Everything you ever wanted to know about slot machines | Epidsode 03

In episode 3 of this series, we're

covering exactly: how does a slot machine

really work? That's not a super

straightforward thing to answer because

there's several different types of slot

machines that are in use in the United

States, namely Class 2 machines and class

3 machines. Before the 1970s, all slot

machines were mechanical. The reels would

spin around and then a hook would come

down randomly stopping the reels with

the Advent of the video slot. Slot

machines are really just computers now

and they use a chip called a random

number generator to provide their

Randomness even machines that have

mechanical reels today. They work in the

opposite way the computer tells them

where they're going to stop and then

they stop in that spot and these

machines today are what's referred to as

a class 3 machine. They're what's in Las

Vegas, and they're what most people think

about when they talk about slot machines.

We'll come back to these in a minute but

first let's talk about class 2 machines.

The class 3 Las Vegas style slot machine

was all that there was when Congress

signed into law. The Indian gaming

regulatory act. This was an agreement

with Indian tribes that said that all

gambling was going to be split into

three categories class one games are

things like prizes for drawings and

giveaways, things like that class 2 games

are games that are played player against

player things like Bingo and poker. Class

3 games are pretty much anything that

doesn't fall under class one or Class 2,

and it's games where players play

against the house. That's things like

roulette, Blackjack and then of course,

the slot machines. So what's a casino to

do if they want to have slot machines,

but they aren't approved for class three

games they can't have any slot machines.

So what game designers did was take a

class 2 game electronic Bingo and make

it look and act like a slot machine. So

in some casinos, you walk in to play a

slot machine and it looks exactly like

you're playing a slot machine but you're

actually playing electronic Bingo to

most people, you would never really

actually notice a difference that you

aren't playing a real slot machine. But

if you read the game rules, it'll explain

all about the bingo game also if you

look around on the game cabinet, you can

usually find a little screen. It'll tell

you what's going on with the bingo game

what balls have been called and how many

your card has matched one question that

I always get asked is are you actually

playing player against player? And to

some degree. Because it's part of the law,

you're always going to be playing player

against player but reality, it's only in

technicality something like 99% of the

pay is going to come from a consolation

prize. And is in no way affected by the

other players and then something like 1%

of the pay is going to come from that

player vers player aspect something like

whoever matched the most balls will get

the prize pool added to their bonus

round or something like that in that

case the bonus round might pay slightly

more or slightly less depending on how

things shake out, but it really doesn't

affect anything. So no, in reality you're

not playing player against player, you're

just playing with the other players when

you spend the Bingo machine you're going

to be given a new card with 25 spaces on

it, just like in real Bingo. Then a set

number of balls will be drawn and

depending on how many balls you match

will determine what prize you get. The

other players aren't going to make any

difference on how many balls you match

and then all the different games in the

casino with their different game themes,

and the different denominations. They're

each going to have a different number of

winning combinations and then different

amounts that are one on each different

combination. So matching eight balls on

one machine might win you like five

credits and matching eight balls on a

different machine might win you, like 20

credits. So all the different games on

each Bingo server are playing the same

game and getting the same information,

but they're all doing different things

with that information really, it's just a

different form of Randomness and you can

pretty much ignore the fact that you're

really playing bingo. So that already

debunks the myth that playing in an

empty casino is better but on top of

that there isn't just one Bingo server

for the whole Casino each casino is

going to have a couple different bingo

servers for each manufacturer of the

games plus it's also possible for those

servers to be shared by different

casinos in different parts of the city,

and even different parts of the state

for that matter. So just because the

casino that you're in is busy or it's

empty or whatever you still have no idea

how many people you're playing with, not

that it really matters. Anyway, in

addition to the Bingo slot machines,

there's also slot machines based on

other systems as well. Washington state

uses slot machines based on Lottery

scratch offs there's machines based on

historic horse racing. There's also

machines based on pole tabs that are

pretty popular, we're going to have to

come back to these and discuss all these

different machines at a later date.

Though keep in mind that while Class 2

machines are mostly found in casinos

that can't have class 3 machines. Any

casino that's approved for class 3

machines can also have class 2. There's

casinos all over the country that have a

mix of Class 2 and class 3 in the same

building. If you want to know if you're

playing a Class 2 or a class 3 machine,

just ask an attendant. They won't be able

to answer a lot of the questions that

the custom customers like to ask but

Class 2 versus class 3 something they

should have no problem with. But let's

talk about the class 3 machines as

that's what I really want to focus on

with this series. Just a reminder though,

if you're getting value out of this,

could you hit the like button for me

please consider subscribing, leave me a

comment and let me know if you've played

the Bingo machines. And if you guys have

had any luck on them class 3 machines

use what's called a random number

generator. This is a chip generating

random numbers thousands of times per

second usually people have this

misconception that slot machines are

like a deck of cards the wins and losses

are going to be in a set sequence like

win loss loss win and then a big win and

if you get up and go to the bathroom,

before you get that big win, somebody

sits down. They're going to get your big

win that's not how they work at all. A

slot machine is much more similar to

like the Powerball jackpot. Just because

somebody reaches their hand in and draws

some balls out of the machine doesn't

mean that the next person is going to

reach their hand in and grab the exact

same balls. The possible outcomes are

just constantly changing. The most common

questions that I get are are the

machines rigged and are they truly

random that isn't as straightforward as

you might want to think it is and we're

going to go into more detail of that in

the next couple videos. In this series,

but for all intents and purposes, yes

they are completely random. Past results

do not have any bearing on future

outcomes. In no way is it telling itself

like I haven't been paying out enough, I

need to start paying out more or the

opposite. I just had a huge jackpot. I

need to start paying out less to balance

out the machines are set to pay back a

certain percentage of the money that

they bring in and they never deviate

from that I know that might seem

contradictory that they can be random

but also have a set percentage but I

promise it'll start to make sense after

the next couple episodes. We're going to

talk about the random number generator,

and how it works what it does do and

what it doesn't do. Don't forget to hit

the like button and before your next

Vegas trip, get educated. Thanks for

watching