đ Why Do People Touch Slot Machine Screens? There is a popular belief that if a Wild symbol appears, you must touch the screen of the one-armed bandit and rub the reels you would want the Wild to show up so that you can hit a bonus round and free spins.
Casinos have more slot machines than all of the other games combined. But unlike many casino games, the slots still have some secrets.
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Hereâs a list of 15 slot machine secrets the casinos donât want you to know about.
1. Slot placement isnât random
Although casinos would like you to think that everything on the floor is placed in a completely random way for ease of access and aesthetics, this certainly isnât the case.
Every square foot of the casino is analyzed, measured, and reported on by the casino gaming department. Traffic patterns are monitored and value is placed on certain areas of the casino to determine which slots or games to place in that area.
Usually, the highest yield slots are placed in the most popular locations in the casino. On top of this, the most popular slots are also placed in these areas to attract players into the casino to play.
So now you know that those slots that are most prominent and visible are the ones that make the most money for the casino, which means theyâre also the most disadvantageous for the player. Head towards the back of the casino next time you want to play slot machines to find a better value.
2. Some slots pay out more than others
Not all slot machines are created equal, and this means they all donât pay out at the same rate.
Generally speaking, video slots pay out less than classic reel slots. This is because reel slots are cheaper to run and maintain, and arenât as appealing to the player as the video slot.
Video slots are now extravagant and have pop-culture themes, which attracts more players. Because of this, the casinos can dial down the payout rate.
Alternatively, the classic slots arenât as popular or appealing anymore so the casinos will dial up the payout rate to attract more players, and subsequently keep you at the slot longer. I suggest you do a bit of searching on the internet about slot payout rates as this information is widely available, particularly for popular gaming locations.
3. The slots club doesnât exist to reward you
This is one of the biggest cons in the gambling industry. You know how the casinos promote themselves as giving back to the player and rewarding you for your play? This is all a lie.
Now, Iâm not saying you wonât get some free play credits, access to promotions, and other comps for being a part of the slot or playerâs club, but this isnât why it exists. It exists to provide the casino marketing department with player data so that they can attract and retain you as a customer.
Yes, thatâs right, all the free money and comps you get out of the casino are from the marketing department. They will analyze your play, movement, likes, dislikes, and betting patterns to determine how best to market themselves to you so that you return.
The slots club is a powerful marketing tool, and while itâs always a good idea to join and use your card whenever you play, donât fool yourself into thinking that this is all done to reward you.
4. You canât win at slots in the long run
Why Do Slot Machines Say Bargain
People do win at slots all the time. They have big wins and small wins; the problem is that on a long enough timeline itâs impossible to win.
Slots are manufactured and programmed in a way to ensure that they only pay back a certain percentage of the money thatâs placed into them by players. Usually, this is in the range of 70-90% but it can be far worse or better depending on where youâre playing.
No one would ever play if you didnât win from time to time, so this is also built into the machines. Some casinos donât want you to know this and in some US states, they donât even have to tell you what the payout rate is. Fortunately, there are many states that do provide it to players, and I highly recommend taking advantage of that information.
Although itâs pretty common these days for players to know that you canât win in the long run, some still donât know, and those that are oblivious to this fact are loved by casinos.
5. Max betting is the best option
This one may seem counter-intuitive but itâs true. On most slots, max betting activates all the bonuses and jackpots and increases your odds of getting lucky and winning, which makes it the best option for players.
Although it doesnât make too much of a difference, it still creates more favorable conditions for the player. The casinos donât want you to know this because they want you to bet small and more often at a worse payout rate, which makes them more money in the long run.
One thing you certainly donât want to do though is max-bet above your bankroll and burn through more money than you intended to. Playing more than you can afford to lose is playing right into the casinoâs hands. If you canât afford the max bet on a slot then drop down in denominations or move to a machine where the max bet is smaller and works within your bankroll.
