Math Of Slot Machines

On slot revenues (Lucas, Singh, Gewali, & Singh, 2009). For the fiscal year ending July 31, 2010, Nevada statewide slot machine win was $6.6 billion, compared to $3.5 billion in table games win (Nevada Gaming Control Board, 2010). In 2009, 88% of Illinois’ and 90% of Iowa’s total casino win came from slot machines (Illinois Gaming Board, 2009. Dan from Communication Group 34 takes you through the rules and mathematics of Casino slot Machines!Hub Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOl-ycNvSE. Slot machine games can be fun to play but they rarely demand that players think the way good card games do. The need for applied math skills in slot machine gaming is minimal. However, savvy slots gamers learn to judge the quality of the games by the measures described above, and to manage their money and their risk accordingly. Understanding the mathematics behind online slot games is invaluable in helping players choose the best machine. So let’s start by explaining how mathematics is used to operate slot machines. Slots mathematics. The outcome of each spin on a slot machine is determined by a Random Number Generator (RNG). The Mathematics of Slot Machines An electronic device called a random number generator determines today’s electronic slot machines outcomes. Slot machines are programmed to reflect the desired pay out percentage determined by the casino, which cannot be set below the legal minimum.

Remember the movie National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation, when gambling fever consumes Chevy Chase’s character, Clark W. Griswold? He goes on a losing streak to beat all losing streaks while his son, Rusty, wins four cars by playing the slot machines. Maybe Clark would have done better if he had read Probability For Dummies! In this article, you discover the basic ideas behind slot machines and how they work, so that you can get past the myths and develop a strategy based on sound probability.

Understanding average payout

When casinos advertise that their slot machines pay out an average of 90 percent, the fine print they don’t want you to read says that you lose 10 cents from each dollar you put into the machines in the long term. (In probability terms, this advertisement means that your expected winnings are minus 10 cents on every dollar you spend every time the money goes through the machines.)

Suppose you start with $100 and bet a dollar at a time, for example. After inserting all $100 into the slot, 100 pulls later you’ll end up on average with $90, because you lose 10 percent of your money. If you run the $90 back through the machine, you’ll end up with 90 percent of it back, which is 0.90 x 90 = $81. If you run that amount through in 81 pulls, you’ll have $72.90 afterward (0.90 x 81 = 72.90). If you keep going for 44 rounds, on average, the money will be gone, unless you have the luck of Rusty Griswold!

How many pulls on the machine does your $100 give you at this rate? Each time you have less money to run through the machine, so you have fewer pulls left. If you insert $1 at a time, you can expect 972 total pulls in the long term with these average payouts (that’s the total pulls in 44 rounds). But keep in mind that casinos are designing slot machines to go faster and faster between spins. Some are even doing away with the handles and tokens by using digital readouts on gaming cards that you put into the machines. The faster machines can play up to 25 spins per hour, and 972 spins divided by 25 spins per minute is 38.88 minutes. You don’t have a very long time to enjoy your $100 before it’s gone!

The worst part? Casinos often advertise that their “average payouts” are even as high as 95 percent. But beware: That number applies only to certain machines, and the casinos don’t rush to tell you which ones. You really need to read or ask about the fine print before playing. You can also try to check the information on the machine to see if it lists its payouts. (Don’t expect this information to be front and center.)

Implementing a simple strategy for slots

Advice varies regarding whether you should play nickel, quarter, or dollar slot machines and whether you should max out the number of coins you bet or not (you usually get to choose between one and five coins to bet on a standard slot machine). In this section, you’ll find a few tips for getting the most bang for your buck (or nickel) when playing slot machines.

Basically, when it comes to slot machines, strategy boils down to this: Know the rules, your probability of winning, and the expected payouts; dispel any myths; and quit while you’re ahead. If you win $100, cash out $50 and play with the rest, for example. After you lose a certain amount (determined by you in advance), don’t hesitate to quit. Go to the all-you-can-eat buffet and try your luck with the casino food; odds are it’s pretty good!

Choosing among nickel, quarter, and dollar machines

The machines that have the higher denominations usually give the best payouts. So, between the nickel and quarter slots, for example, the quarter slots generally give better payouts. However, you run the risk of getting in way over your head in a hurry, so don’t bet more than you can afford to lose. The bottom line: Always choose a level that you have fun playing at and that allows you to play for your full set time limit.

