Changing the Odds of Slot Machines and VLT's  Instantly

From his small back office in the Treasure Island casino, Justin Beltram may soon be able to change the wheels of fortune instantly.

Mr. Beltram, a casino executive, is the point man in a high-technology experiment that could alter the face of slot machines, and their insides, too. With a few clicks of his computer mouse, Mr. Beltram can reprogram the 1,790 slot machines on the casino floor, adjusting the denominations required to play, payback percentages, even game themes.  Las Vegas is constantly tinkering with its slot machines, which generate more than $7 billion annually in Nevada, roughly double that taken in by table games. Despite their growing popularity and an increase in overall gambling proceeds in recent years, casino operators want to win back more of the money their customers are now spending elsewhere — on food, lodging and other entertainment, or at Indian casinos or for online gambling. 

In the past, changing out a slot machine was a complicated operation and entailed opening it, replacing the computer chip inside, then changing the glass display that markets the game's theme. The alteration usually took a day and could cost thousands of dollars, from ordering parts to modifying the machine.  "Now, I just come to my office, and select the program," said Mr. Beltram, the 28-year-old executive director for slots at Treasure Island, which is owned by the MGM Mirage. "With the technology, it takes 20 seconds."

The concept is being tested for the next few months under the gaze of state gambling regulators. If regulators approve, casino operators will be able to centrally adjust the slots to cater to different crowds — older players and regulars during the day and younger tourists and people with bigger budgets at night.  That could mean testing consumer confidence as well. Some critics wonder whether centrally controlled slots are not a few steps away from the distant, but instant and unchecked control enjoyed by Internet casino operators.

Mr. Beltram insists he does not plan to capriciously change the odds, which he said would be bad for repeat business and could run afoul of regulators.  The development of networked slots underscores the growing convergence of gambling and technology. Slot machines, once highly mechanized, are now highly computerized; only about half the machines have actual spinning cylinders. The rest are computer-generated facsimiles that allow gamblers to play numerous animated reels at once, and induce them with the promise of bonus rounds. Gamblers now insert debit slips that track how much money they have, making the coins people once collected in buckets a distant memory.

Coming soon are high-definition screens that will enhance the animation to keep gamblers engaged and draw bigger crowds, and even better speakers to project crisp sound right at players.  More generally, casino operators have sought in recent years to use technology to offer new games and make a science of their business. They are experimenting with stocking blackjack tables with money chips embedded with digital tags that can automatically measure how much a gambler has wagered and on what kinds of hands.

Casinos also are testing wireless devices that would allow people to play games like Keno and eventually blackjack while sitting in public areas, like the swimming pool.  But these advances are raising some eyebrows. In the case of the new slot machines, regulators want to make sure the systems cannot be invaded by outsiders, while consumers want to know casino operators cannot too easily manipulate the odds, said David G. Schwartz, director for the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

"Let's say you're playing at 2 and you're doing great and you come back at 6 and the pay tables have changed," Mr. Schwartz said, adding that he wondered how much latitude casino operators would have to change their returns.  He also worries that some players could receive preferential odds if, for instance, they are high rollers, thus creating an uneven gambling field.  By law, Nevada casinos must on average return at least 75 percent of slot machine wagers. The reality is they return more than 90 percent, casino operators say, though they do not publicize the figures. Also under the law, they cannot modify the payback percentages while someone is playing.

State law allows them to change the odds after a machine has been idle for four minutes, and then they must not allow anyone to play the machine for four more minutes. During that time, the screen must indicate a change is being made to the game's configuration, said Travis Foley, laboratory manager for the technology division of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board, who is overseeing the Treasure Island test.  Typically, those changes now are made in the middle of the night when there are fewer players in the casino.

