It can feel counterintuitive, but every slot spin is an independent action and outcome. What’s happened on a slot in the past has no relation to what will happen in the future. This is why three-pot slots can be dangerous – the pots grow over time, but don’t offer any useful information as to what will happen.
Still, players hope to find answers:
If you sit on a machine for a long time, put in a good amount of money, is it due to hit with a good payout on the bonus? How long before you should walk away?
Diane C.
And
How long should you stay at a losing machine before you move on?
Carole
The outcome of the next spin isn’t guided by the outcome of the previous spin, so there’s no “due to hit” scenario when it comes to most slots. (A few rare examples do exist, like “must hit by” progressives, but they are by far the exception.) So that means whether the previous spins were winners or not, the next spin has the same chances of being a winner as any other spin.
But the question about when to walk away is one we love to discuss, because setting limits is a healthy thing. It’s never smart to chase losses, and the mentality that “I put $100 in and lost, so it’s due to hit” doesn’t mean anything because the next $100 has the same likelihood of winning or losing as the previous one did – the odds didn’t change because money was spent.
This is why we like to encourage players to set limits, not just per casino trip, but per slot. The easiest way to do so is to only put in to the specific machine what you’re comfortable spending on that machine. If it’s gone before anything good happens, it’s a great time to take stock. You could choose to put more money in, but taking that extra little beat to think about it is a great thing for players to do.
This goes hand in hand with our recent conversation on your mood when gambling – if you’re not feeling it, if the game is making you feel a bit salty, it’s probably smart to get up. You can always take another try at the slot in the future, but sometimes it’s a good step to simply cut your losses and move on.
Your stopping point will be personal, but consider things like how much you brought to the casino. If you brought a couple hundred, maybe you want to move on after $20 or $40, so you can ensure you can play a variety of machines throughout the casino. But the number should make sense to you, and what you want to do while playing at the casino. After all, it’s your entertainment budget!
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While I know there’s no flip switch I do feel that there are times of day that everything starts to hit like algorithms are in play as it’s computer programming
Thoughts?
Slots cannot be programmed to do this, and there’s not advantage to do this either – imagine players finding out this exists and then the casino is only busy during those windows! But gaming regulations don’t allow for this sort of thing, and casinos are happy to just set slots at their preferred payback to ensure they will make the money they want in the long term. It’s ultimately more predictable for them.