We all make mistakes. When it comes to the casino, sometimes those mistakes can work to your advantage. How? When a slot is set up incorrectly, it can sometimes give you a leg up.
A couple of years ago we were in a Las Vegas casino when we saw a bank of Quick Hit machines. The machines were set up with a max bet of $3 except one, which was set to $1.50. But the progressives on the top of the machine were linked to the ones with a $3 max bet, and had the same, higher starting point normally seen with the higher bets.
What does that mean? You could bet half as much for the same prize, which can increase your chances of success when you win one. Sure enough, hitting 5 Quick hits awarded the larger progressive, and it reset to the larger starting number. The next time we went through that area of the casino, the machine was still there, but the bet choices had been fixed.
A few months ago at one of our locals, we saw a Quick Hit machine with progressives that looked off relative to the bet. It looked like the bet levels had been lowered on the machine, but the progressives had been left the same. This would mean much bigger payouts relative to the bet than normal. We tried to win one, but it didn’t work out that time.
More subtle things can occur like slots increase prizes faster than they should, making them more valuable. In all these situations though, you don’t necessarily benefit unless you win the prize. But it can make it worth it to play that game over other games in the casino when it happens.
It’s not just machines with progressives where mistakes can be made. We’ve found machines that rack up tier credits faster than they’re supposed to, which can be helpful when you need to earn a certain number of points to get a gift or free play. We’ve also encountered examples where the counter on the slot moves up wrong but it ultimately tallied right, so be sure to double check when you see that happening.
Then there’s the scenario of a game just outright being too generous. The time Brian Christopher got a unicow on one of the new versions of Planet Moolah, so was everyone else. And then suddenly the game disappeared for a time, to be tweaked before coming back corrected and unicows coming at the correct frequency.
If you’re a regular casino visitor, it always is smart to pay attention to what’s going on – you may find yourself pleasantly surprised to find something that’s favorable for you as a player, and with it the chance to do better than you otherwise could have done.