Deciding how many coins to play at a time

When deciding on the number of coins you should play per spin, keep in mind that more is sometimes better. If the slot machine gives you more than two times the payout when you put in two times the number of coins, for example, you should max it out instead of playing single coins because you increase your chances of winning a bigger pot, and the expected value is higher. If the machine just gives you k times the payout for k coins, it doesn’t matter if you use the maximum number of coins. You may as well play one at a time until you can make some money and leave so your money lasts a little longer.

For example, say a quarter machine pays 10 credits for the outcome 777 when you play only a single quarter, but if you play two quarters, it gives you 25 credits for the same outcome. And if you play the maximum number of quarters (say, four), a 777 results in 1,000 credits. You can see that playing four quarters at a time gives you a better chance of winning a bigger pot in the long run (if you win, that is) compared to playing a single quarter at a time for four consecutive tries.

The latest slot machine sweeping the nation is the so-called “penny slot machine.” Although it professes to require only a penny for a spin, you get this rate only if you want to bet one penny at a time. The machines entice you to bet way more than one penny at a time; in fact, on some machines, you can bet more than 1,000 coins (called lines) on each spin — $10 a shot here, folks. Because these machines take any denomination of paper bill, as well as credit cards, your money can go faster on penny machines than on dollar machines because you can quickly lose track of your spendings. Pinching pennies may not be worth it after all!

You pull the lever, and the icons whirl. One stops. Another. They match – you just need the third. But the wheel spins just a bit too far, and you miss the jackpot. You were so close! Weren’t you?

The next time you play, you get another two matches and the final wheel stops just barely in time to give you the jackpot. You’ve won! But my goodness, that was close. Right?

Actually, in both cases, the outcome of your game was determined from the start. Slot machines are fun because they create a little show out of winning or losing, but in reality, the real game happens behind the scenes – in the circuit boards and moving parts of a physical slot machine, or in the computers and servers of an online casino.

How slot machines work

Slot machines have always been random. Early slot machines use three wheels to determine the outcome, meaning that your result really was up in the air until the last wheel stopped spinning. Modern slot machines still have those wheels, but they don’t work that way anymore.

The problem with old-school slot machines is that even the most unlikely outcome is still fairly possible (by slot machine standards, anyway) – for example, a three-reel machine with 10 items on each reel will still produce the rarest outcome a minimum of on time out of 1,000 (0.1%). If hundreds of people come through a casino and pull the lever on that machine a few times each, there’s a good shot that the casino will be paying out a jackpot or two every day! And that means that the jackpot can’t be worth all that much, or the casino would go out of business pretty quick.

That’s no fun, but technology has solved the problem. Beginning in the 1980s, slot machine manufacturers were able to use computers within the machine to weight certain outcomes. Now jackpots could be made rarer, and their payouts proportionally more enticing.

Random number generators

In modern slot machines, a computer determines the outcome. And the easiest way to do this is to determine the outcome ahead of time. This is also the easiest way to make sure that the odds are exactly where the casino wants them to be – which is important, because many states and countries regulate the odds of slot machines to varying degrees.

The theater and fun of a slot machine are both still present on modern machines – you may even get to slap a button to stop the reels – but it’s all for show. The outcome of your game is actually determined by a random number generator the moment you first press the button or pull the lever.

What’s a random number generator? It’s exactly what it sounds like: a computer process that generates a random integer. This isn’t much different from what casinos have been doing for ages (a die is just a mechanical random number generator, after all), but the souped-up power of computers lets slot machines generate a huge range of random options (a die is limited to one through six – the computer’s range is astronomically larger). A range of values will give different results. Many of the generated numbers will give you a small win or a loss, while comparatively few numbers will lead to a win. These numbers, which you never see, are all that matters – everything else is for show.

The difference between online slots and physical slots

So what’s the difference, then, between online slots and physical slots?

Math Of Slot Machines Free Play

Well, on one, you’ll physically push a button or pull a lever. On the other, you’ll click a button or press something on your keyboard.

Yes, that’s it. There may be differences in things like payout (just as there are from one brick-and-mortar casino to another), but there are no difference in function. Under the hood, both things work exactly the same way: with a random number generator. This is obvious on a digital slot machine, which is clearly little more than a computer in a box. But it is equally true on slot machines with physical reels – behind those spinning wheels is a computer determining the outcome. Slots on a screen can add extra options to the reels (since they don’t have to fit these symbols on a physical object), but mechanical slots can simulate the same effect on the odds by just making some stops more likely than others. There are no longer any slots that really determine your win reel by reel.

Math Of Slot Machines Machine

So gamble away at the online slots (though remember that odds on slots are never in your favor), and rest assured that you’re getting the exact same experience that you would in a casino.