Binary Slot Machines

When looking at the slot machines, and the possible outcomes, it really comes down to two possibilities, either you hit the winning combination or you don’t. And in that regard, slot machines are similar to flipping a regular coin, you only have heads or tails—two options. When you look at probability, you see a difference between the coins and the slot machines because of the variance the reel brings into play. Coins have a 50-50 chance, or 0.5 probability of hitting the chosen “heads or tails;” this number can differ greatly with slot machines. Regular slot machines have much less than 0.5 probability and with video slot machines you can often get above 0.5.

The coin analogy works with slot machines if you look at the long term effects of flipping a coin. If the coin is a fair time, it could take hundreds of flips of the coin before the you get an equal percentage of heads and tails. If a coin is tossed 20 times, the heads and tail may be equal, or there could be considerably more of one side versus the other. This same concept is true for slot machines.

When people believe that slot machines operate in payout cycles, it actually sounds bit ridiculous. There is no slot machine that is due to hit the jackpot, and each spin of the wheel has the exact same probability of winning the jackpot. When you see a slot machine that hasn’t paid out in a long time—rather than assume that the slot machine has been altered, chalk it up to randomness and move on because chances are the slot machine is fine and probability works across many slot machine plays, not just the handful you’ve played.
 

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