Mr. Foley said the technology "does expedite the change" to a new theme, wager denomination or payback percentage. "But it's not a new capability."   For his part, Mr. Beltram said fierce competition for slot machine players would keep him from playing fast and loose with his odds. The bigger goal, he said, is to cater inexpensively to consumer demand. He cites as evidence a recent visit by a high roller from Rhode Island.  Mr. Beltram said the gambler, who liked to play slots in the high-stakes slots room where individual wagers can go from $2 into the hundreds of dollars, requested a $25 Double Diamond slot machine. Mr. Beltram ordered the computer chip and glass plate from International Game Technology, which makes the machine, and had them in place 24 hours later.  The lost day potentially cut into profits. If the customer had been able to play earlier, "Who knows what he would have spent?" Mr. Beltram said. As it turned out, the high roller returned a day later, played the new game and wound up winning money.  But a lot of money is left on the table with low rollers as well. It's just a matter of giving them what they want when they want it, Mr. Beltram said. "Throughout the day, there are more locals, so during the day we might have more video poker. At night, we might have more slots," he said. "Customers get stuck on themes they like," he said, and those themes can be programmed in. Mr. Beltram said he expected the system to be in place by the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

Ed Rogich, spokesman for International Gaming Technology, said a similar test was taking place at a casino operated by the Barona Indian tribe, just outside of San Diego.  Most casinos already link their slot machines and can view their performance from a central server. The difference is that the latest advance is the first time casinos can push information out to all their machines, creating the potential for "dumb terminals," as they are known outside gambling, on which the software can be modified centrally, easily and instantly.

The concept of networked slot machines is undergoing a different kind of test down the street from Treasure Island at a casino called the Barbary Coast. There, near the front door, sits an enormous circular wheel of fortune slot machine with seats around it for nine players. In front of each player is a monitor on which they play an individualized version of the game. The twist is that a monitor in the center of the game, viewable by all, indicates which players have hit the bonus round.  At various points, those players who have hit the bonus round — meaning they are eligible to increase their winnings by a certain multiple can cause the wheel of fortune in the center to spin; whatever number lands in front of each eligible player indicates the bonus amount.

The individual players are not affecting each other's outcomes, but the game creates a feeling of community, almost like craps players cheering for each other at the table.  Regular slot players say they have mixed feelings about the potential for the centrally controlled games.  Rexie Lestrange, who lives in Lodi, Calif., and was recently visiting Las Vegas on business, said she welcomed the next generation of slot machines.  "I liked all kinds of pictures and noises and things happening," she said as she sat in Treasure Island playing Lawman's Loot, a penny slot machine with a reel of video images of cowboys, trains, settlers and bags of loot. "The old slots I don't like because they're boring."  But she said she did not have an opinion about the casinos using servers to change their slot machines. "I just wish they would pay out more, obviously," she said.

History of the Slot Machine

Sittman and Pitt of Brooklyn, New York developed a gambling machine in 1891 that could be considered a precursor to the modern slot machine. It contained 5 drums holding a total of 50 card faces and was based on poker. This machine proved extremely popular and soon many bars in the city had one or more of the machines bar-side. Players would insert a nickel and pull a lever, which would spin the drums and the cards they held, the player hoping for a good poker hand. There was no direct payout mechanism, so a pair of Kings might get the player a free beer, whereas a Royal Flush could pay out cigars or drinks, the prizes wholly dependent on what was on offer at the local establishment. To make the odds better for the house, two cards were typically removed from the "deck": the Ten of Spades and the Jack of Hearts, which cut the odds of winning a Royal Flush by half. The drums could also be re-arranged to further reduce a player's chance of winning.

The first "one-armed bandit" was invented in 1887 by Charles Fey of San Francisco, California, who devised a much simpler automatic mechanism.  Due to the vast number of possible wins with the original poker card-based game, it proved practically impossible to come up with a way to make a machine capable of making an automatic pay-out for all possible winning combinations. Charles Fey devised a machine with three spinning reels containing a total of five symbols – horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts and a Liberty Bell, which also gave the machine its name. By replacing ten cards with five symbols and using three reels instead of five drums, the complexity of reading a win was considerably reduced, allowing Fey to devise an effective automatic payout mechanism. Three bells in a row produced the biggest payoff, ten nickels. Liberty Bell was a huge success and spawned a thriving mechanical gaming device industry. Even when the use of these gambling devices was banned in his home state after a few years, Fey still couldn't keep up with demand for the game elsewhere.