6. Class 2 slots arenât really slots at all
Sometimes youâll come across slot machines that are classified as class 2 slots. These are usually found on native Indian reservations or racinos in the United States.
These arenât traditional slots like what you would find in Las Vegas. Vegas slots are Class 3 slots and are proper slot machine games.
Class 2 slots are actually pre-programmed bingo games which present a slot face for entertainment purposes. Class 3 slots are usually illegal in the jurisdictions that have these slots bingo games, so game manufacturers and casinos combined their forces to come up with this alternative.
Sometimes youâll see a small bingo card on the bottom corner of the screen which will straight away tell you that this is a class 2 slot machine. So, be warned, these machines are not slots at all and youâll be effectively playing computer bingo when you start spinning on these.
7. Video slots pay out less than classic slots
Big fancy video slots will almost always pay out less than classic reel slots. This is because of the fact theyâre more entertaining, draw more players and action, and cost the casinos a lot more to run and maintain.
These big machines often take up two to three times the amount of space compared to classic slots and tend to cost the casinos a lot more to keep them running. In order to maximize profits, the casinos will then dial down the payout rate on these machines so they still make enough money on them.
Immersive video slots are a huge moneymaker for the casino, so donât go in thinking you have the same chance of winning on these compared to traditional old school slots. If youâre looking for better chances to win on slot machines, then stick to the classic slots.
8. Slots are completely random
Casinos donât want you to know this, but slot machines are completely random in nature. Although they are weighted to pay out at a certain rate, this is still in line with the randomness of results that a slot will produce.
Each spin is completely independent of the previous spin. As an example, if you were to win the jackpot on one spin, then the likelihood of winning the jackpot on the next spin is exactly the same. No previous events impact future events. This isnât how they work.
Casinos donât want you to know this because they want you to think slots are âhotâ or âcoldâ, because that will cloud your judgment in respect to how much you play and gamble. This works out better for them in the long run so they are happy for these myths to grow and spread.
9. All of your play is tracked
From the moment you sit down at a slot and enter your player card and cash, every movement you make is tracked automatically by the casino. Slot machines are now networked and have sophisticated hardware and software to track everything you do.
This information is collected, analyzed, and insight reports are developed and delivered to the casino marketing department so they can work out the best possible way to market their casino and slots to you so that you keep coming back and play more. If you donât want your play tracked then simply donât use your playerâs card, but then you wonât get any casino comps.
In the near future, if itâs not being used already, casino marketing departments will start using security infrastructure to monitor and track your play irrespective of whether you use your card or not. Facial recognition programs will detect you, associate you with a playerâs card or create a new player account and track everything you do on a video feed.
This is a bit scary and it shows the lengths casinos will go to. If you play online, everything is tracked under your player account, so itâs easier for online casinos to monitor what you do in this respect.
10. Payout tickets are more likely to be put back into a machine
Over the past 20 years, casinos have slowly phased out cash payouts at slots. These days youâll likely receive a ticket when you cash out, which you then must take to a cash-out machine or the cage to exchange for cash.
While the casinos will claim this is for your convenience, one of the main reasons theyâve made this change is to disassociate you from the fact youâre holding money. This is similar to what they do with chips on table games.
Psychological studies have proven that people are far more likely to gamble more with a ticket or chips, as opposed to cash. So donât be fooled into placing your ticket into another slot on the way to cashing out, theyâve done this on purpose. Iâd recommend that you always cash the tickets out for cash every time, instead of keeping it for play later.
11. Slot arms donât exist as much anymore because they slow down play
Back in the day, pretty much every slot machine had an arm, or lever, that you pull to activate the spin. These days itâs much harder to find machines that have these.
While there are a few reasons for this, the main reason and the one the casinos donât want you to know is because using a lever is much slower when compared to pressing a button. Casinos want you to be playing as quickly as possible when it comes to slots because the more you spin the more the odds move in their favor.
So by having buttons instead of levers the game moves a lot faster. Some may even say theyâve removed the lever so people donât refer to slot machines as one-armed bandits anymore, but that may just be here-say.
