiles, the chance of surviving k picks in a row is the number of ways to pick k safe tiles divided by the number of ways to pick any k tiles. In our calculation:
| Picks survived | 1 mine | 3 mines | 5 mines | 10 mines |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 96.00% | 88.00% | 80.00% | 60.00% |
| 2 | 92.00% | 77.00% | 63.33% | 35.00% |
| 3 | 88.00% | 66.96% | 49.57% | 19.78% |
| 5 | 80.00% | 49.57% | 29.18% | 5.65% |
| 8 | 68.00% | 29.57% | 11.65% | 0.59% |
| 10 | 60.00% | 19.78% | 5.65% | 0.09% |
The odds turn fast. With 3 mines, you are more likely than not to survive four picks, but less likely than not to survive five. With 10 mines, a third safe pick is already a one in five shot.
How a 97% RTP sets the multiplier
A fair multiplier for surviving k picks would be 1 divided by the survival chance: if you survive 50% of the time, a fair game pays 2x. A game with a 97% RTP can pay 97% of that fair price at every step. Using our 25 tile model, those multipliers would be:
| Picks | 3 mines: survival | 3 mines: multiplier at 97% | 5 mines: survival | 5 mines: multiplier at 97% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88.00% | 1.10x | 80.00% | 1.21x |
| 3 | 66.96% | 1.45x | 49.57% | 1.96x |
| 5 | 49.57% | 1.96x | 29.18% | 3.32x |
| 8 | 29.57% | 3.28x | 11.65% | 8.33x |
| 10 | 19.78% | 4.90x | 5.65% | 17.16x |
This is a model, not any maker's published table, but it shows the key fact. Multiply survival by multiplier in any row and you get 0.97. Every cash-out point returns 97 cents per dollar on average. Cashing out after one pick is not "safer" in cost terms; it is just lower variance. Clearing all 22 safe tiles with 3 mines would pay about 2,231x, and happens once in about 2,300 rounds.
Pundit tip: the multiplier for your next pick is shown before you click. Compare it with the chance of surviving that one pick: if each step is priced at 97%, there is no "sweet spot" to stop at, only a choice of how much risk to take.
Why mines feels like a skill game
You choose every tile, you decide when to stop, and the game rewards you with a rising number. It feels like judgement. But:
- Tile choice does not matter. Mine positions are random, so a corner is no safer than the centre and no click pattern beats another.
- Stopping does not change the average. As the table shows, every stopping point has the same expected return if the game prices each step at its RTP.
- Chasing changes your total bet. Doubling after a loss, as in the Martingale strategy, raises the total you bet, and your expected loss is the edge times that total.
Spribe also adds social features: in-game chat, a live feed of other players' bets and "Rain" free bets dropped into the chat at random times, which it describes as a way to increase chat interaction and time in game. Those are engagement tools, not odds.
Mines compared with plinko and crash
Mines, plinko and crash games share a design: a published RTP, a simple screen and very fast rounds. At 97%, mines carries a 3% edge, a little worse than single zero roulette and about three times baccarat banker. Rounds can take seconds, so the hourly cost can be high. Our house edge page explains the arithmetic, the expected value calculator lets you test a multiplier yourself, and best odds casino games ranks mines against table games.
Mines in Australia
Real money mines is an online casino-style game. Under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 it cannot legally be offered to people in Australia, and ACMA blocks illegal gambling sites. You do not commit an offence by playing, but sites that offer it to Australians are offshore and outside local regulation, and makers' free demos let you try it without money at risk. If quick-fire games are taking more than you planned, see the gambling help page.
Our partner sites
Terms checked 8 to 9 October 2026We earn a commission if you join through these links; it pays for the site and does not change the facts we show. Listed in no particular order. Every detail comes from the casino's own terms, except ACMA notes, which come from ACMA's blocked list. These are offshore casinos without an Australian licence, so BetStop and Australian dispute services do not cover them: read whether online pokies are legal in Australia and our affiliate disclosure.Commission links. Offshore sites with no Australian licence or BetStop cover: is it legal?
LuckyOnes
Partner · termsTerms checked 9 Oct 2026- Withdrawals
- AUD 6,000 a day
- Max bet (bonus)
- AUD 8
- Min deposit
- AUD 30
- Names no licence or operating company in its terms or footer
- luckyones.com, luckyones1.com and luckyones7.com are on ACMA's blocked list (8 Oct 2026)Main domain on ACMA's blocked list
Wild Tokyo
Partner · termsTerms checked 8 Oct 2026- Withdrawals (entry)
- AUD 800 a day
- Max bet (bonus)
- AUD 8
- Monthly cap (entry)
- AUD 13,000
- States a Curacao eGaming licence (no number shown)
18+ Offers and terms change often; the casino's own terms always apply. Never gamble money you need. Free help: Gambling Help 1800 858 858, 24/7.
Frequently asked questions
How does the mines casino game work?
You set a bet and the game settings, then click tiles on a grid. Each safe tile raises the multiplier on your bet; you can take the money at any point. If you click a mine the round ends and the bet is lost.
Is there a strategy for mines?
Not one that beats the return to player. The mine positions are random, so no pattern of clicks is safer than another. Choosing fewer picks makes losses rarer and wins smaller; choosing more does the opposite. The average cost per dollar stays at the game's edge.
What is the RTP of the mines gambling game?
It depends on the maker. Spribe lists 97% for its Mines. BGaming's Minesweeper, a related game where you cross a field row by row, lists 98.4%. Always check the info screen of the version you are playing.
How likely is it to clear the whole board?
Very unlikely. On a 25 tile board with 3 mines, uncovering all 22 safe tiles happens once in 2,300 rounds in our calculation. With 24 mines, a single safe pick is a 1 in 25 chance.
Is mines legal in Australia?
Real money mines is an online casino-style game, and those cannot legally be offered to people in Australia under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. It is not an offence to play, but the sites offering it are offshore.
Related reading
Casino games Two-up Two pennies, one kip, a ring and a lot of noise. Here are the rules of two-up as NSW sets them out, the real odds of heads, tails and odds, and the days each state allows the game. Read more 
Casino games Plinko Plinko drops a ball through rows of pegs into a row of multipliers. The board looks random and fun; the real number to find is the RTP, which can range from 99% down to 88.20% for the same game. Read more 
Casino games Red dog Red dog asks whether a third card will fall between two others. The payout table rewards narrow gaps, but the money is made on wide ones, and that is where you should raise. Read more 
Casino games Video poker Video poker is the one machine game where the paytable tells you the return and your choices change it. How to read the table, the odds before and after the draw, and what strategy is worth. Read more 
Casino games Best odds games No casino game pays you to play it, but some charge a lot less than others. Here is every game we have calculated, ranked from the lowest house edge to the highest, with what it takes to get the low number. Read more 
Casino games Online keno Licensed online keno is legal in Australia until 31 December 2026 because the law treats it as a lottery. A new federal law bans it from 1 January 2027. Who is licensed, what is missing and what keno pays back. Read more Sources
Official pages we relied on. If anything here has changed, tell us via the contact page and we fix it.