Another early machine gave out winnings in the form of fruit flavored chewing gums with pictures of the flavors as symbols on the reels. The popular cherry and melon symbols derive from this machine. The "BAR" symbol now common in slot machines was derived from an early logo of the Bell-Fruit Gum Company. In 1964, Bally developed the first fully electromechanical slot machine called Money Honey. The new electromechanical approach, allowed 'Money Honey' to be the first slot machine with a bottomless hopper and automatic payout, up to 500 coins, without the help of an attendant. The first video slot machine to offer a second-screen bonus round was 1996's Reel 'Em In by Williams.

Most games have a variety of winning combinations of symbols, often posted on the face of the machine. If a player matches a combination according to the rules of the game, the slot machine pays the player cash or some other sort of value, such as extra games.

What Is A Slot Machine?

A person playing a slot machine purchases the right to play by inserting coins, cash, or in newer machines, a bar-coded paper ticket (known as "ticket in/ticket out" machines), into a designated slot on the machine. The machine is then activated by means of a lever or button, or on newer machines, by pressing a touchscreen on its face. The game itself may or may not involve skill on the player's part — or it may create the illusion of involving skill while only being a game of chance.

The object of the game is to win money from the machine. The game usually involves matching symbols, either on mechanical reels that spin and stop to reveal one or several symbols, or on a video screen. The symbols are usually brightly colored and easily recognizable, such as images of fruits, and simple shapes such as bells, diamonds, or hearts.

There are many different kinds of gambling slot machines in places such as Las Vegas. Some of the most popular are the video poker machines, in which players hope to obtain a set of symbols corresponding to a winning poker hand. Depending on the machine, players can play one, 100, or more hands at one time.

Becoming more popular now are the multi-line slots. These slots have more than one payline. Reel slots commonly have three or five paylines, while video slots have 9, 15, 25, or even 100 different paylines. Video slots are themed slots, with graphics and music based on popular entertainers or TV programs (The Addams Family, I Dream of Jeannie, etc.) with a bonus round. Most accept variable amounts of credit to play with 1 to 5 credits per line being typical. The higher the amount bet, the higher the payout will be. There are also standard 3 - 5 reel slot machines, of various types. These are the typical "one-armed bandits".

One of the main differences between video slots and reel slots is in the way payouts are calculated. With reel slots, the only way to win the maximum jackpot is to play the maximum number of coins (usually 3, sometimes 4, or even 5 coins per spin). With video slots, the fixed payout values are multiplied by the number of coins per line that are being bet. In other words: on a reel slot, it is to the player's advantage to play with the maximum number of coins available. On video slots, it is recommended to play as many individual lines as possible, but there is no benefit to the player in betting more than one credit per line with regards to calculating the payout amounts. There are some isolated cases where a video slot machine requires the maximum number of credits per spin to be inserted to win the largest payout, but those are the exception.

As an example, on the "Wheel of Fortune" reel slot, the player must play 3 coins per spin to be eligible to trigger the bonus round and possibly win the jackpot. On the Wheel of Fortune video slot, the chances of triggering the bonus round or winning the maximum jackpot are exactly the same regardless of the number of coins bet on each line.

Larger casinos offer slot machines with denominations from $.01 (penny slots) all the way up to $100.00 or more per credit. Large denomination slot machines are usually cordoned off from the rest of the casino into a "High Limit" area, often with a separate team of hosts to cater to the needs of the high-rollers who play there. Slot machines common in casinos at this time are more complicated. Most allow players to accept their winnings as credits, which may be "spent" on additional spins.

In the last few years, new slot machines commonly known as "multi-denomination" have been introduced. In a multi-denomination slot machine, the player can choose the value of each credit wagered from a list of options. Based upon the player's selection, the slot machine automatically calculates the number of credits the player receives in exchange for the cash inserted and displays the amount of available credits to the player. For example, a player could choose to wager one dollar per game on a nickel slot machine. This eliminates the need for a player to find a specific denomination of a particular slot machine; they can concentrate on simply finding the machine and setting the denomination once they decide to play.

Recently, some casinos have chosen to take advantage of a concept commonly known as "tokenization," where one token buys more than one credit. A casino can configure slot machines of numerous different denominations to accept the same type of token. For example, all penny, nickel, quarter, and dollar slot machines could be configured to accept dollar tokens. This significantly reduces a casino's inventory costs and coin handling costs. A tokenized slot machine automatically calculates the number of credits the player receives in exchange for the token inserted and displays the amount of available credits to the player. When a player chooses to collect his credits (by pressing a "Cash Out" button), the slot machine will automatically divide the number of credits on the credit meter by the value of one token and return the result to the patron. Any remainder is known as "residual credits" and cannot be collected. Residual credits must be either played or abandoned.

