I know your going to say that these are just random events, but it is extremely unlikely that a machine will only pay mid and lower tier prizes all day and omit the jackpot and vice-versa and do this over and over again. It's as if IGT programmed the machine to have 'Planned Cycles' to make the game more interesting to play. If the machine is truly picking random combinations wouldn't the prize distribution be more random. what I don't understand is how on some days these machines will pay almost an exclusive combination of seven wins with no jackpots all day and yet other days it will pay jackpots all day with little to no seven wins. I have read your informative article on how slot machines work and I have a good understanding of the programming behind them. I play a machine in Atlantic city Called 'Reel Detectives'. Whatever! The exact reason for this 'pause' it seems clear the machine is re-initializing or re-loading something.

Conversely, I have seen cold machines suddenly start paying more after this hesitation occurs. because it's filled the 'random number table' and is re-initializing it for another round? I have always wondered about these periodic (after maybe around 30-50 pulls) 'hesitations' that slot machines exhibit because my observations are that the pay/take characteristics of a slot machine seem to change between these 'hesitations.'įrequently, I have seen a slot that was in a 'pay cycle' (for lack of better words) go suddenly cold after going through this hesitation.

Are you saying that the slot has a 2+ billion-element table that gets filled with all the possible numbers (over time)? Is this why a slot machine will sometimes hesitate (as if it's 'thinking' for a few seconds before allowing you to initiate a play. In 'how slot machines works' you mention that the Random numbers (1 to 2+ billion) are drawn in a cycle to ensure each number is chosen once per cycle.

Can casinos control slot machines