SLOT MACHINES MYTHS AND FACTS

EVERY SECOND COUNTS

There is a theory out there, which you can read in a variety of books on slot machines, which purports that the time at which you hit the ‘spin’ button determines the exact payout of each spin result.   Basically if you hit now you will get a result whilst if you hit a second later, or 10 seconds later, you will obtain a different spin result.   This is difficult to prove, of course, but it’s true that some players try to hit the spin button at different times (avoiding a ‘rhythm’).  We do it a couple of times if the machine does not seem to pay, before leaving the machine altogether.  But more important points are these:

TOTALLY RANDOM SPINS?

Many want us to believe that it’s all random, that the odds are always the same and that it makes no difference when the last jackpot was hit or how much the game paid out in the last hour, day, week, or any period of time; but the reality of experience, of years and years of playing slots, and that of common sense, is that it cannot be that way. Moreover, the ‘facts’ that follow in the paragraphs below are further evidence of this being the case. Let’s think about it for one minute: if you could win a jackpot or a high-paying combination of lines every day or every hour from a machine, ‘randomly’, the casino would not make its profit. So there has to be a ‘system’ that guarantees that over the days, weeks and months a particular slot machine pays the players less than 100 per cent, and that the ‘residual’ amount go to the casino . So, given the above, each spin from a slot machine is not totally random. It cannot be. Random means that you could theoretically win a huge amount of money all the time, or 10 times in a row, which is not the case.

CYCLES AND SLOTS

There are rumors that slot machines go through cycles which are identical and repeat themselves. That cannot be true, otherwise someone could study a cycle and play when it’s programmed to pay ‘big’.  But there seem to be ‘waves’ of low payouts and higher payouts.

RANDOM SPINS

Are spins random, totally, all the time, independently of what was ‘paid out’ before? The answer is in paragraph 1.

MACHINES PAYING MORE OR LESS DEPENDING ON WHETHER THE PLAYERS CARD IS INSERTED?

Some players think that if you don’t insert your players card the slot machine will pay more. This does not seem to be the case at all from years of playing experience in Vegas.

CHANGING THE ODDS REMOTELY AT THE TOUCH OF A BUTTON?

Yes, theoretically this can be possible, since the experimental “server-based slots” can be serviced centrally.  The regulations in place in Nevada, namely that a machine cannot be altered remotely unless it has been idle for at least four minutes, well all it does (in our opinion) is prevent a player from having odds changed whilst playing, assuming he/she plays continuously; but that’s it. During such a change, the slot game would moreover display a notice that it is being serviced.  The rest of the slot machines still need to be changed manually, with someone physically opening the machines and change the computer chip.

LOCATIONS OF SLOT MACHINES AND CHANGE IN ODDS

There seems to be some effort taken at preventing people from thinking that all machines pay equally. In our experience, this is not the case. In our experience, of years and years of playing slot machines in big Vegas casinos, certain machines are placed in strategic high traffic areas, such as bigger machines, those with loud and ‘fun’ bonuses, etc etc. Whether location also affects the odds remains undetermined, especially lately, whilst it seemed to be more the case in the past years. Having said this we could write a list of slot machines which pay ‘more often’ than others, much tighter machines, placed right next to them, in specific casinos. But we cannot specify here which ones and which casinos, obviously.

SLOW DAYS AND LOOSER SLOTS

in some casinos (generally not in Vegas) there seems to be a correlation, with slot machines being ‘tighter’ during high-traffic times when everybody is happy and merry. HOWEVER, we have not found it to be the case in Vegas casinos, through our years of playing.

CAPTIVE AUDIENCE SLOTS

(such as airports) Are they looser or tighter? No, not in our experience. We win big at Las Vegas airport slots often enough, more so than at Vegas Casinos. Despite what some ‘experts’ books’ write, McCarran airport has always appeared to have ‘looser’ slots; in our opinion, this also makes sense logistically. However, the only downside of playing at McCarran airport would be that a player cannot simply cash one’s voucher through a machine and then go to another machine, but needs to ask the help of an attendant instead.  Hopefully this will change soon.

IRS (U.S. TAX) Reporting

if you win $1,200 or more this will be reported to the IRS. However, your annual win/loss statements, which casinos keep (and that you can access easily, sometimes directly from your players card account online) may be used as evidence to offset any jackpot wins.

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