12. Games are designed to be played as fast as possible
As we touched on in the previous secret, casinos want you to play whatever game youâre on as quickly as possible. While one of the main measurements on a slot is the time spent playing, they also want you to play as quickly as possible.
This increases the yield on the machine for the casino, meaning they make more money. Consider this, if you have a bank of widely popular slots which many people want to play, and it takes 20 seconds per spin, thatâs quite a lot of time.
If a spin takes five seconds then youâre getting four times the amount of play on that machine which results in much more money passing through. So, all the time the casinos are trying to think of ways to make games happen much faster. They donât want you playing slowly, so make sure you take your time next time you sit down at a slot. After all, the more time you play the more entertainment value you get.
13. Slot sounds and graphics are designed to make you feel happy
One thing that casinos certainly donât want you to know about is the fact that slot machine manufacturers have teams of psychologists and researchers that provide advice on what sounds, colors, movements and graphics to use in games in order to make the player feel as happy as possible.
This is both good and bad. Firstly, itâs good if youâre playing for entertainmentâs sake and know your limits when it comes to how much money youâre willing to play with. If this is the case then why not play a game thatâs designed to make you feel happy.
Secondly, itâs bad when it comes to problem gamblers who donât know when to stop and are chasing that happy feeling that the games give them. So this is a two-way street; thatâs for sure. Casinos probably donât want you to know this because it isnât a great look.
14. Sometimes a win isnât a win
One recent trend on slots is to play a jingle and show an animation showing that a player has had a win; this used to be a good thing and it meant you were making a profit, but not so much these days.
Much to the ire of lawmakers and the regulators, slot machines now play this jingle and imply a win, even when the spin results in less money won than you actually wagered on that spin in the first place. So this is essentially a loss and itâs trying to trick the player into thinking that they won.
Regulators are trying to have this outlawed but it will take some time. So, next time youâre playing donât be fooled by the animation and sounds and the on-screen advice that says youâve had a win. Make sure you check how much you âwonâ when compared to how much you bet, before you celebrate.
15. Major progressive jackpots are played across multiple venues
Have you ever walked past a progressive jackpot slot machine and stared in awe at the huge jackpot which is currently available and is running into the millions of dollars?
If so, then you may not be aware that these slots are actually linked nationwide and the jackpot is played across thousands and thousands of machines and the casinos actually have no part in this prize.
Casinos donât want you to know this of course; they want you to think that itâs just that machine so that you sit down and play and spin away thinking that youâre the only person who could possibly win that prize at that time.
These major progressive jackpot machines actually take a small cut from each bet you make and divert it to the major jackpot. So you should never play on one of these unless your ultimate goal is to win the life-changing money, and thereâs certainly nothing wrong with that.
Conclusion
Casinos are designed to make money just like any business. The slot machines are a big piece of the profit puzzle so the casinos do everything they can to make them more profitable.
Now that you know these 15 slot machine secrets the casinos donât want you to know you can gamble as an informed player. If you love slots thereâs no reason to stop playing, but you should know these secrets before you play again.
Most research on compulsive gambling focuses on the psychological, biological, or even moral profiles of gambling addictsâbut the real problem may be the slot machines. MIT anthropologist Natasha Dow Schull recently won the American Ethnological Societyâs 2013 First Book Prize for her new work, Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas, which explores the relationship between gamblers and the technologically sophisticated machines that enableâand encourageâthem to bet beyond their means. Schull, who spent fifteen years conducting ethnographic research in casinos, gambling industry conventions, and Gamblers Anonymous meetings in Las Vegas, explained to me over the phone, âAddiction is a relationship between a person and an activity, and I see my book as compensating for the lack of research into the object side of the relationship. With alcohol research, for instance, there has been a focus not only on the alcoholic but on the alcohol itself. With gambling, the focus is most often on the person. Itâs essential to broaden that.â
Alice Robb: Why should a cultural anthropologist study gambling?