Payout Percentage

Slot machines are typically programmed to pay out as winnings between 82 to 98 percent of the money that is wagered by players. This is known as the "theoretical payout percentage". The minimum theoretical payout percentage varies among jurisdictions and is typically established by law or regulation. For example, the minimum payout percentage in Nevada is 75 percent and in New Jersey is 78 percent. The winning patterns on slot machines, the amounts they pay, and the frequency at which they appear are carefully selected to yield a certain percentage of the cost of play to the "house" (the operator of the slot machine), while returning the rest to the player during play. Suppose that a certain slot machine costs $1 per spin. It can be calculated that over a sufficiently long period, such as 1,000,000 spins, that the machine will return an average of $950,000 to its players, who have inserted $1,000,000 during that time. In this (simplified) example, the slot machine is said to pay out 95%. The operator keeps the remaining $50,000. Within some EGM-development organizations this concept is referred to simply as "par".  "Par" also manifests itself to gamblers as promotional techniques: "Our 'Loose Slots' have a 93% Pay-back! Play now!" As an aside, the "Loose Slots" actually may describe an anonymous machine in a particular bank of EGMS.

A slot machine's theoretical payout percentage is set at the factory when the software is written. Changing the payout percentages after a slot machine has been placed on the gaming floor requires a physical swap of the software, which is usually stored on an EPROM but may be downloaded to Non-Volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAM) or even stored on CD-ROM or DVD depending on the technological capabilities of the machine and the regulations of the jurisdiction. Based on current technology, this is a time consuming process and as such is done 
infrequently. In certain jurisdictions, such as New Jersey, the EPROM is sealed with a tamper-evident seal and can only be changed in the presence of Gaming Control Board officials. Other jurisdictions, including Nevada, randomly audit slot machines to ensure that they contain only approved software.

In many markets where central monitoring and control systems are used to link machines for auditing and security purposes, usually in wide area networks of multiple venues and thousands of machines, player return must usually be changed from a central computer rather than at each individual machine. A range of percentages are preprogrammed into the game software and selected by configuring the machine remotely.

In 2006, the Nevada Gaming Commission began working with Las Vegas casinos on technology that would allow the casino's slot manager to change the game, the odds, and the payouts remotely via a computer. The change cannot be done instantaneously, but only after the selected machine has been idle for at least four minutes. After the change is made, the machine must be locked to new players for four minutes and display an on-screen message informing potential players that a change is being made.

Linked Machines

Often machines are linked together in a way that allows a group of machines to offer a particularly large prize, or "jackpot". Each slot machine in the group contributes a small amount to this progressive jackpot, which is awarded to a player who gets (for example) a royal flush on a video poker machine, or a specific combination of symbols on a regular or 9 line slot machine. The amount paid for the progressive jackpot is usually far higher than any single slot machine could pay on its own.

In some cases multiple machines are linked across multiple casinos. In these cases, the machines may be owned by the machine maker who is responsible for paying the jackpot. The casinos lease the machines rather than owning them outright. Megabucks may be the best known example of this type of machine. Megabucks Nevada starts at $10,000,000 after a jackpot. (Prior to September 2005, Megabucks Nevada reset to $7,000,000.) The new penny Megabucks video game also has a jackpot that starts at $10,000,000. Slot machines that are not linked to a large regional jackpot such as Megabucks usually have higher payout percentages, as linked machines have to take into consideration the large jackpot amount into their payout percentage calculations.

Near-miss programming

Because the reel display of modern slot machines is controlled by computer software, it is possible to make the slot machine frequently display combinations that are close to winning combinations. For instance, if the jackpot combination is "7-7-7", a slot machine could be programmed to frequently display "7-7-(non-7)". This can fool the player into thinking they "almost won", teasing them into playing more often.

This practice of showing combinations that are similar to winning combinations more frequently than would occur randomly is called "near-miss" programming. It has been ruled illegal in the U.S. states of Nevada and New Jersey. The Nevada Gaming Commission did review some machines with this type of programming and refused to authorize them.

