How Do Slot Machines Work?
An expert’s guide to slot machines
What would you rather play? A slot machine that has just taken $1000 off a player? Or a slot that had just paid a $1000 jackpot? Which one would you choose?
There are online articles about how to win at slots, videos on YouTube, and even books you can buy. Unfortunately, most of these are gimmicks created to gain views or sell you a method of winning.
Let’s look at how slot machines work, starting with how I worked.
Slot Technicians
To begin with, I was a professional slot technician for years. Working in the U.K., on cruise ships, and even at a casino in Gambia.
A slot technician job is rewarding and fun, especially on cruise ships. But technicians don’t get to understand the programming of the machines. They can only tell you what they see and build up superstitions in their minds just like anyone else.
I can’t tell you how many bartenders or slot attendants have said, “This machine is due to pay out,” when they know nothing except what they have observed. They hope the machine pays out so they can get a good tip — “I told you so!”.
Quality Assurance Engineer
After being a slot technician, I went to work for a slot machine manufacturer, where I spent 18 years looking at the programs and making sure they were within jurisdiction requirments\laws, had no errors, and did not mislead the players.
Return to Player
Jurisdictions have different regulations on how much money a slot machine can and cannot take from you. Typically it’s expressed as a percentage. For Example, 85% Return to Player (RTP) means that players should get back 85% of the money played, and the casino would get 15%.
New Jersey, RTP is 83%, regulation N.J.A.C. 13:69E-1.28A.
N.J.A.C. 13:69E-1.28A
§ 13:69E-1.28A Standards for the approval of a slot machine game
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, each slot machine game which requires a wager shall have a theoretical return to player (RTP) equal to or greater than 83 percent.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, all winning combinations used in achieving the minimum theoretical RTP for each slot machine game shall be available on each play that requires a wager.
Also, Nevada has an RTP of 75%, regulation 14.040 Minimum standards for gaming devices.
14.040 Minimum standards for gaming devices. 1. All gaming devices must: (a) Theoretically pay out a mathematically demonstrable percentage of all amounts wagered, which must not be less than 75 percent for each wager available for play on the device.
4. All possible game outcomes must be available upon the initiation of each play of a game upon which a player commits a wager on a gaming device.
The “Return To Player” is the number one statistic people talk about when evaluating a slot machine. So, yeah, 99% RTP is better than 85% RTP.
However, the 99% RTP may be calculated over five years, while the 85% RTP might be over a week.
Even though some jurisdictions have a low allowable RTP, it does not mean they would use it. For Example, Nevada’s casinos can go as low as 75%, but it’s unlikely that any casino would do that.
Las Vegas Strip’s 25c slots were at 89.06% in 2020.
https://www.americancasinoguidebook.com/slot-machine-payback-statistics.html#Nevada
Typically, poker slots hit their RTP in days or weeks since the jackpots are low, while a slot game with a high jackpot could take years to hit its RTP.
You cannot see the game RTP, so don’t worry about it. Also, people online can’t give you any tricks to allow you to see it either, so don’t fall for any of their advice.
Hit Frequency or Volatility
A gaming machine’s hit frequency or volatility can also determine your choice of machine to play. Again, this may be more important to you than the RTP, especially as you can’t see RTP.
Some games have a high hit frequency, where you can expect to have multiple small wins. You will still have a chance of higher wins, but they will not occur frequently.
A low hit frequency is the other way around. You are trying for higher wins but are not expecting frequent small wins.
When a game has a bonus, much of the RTP goes towards that bonus. Games with double or triple symbols tend to have almost no significant line wins, whereas games without multipliers will have many.
Hit frequency is all a matter of personal choice. If you are in to win big, pick a game with a progressive or other high jackpots. If you are looking for some fun, play games with low jackpots, lower than $1200 if you can — Jackpots of $1200 or more are subject to tax.
It’s All About the Math
If you were to put $100 into a machine and it paid back $15 every time, it would be no fun, and you could never win. So you probably wouldn’t play. Therefore, slots change things up a bit by offering higher prizes.
Forget about the flashing lights and cool sounds. A machine works by math, and the math is simple enough.
A small win could be three cherries. However, it might be easy to get because there are more of them on the reels.
It may be harder to get three red 7s, which might pay the jackpot because fewer of them exist.
If you continued to do this for all combinations that could occur, you would have created a paytable.
That’s it, and all slot machines work this way. Sure, some math is more complicated, but not much — symbols are added or subtracted from the reels to create the desired payback percentage.
A game could have several payables for a casino to select, which would give a selection of RTPs. But, again, the ranges would not be too far apart, perhaps up to one percent difference between the lowest paytable and the highest.
Hot or Cold?
All combinations of wins must be available to the player at each game. It says so in the regulations. See New Jersey and Nevada regulations above. That means that the jackpot is always available for every spin!
A jackpot is not likely to happen on a spin, but it could. Lower or no-win combinations are more probable, as we all know.
Random Number Generator
There is one thing I have not mentioned yet, and I saved it for last because I wanted you to read about the logic of how slots work. Yes, everyone talks about the all-mighty Random Number Generator (RNG), but people tend not to believe it or distrust its existence.
All slot machines have one, continuously spinning and generating new numbers. Nevada requires it to spin up numbers at least 100 times a second. Newer machines are closer to thousands of times a second.
Once you hit the spin button, the RNG provides the numbers generated at that time to the game. For Example, a three-reel basic game would give you three numbers, and the reels would spin to those locations on the reels.
If there were a winning combination on the reels, you would get paid. And then the next game would be ready for you to start.
Memory
Slot machines do not have any memory of games that came before or games that will happen in the future. Therefore, all wins must be available to the player and are random.
At the End of the Day
You can relax, sit at your favorite game and play. The amount of play a game has had is irrelevant. It’s all random. Nothing anybody tells you matters. The machine and casino don’t know which and when games will hit. Nobody knows.
So for the question at the start of this story — “Which machine would you choose?” It does not matter at all. Some people still think I’m wrong, but I promise you I am not.