Natasha Dow Schull: Games are a great window into culture. They indicate what the populace is anxious about or is seeking out. The fact that people are being drawn to individual machine consoles rather than high-volatility, intense social games tells us a lot about the risk and volatility that people feel in the world, in their livesâthink of the financial crisis, the culture of fear around terrorism, the environment, global warning. It makes sense that people would seek out games that allow them a sense of control and predictability.
You donât think about gambling as that kind of a game. You would think itâs about thrill and risk, but actually slot machines provide people with a sense of safety and certainty.
In 1967, the anthropologist Erving Goffman described gambling as the occasion for âcharacter contestsâ in which participants could demonstrate their courage, integrity and composure under pressure. Today, our anxieties are very different, and with slot machines weâre seeking a sense of safety and routineâthe opposite of what Goffman describes.
AR: How does gambling promote a sense of security? Isnât gambling about risk?
NDS: When gamblers play, theyâre going into a zone that feels comfortable and safe. Youâre not playing to win, youâre playing to stay in the zoneâ a zone where all of your daily worries, your bodily pains, your anxieties about money and time and relationships, fall away.
One addict I interviewed described being in the âzoneâ:
Itâs like being in the eye of a stormâŚYour vision is clear on the machine in front of you but the whole world is spinning around you, and you canât really hear anything. You arenât really thereâyouâre with the machine and thatâs all youâre with.â
New kinds of machines are key. With multi-line slot machines, say you put in a hundred coins. If youâre betting on 100 lines of play, youâll always âwinâ something back. If you put in 40 coins and get 30 back, thatâs a net loss, a âfalse winâ, but the machine responds as if youâve won: The lights go off, you get the same audiovisual feedback. Almost every hand, you get the same resultâ there are no dry spells.
AR: You say that people want to get away from their fears about money and people. So why escape by spending money in a casino thatâs full of people?
NDS: In order to get away from the burdens and anxieties associated with monetary value and interactions with other people, you have to work within those mediums and convert them into something else. To get away from money, you have to play with it; gamblers spoke about how money became currency for staying in the zone.
And even though there are people around, itâs still very anonymous. You set yourself up alone in a machine-like pod and everything blurs awayâthe other people are just a kind of necessary background. People seem not to be able to do that on the couch alone. A lot of the gamblers I talked to would play on hand-held machines at home in between their sessions at the casinos, but they couldnât achieve that zone as readily.
AR: Why are slot machines so much more addictive than more traditional forms of gambling?
NDS: Even though slot machines are considered to be a light form of gambling due to their relatively low stakes, ease of play and historical popularity with women, they are actually the most potent. There are three reasons why: Playing on slot machine is solitary, rapid, and continuous. You donât have interruptions like you would in a live poker game, waiting for cards to be dealt or waiting for the other players. You can go directly from one hand to the nextâthereâs no clear stopping point built into the game. You donât even have to stop to put bills in the machine; the machines take credit or barcoded tickets.
AR: What do new gambling machines say about our relationship with technology?
NDS: The cultural history of gambling in this country follows alongside technological advancesânot only because technology make these new kinds of machines possible, but because weâve become comfortable interacting with and even trusting computers and machines.
You can see that in the revenue: 80 percent of revenue in Las Vegas comes from individual encounters with slot machines rather than social forms of play around a table. Whereas in a place like Macaoâwhich has far greater revenue from gambling than Las Vegasâit's the exact opposite: 80 percent is coming from table games, because people have a distrust of computers and machines.
AR: How could your work affect the public conversation on gambling?
NDS: States around the country are considering gambling as way to increase revenue in the recessionâand itâs the revenue from machines that theyâre anticipating. I think this is a very dubious proposition since, as I show, these devices are so clearly problematic. Machines are designed to draw people in and sometimes do so in deceptive ways; their design affects all players, not just a small group of addicts. Legislators need to understand how these machines work.