In our recent article about whether casinos are using AI to hold back payouts, a programmer called out some thoughts that they believed were happening in terms of the outcomes slots show:
As a software geek, I can see the preprogrammed outputs like that sixth ball or the third symbol on the following spin. Plus when you are down to the end it will tease you with three balls or two symbols. These are characteristics of something programmed. To your point the RNG (Random Number Generator) is only used to determine if the machine is ready to win!
Slot Geek
These patterns you believe you’re detecting aren’t things slot makers can do because of the regulations surrounding what’s allowed or not.
For instance, because each slot machine spin has to be independent, it can’t show five balls or two bonus symbols on spin A, and then follow it up with a forced one ball or one bonus symbol on spin B.
Over the years, as various scenarios have come to light, regulations have evolved to keep pace with them. For a slot maker to be able to force that scenario on spin B would require a two step process: Step one, let’s say, it’s a losing spin, and step two, let’s now show this result, say a single ball since the last spin had five.
This two step process is disallowed to keep manufacturers from having the ability to show a lot more near misses on losing spins. A bit of quick digging yielded examples such as:
9) Display an accurate representation of each Game outcome. After selection of the Game outcome, the Electronic Gaming Device must not make a variable secondary decision which affects the result shown to the player; Illinois Gaming Regulations
And
(ii) Not make a secondary decision which affects the result shown to the person playing the slot machine. Pennsylvania Gaming Regulations
What’s most likely happening here is that across five reels, there’s enough balls and bonus symbols that landing one on a given spin in general isn’t particularly unusual, and as humans we spot the times when it happens right after that near miss, but it isn’t any more likely to happen on that next spin than any other spin.
Slot makers, for the same reasons, also can’t show near misses based on your credit balance. The outcome of the slot has to be clear of any other influences other than the RNG.
And to your point of the RNG and being “ready to win,” the whole point of the randomness is there’s no “ready” – one of the possible outcomes is selected based on the number the random number generator has generated at the moment you make your wager.
One thing many get confused about is that the fact that computers can be programmed to do something, doesn’t mean the regulations that casino slots operate allow for such programming to be accepted.
Games are built to meet very stringent requirements, and then go through third-party lab testing to validate that all of these regulations were followed. Manufacturers wouldn’t try to work around regulations because it could put their future ability to offer casino games in markets all over the world at risk, since both manufacturers and the games they make have to be approved for distribution in every jurisdiction in which they work.
So while as humans we may attempt to look for patterns, regulations will stop a lot of the things you think are happening from happening by design. Certainly they can happen by chance, and that’s ultimately what you’re seeing here.
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