There is a related phenomenon that is also sometimes called "near-miss". The chance of a winning combination appearing on a payline is controlled by the winning percentages programmed into the slot machine. However, the combinations appearing above and below the payline are all roughly equally randomly distributed. This means it is much more likely that a "winning combination" will appear above or below a payline than on the payline. Using the same example above, it is much more likely that a "winning combination" of "7-7-7" would appear on a line above or below the payline than the chance that it would appear on the payline. This phenomenon only occurs where abbreviated physical reels are used to display a win pattern based upon the RNG. In Video Slot Machines, virtual reels are used and the symbols that appear around the winning line are usually an accurate depiction of how the reels were mathematically modeled.

The issue of a near-miss above or below the payline was also investigated by the Nevada Gaming Commission. They ruled that this was legal, so long as the "near-miss" above or below the payline was not specially programmed. In other words, the "near-miss" must be just as likely to occur as any other combination. The machine cannot be specially programmed to show "winning combinations" more frequently than other combinations above or below the payline.

The calculation is more complicated than implied here. The stops are not 'programmed' in the sense that their outcome is the result of a calculation. In fact, the reel strips (like a mechanical poker machine) are designed so that the machine will pay according to the relevant RTP.

Near-miss programming, where a near miss is inaccurately displayed (i.e. the player is shown something that is not an accurate representation of the reelstrips) is not allowed in Australia either. Due to this, regulators use stop motion cameras to audit manufacturer's practices.

Slot Machine & VLT Fraud

Mechanical slot machines and their coin acceptors were sometimes susceptible to cheating devices and other scams. One historical example involved spinning a coin with a short length of plastic wire. The weight and size of the coin would be accepted by the machine and credits would be granted. However, the spin created by the plastic wire would cause the coin to exit through the reject chute into the payout tray. This particular scam has become obsolete due to improvements in newer slot machines.

Modern slot machines are controlled by EPROM computer chips and, in large casinos, coin acceptors have become obsolete in favor of bill acceptors. These machines and their bill acceptors are designed with advanced anti-cheating and anti-counterfeiting measures and are difficult to defraud. Early computerized slot machines were sometimes defrauded through the use of cheating devices, such as the "slider" or "monkey paw" used by notorious slot cheat Tommy Glenn Carmichael. However, more recent attempts at defrauding slot machines involve manipulating the EPROM, such as by directing microwaves toward it to disrupt its proper functioning.Casino insiders such as Ronald Dale Harris have also been discovered manipulating the software in slot machines in order to defraud casino operators.

United States Gambling Regulation

In the United States, the public and private availability of slot machines is highly regulated by state governments. Many states have 
established gaming control boards to regulate the possession and use of slot machines. Nevada is the only state that has no significant restrictions against slot machines both for public and private use. In New Jersey, slot machines are only allowed in hotel-casinos operated in Atlantic City. Several states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri) allow slot machines (as well as any casino-style gambling) only on licensed riverboats or permanently anchored barges. Since Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi has removed the requirement that casinos on the Gulf Coast operate on barges and now allows them on land along the shoreline. Delaware allows slot machines at three horse tracks, they are regulated by the state lottery commission. For a list of state by state regulations on private slot machine ownership, see U.S. state slot machine ownership regulations.

Native American casinos

Native American casinos located in reservations are not permitted to have slot machines unless the tribe first reaches a pact with the state in which it is located (per Indian Gaming Regulatory Act). Typically, a pact entitles the state to receive a percentage of the gross revenue from slot machines.

Slot machine classes

The Following statements are generalities, not actual laws for every state. There is no federal law governing slot machines, so these 
classifications may vary from state to state.  Some states have restrictions on the type (called "class") of slot machines that can be used in a casino or other gaming area. "Class III" (or "traditional") slot machines operate independently from a centralized computer system and a player's chance of winning any payout is the same with every play. Class III slots are most often seen in Nevada or Atlantic City and are sometimes referred to as "Vegas-style slots".

"Class II" slot machines (also known as "Video Lottery Terminals" or "VLTs") are connected to a centralized computer system that determines the outcome of each wager. In this way, Class II slot machines mimic scratch-off lottery tickets in that each machine has an equal chance of winning a series of limited prizes. Either class of slot machines may or may not have a player skill element.

