Slot myths

You've probably seen this one. After playing for a long while the player finally and grudgingly give up on the machine and leaves. In a very short time, another player steps up, slips three coins into the machine and pulls the handle...JACKPOT.....Now if that guy had only played one more time he would have won the jackpot. Not so. RNG's Random Number generaters are always in motion in the modern slot machine and timing is the only thing that determines a payout. Had the original player stayed at the machine he would have had to engage the reels at the precise moment the new player did, a very improbable proposition.

Warm Coins are a sign that the machine is due to pay off soon. Many players believe this to be true, the truth is, it only means that the lights inside the machine have thrown a little heat on the coins and warmed them up. It means nothing more than this.

After putting a lot of money into a machine it just has to pay off. Not necessarily so. Payoffs are not calculated in that manner, they are calculated on a percentage pay out over an indefinite period of time. This means that over time a slot machine will payback whatever percentage it has been set for it has no idea how long you have been playing and whats more it doesn't care.

The higher coin denomination the higher the payout. The percentage pay out does not vary all that much on higher end machines although it is true that nickle machines pay back less than quarter and dollar machines do. A recent survey showed nickle machines paying from a low of 85.2% to a high of 92.8% Quarter machines from a low of 91.1% to a high of 95.2% in downtown Las Vegas. Fifty cent machines from a low of 90.1% to a high of 95.4%, Dollar slots from low of 90.0% to a high of 96.5% and five dollar slots from a low of 91.9% to a high of 97.3% at Lake Tahoe. The spread from quarter machines to five dollar machines, at the high end, is 2.1% hardly significant.