In general a game must have all characteristics of a Class II game to be a Class II game. Any characteristic of a Class III game makes it a Class III game. The casino pays a fee to the state for each Class III game and can only purchase so many Class III licenses. There is no such restriction for Class II games. Class II games are not so nearly regulated by the state.

Slot Clubs

Many American casinos offer free memberships in "slot clubs", which return a small percentage of the amount of money that is bet in the form of "comps" (complimentary food, drinks, hotel rooms, or merchandise), or sometimes as cash back (sometimes with a restriction that the cash be redeemed at a later date). These clubs require that players use a card that is inserted into the slot machine, to allow the casino to track the player's "action" (how much the player bets and for how long), which is often used to establish a level of play that may make a player eligible for additional comps. Comps or cash back from these clubs can make a significant difference in the maximum theoretical return when playing slot machines over a long period of time.

Australia Gambling Regulations

Slot machines in Australia are generally referred to as "video poker", "poker machines" or "pokies", but are officially termed Gaming Machines. Australia has seen changes in regulations leading to proliferation of gaming machine venues in various states, most notably New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Revenue from gaming machines in pubs and clubs accounts for more than half the $4 billion in gambling revenue collected by state governments in 2002-2003 In 1999 the Australian Productivity Commission reported that Australia had nearly 180,000 poker machines, more than half of which were in New South Wales. This figure represented 21% of all the gambling machines in the world. On a per capita basis, Australia had roughly five times as many gaming machines as the United States. The proliferation of poker machines has led religious organizations and welfare groups to claim that this has increased levels of "problem gambling".

Australian-style gaming machines use video displays to simulate physical reels, usually five. These machines have additional bonusing and second-screen features such as free games and bonus levels. They also allow for multiple lines (up to 50) or multiple ways (up to 243) to be played. This higher level of complexity offers greater opportunity of rewards for players. Gaming machines are found in casinos (approximately one in each major city) as well as pubs and clubs (usually sports, social, or RSL clubs). There are suggestions that this high level of accessibility may be linked to problem gambling; however, the precise nature of this link is still open to research. The first Australian state to legalize this style of gambling was New South Wales in 1956 when they were made legal in all registered clubs in the state.

Laws governing gaming machines in Australia are controlled at the state level and as such, those laws vary between states. In the state of Queensland gaming machines in pubs and clubs must provide a return rate of 85% while machines located in casinos must provide a return rate of 90%. Most other states have similar provisions.

United Kingdom Gaming Overview

Slot machines are usually known as fruit machines, one-armed bandits and AWP (Amusement with Prizes) in Britain. Fruit machines are commonly found in pubs, clubs, arcades, and some take-away food shops. These machines commonly have 3, but can be found with 4 or 6 reels with around 16 or 24 fruit symbols printed around them. These reels are spun, and if certain combinations of fruit appear, winnings are paid from the machine, or subgames are played. These are very similar to slot machines seen in casinos and elsewhere around the world, but the term "fruit machine" is usually applied to a type of machine more commonly found in pubs and arcades. These games have lots of extra features, trails and subgames with opportunities to win money, usually more than can be won from just the reels. However, the jackpots from these fruit machines are strictly limited. An old-fashioned word for these machines can be 'Didlers'.

Fruit machines in the UK also almost universally have the following features, generally activated or not on a random basis:  A player may be given the opportunity to hold one or more reels before spinning, meaning that a held reel will not be spun, but instead retain its result from the previous spin. This can sometimes increase the chance of winning.  A player may also be given a finite number nudges following a spin (or, in some machines, as a result in a subgame); a nudge is a single-step rotation of a reel of the player's choice.  Currently in the UK, the cost of an individual game (i.e. a single spin of all of the reels, together with the playing of any subgame that may be triggered by the result of it) may not exceed 50p. The maximum payout for an individual game depends on the type and the location of the machine, but is typically £35 in pubs where people under the age of 18 are not allowed entry. It is known for machines to pay out multiple jackpots, one after the other (this is known as a streak) but each jackpot requires a new game to be played so as not to violate the maximum payout. The minimum payout percentage is 70% in Britain, with pubs often setting the payout at around 78%. Private members' clubs are allowed "club machines", which have higher jackpots and are allowed to charge more per game.

These machines also operate in a different fashion to American slot machines. The latter are programmed to pay a percentage over the long-run. There is no reason why a jackpot cannot be paid straight after one has already been won, or that it must be paid because it has not been paid in a while. The probability of getting the jackpot in each game is independent of any other game, and these probabilities are all equal.  In the UK, though, the states that "The target percentage payout (which must not be less than the minimum agreed or defined for the machine type) shall be achieved within any 10000 games for S.34 (AWP) machines or 100000 games for S.31 (casino machines)." This means that, in the case of AWP, if the return for the last 10K games approaches the legal minimum, the machine is likely to increase the jackpot percentage to avoid ever falling below it.

You must remember anyway that an AWP machine takes on an amount above its payout percentage before winning, so if a payout is 95%, a machine will make the player lose £10 before paying out £9.50. As such, it is sensible to watch for people playing these machines but not winning as the likelihood of a win increases. This, however, is called Sharking.  This type of fruit machine is popular across Europe (in the countries where they are legal), and very popular in countries such as the Czech Republic, Russia, and Ukraine.  It has been alleged by the Fairplay campaign that UK fruit machines employ fraudulent techniques in which gambles and chances which appear to be random are in fact pre-determined and cannot be affected by player choices.  ...at this point, you'll have gambled the win up to £25. However, the machine doesn't want you to gamble any further. If from the 5 you select "High", the machine will spin in a 3 and you'll lose. If, on the other hand, you select "Low", the machine will spin in a 9 and you'll lose...

The claims centre around the emulation of fruit machine hardware on Windows-based computers, which can allow for a fruit machine's RAM state to be saved at a particular point and replayed making a different choice. Although there was only two practical example demonstrating this which the end user could replicate, there was a lot of debate between fairplay campaigners and the fruit machine emulation authors about the reliability of these claims. The authors suggested that the emulators did not have 100% complete core emulation and does not lead or prove the assumption that fruit machines "cheat"; The fairplay campaign, led by Stuart Campbell rubbished these claims publicly on various internet forums. After some TV and radio coverage on behalf of the fairplay campaign on this issue, the fruit machine industry has hit back at the allegations through BACTA, releasing a statement on the issue.[citation needed]

BACTA at the time, issued guidance to provide voluntary notices are to be put in place on a sticker for older machines or integrated on the "top glass" artwork, most fruit machine manufacturers have done this for circa 2005 machines. This is in fact the law now in the UK, and all machines carry a notice informing the user that the machine may at times offer the player a choice in which they have no possible chance to win. You can often find messages on the artwork on machines also stating not to reproduce the software, artwork, etc in any way, shape or form without permission. The newest UK machines are called 'section 16's' - these are 20 lines, across 5 reels of 3 symbols high, playable from 1 or 5 lines minimum (10p-50p spin) up to £2 which is 10p for all 20 lines. Like the RNG comments state, the RN sequence repeats itself, as anybody who plays on autoplay will note. Some machines let you play £4-10 for all 20 lines, on the pretext of upping the percentage from 92-94 or 96.

Japan Gaming Overview

Japanese slot machines, known as pachisuro, are a descendant of the traditional Japanese pachinko game. Slot machines are a fairly new phenomenon and they can be found in mostly in pachinko parlors and the adult sections of amusement arcades, known as game centers. The machines are regulated with IC chips, and have six different levels changing the odds of a "777". The levels provide a rough outcome of between 90% to an astonishing 160% (200% if using skills). Indeed, the Japanese slot machines are "beatable". The parlor operators, naturally set most of the machines to collect money, but intentionally place a few paying machines on the floor so that there will at least someone winning, encouraging players on the losing machines to keep gambling.[citation needed]

Despite the many varieties of the machines, there are certain rules and regulations put forward by the "Security Electronics and Communication Technology Association", an affiliate of the National Police Association (NPA). For example, there must be three reels. Also, all reels must be accompanied by buttons which stop these reels, no more than 15 coins can be paid out per plays, credit meter cant go higher than 50, 3 coin maximum bet, etc.  Although a 15 coin payout may seem ridiculously low, the regulations allow "Big Bonus" (~400-->711 coins) and "Regular Bonus" modes (~110 coins) where these 15 coin payouts occur nearly continuously until the bonus mode finished. While the machine is in bonus mode, the player is entertained with special winning scenes on the LCD display, and energizing music is heard, payout after payout.  Three other unique features of Pachisuro machines are "Stock", "Renchan", and tenjō (天井, tenjō?).　　On many machines, when enough money to afford a bonus is taken in, the bonus is not immediately awarded. Typically the game merely stops making the reels slip off the bonus symbols for a few games. If the player fails to hit the bonus during these "standby games", it is added to the "Stock" for later collection. Many current games, after finishing a bonus round, set the probability to release additional stock (gained from earlier players failing to get a bonus last time the machine stopped making the reels slip for a bit) very high for the first few games. As a result, a lucky player may get to play several bonus rounds in a row (a "Renchan"), making payouts of 5000, even 10,000 coins possible! The lure of "Stock" waiting in the machine, and the possibility of "Renchan" tease the gambler to keep feeding the machine. To tease him further, there is a tenjō (ceiling), a maximum limit on the number of games between "Stock" release. For example, if the tenjō is 1500, and the number of games played since the last bonus is 1490, the player is guaranteed to release a bonus within just 10 games.

Because of the "Stock", "Renchan", and tenjō systems, it is possible to make money by simply playing machines on which someone has just lost a huge amount of money. This is called being a "hyena". They are easy to recognize, roaming the aisles for a "Kamo" ( "sucker" in English) to leave his machine.  In short, the regulations allowing "Stock", "Renchan", and tenjō has transformed the Pachisuro from a low-stakes form on entertainment just a few years back to the hard-core gambling it has become in 2006. Many people may be gambling more than they can afford, and the big payouts also lure unsavory "hyena" types into the gambling halls.

To address these social issues, a new regulation has been adopted in 2006 which caps the maximum amount of "Stock" a machine can hold to around 2000--3000 coins worth of bonus games. Moreover, all Pachisuro machines must be re-evaluated for regulation compliance every 3 three years. Version 4.0 came out in 2004, so that means all those machines with the up to 10000 coin payouts will be removed from service by 2007. Only time will tell how these changes will affect the Japanese Pachisuro industry.

Skill Stops

'Skill Stop' Buttons were added to some slot machine by Zacharias Anthony in the early 70's which allowed the player to stop each reel allowing a degree of 'skill' to satisfy New Jersey gaming laws of the day which required that players be allowed to control the game in some way. This is the first known use of the skill stop on slot machine. The conversion was applied to late model Bally slots. Because the typical machine stopped the reels automatically in less than 10 seconds weights were added to the mechanical timers to prolong the automatic stopping of the reels. There were approx. 50 machines involved in the original conversion. By the time the New Jersey ABC (Alcoholic Beverages Commission) had approved the conversion for use in New Jersey arcades the word was out and every other distributors began adding skill stops. The machines were a huge hit on the Jersey Shore. The rest of the unconverted Bally machines were destroyed as they had become instantly obsolete.

Random Number Generator

It is a common belief that the odds on a machine have something to do with the number of each kind of symbol on each reel, but in modern slot machines this is no longer the case. Modern slot machines are computerized, so that the odds are whatever they are programmed to be. In modern slot machines, the reels and lever are present for historical and entertainment reasons only. The positions the reels will come to rest on are chosen by a Random Number Generator (RNG) contained in the machine's software.

The RNG is constantly generating random numbers, at a rate of hundreds or maybe thousands per second. As soon as the lever is pulled or the "Play" button is pressed, the most recent random number is used to determine the result. This means that the result varies depending on exactly when the game is played. A fraction of a second earlier or later, and the result would be different.

Some professional gamblers observe that the RNG does not actually generate random numbers. Indeed, most RNGs (so-called pseudorandom number generators or PRNGs) will eventually repeat their number sequence. This behavior is due to poor programming, as it is relatively easy to build PRNGs with periods so long no computer could complete a single period in the expected lifetime of the universe. Having access to the PRNG code and seed values Ronald Dale Harris, a former slot machine programmer, discovered equations for specific gambling games like Keno that allowed them to predict what the next set of selected numbers would be based on the previous games played.

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