How A Video Slot Machine Works

Well, there is a difference between video slots and physical slots. The main difference between them is the wager. To be precise, the way the players can wager is different in both the slots. Compared to the other slots, the most popular slots these days are the adjustable stakes. To be precise, they have developed a lot in the last few years. Apart from their visual improvement, they have improved in popularity as well.

In the case of the physical slot machines, the amount of the stake was pre-determined. Therefore, players cannot stake out of the confines amounts. Also, to activate the slots, they used coins, tokens, or cash of a specific value. Those were the ways to activate a slot. However, the scenario has changed completely. These days, if you have enough balance in your casino account, you can stake according to your preference.

Spinning-reel slots in particular are profit juggernauts for most casinos, outperforming table games like blackjack, video poker machines and other forms of gambling. What about slot machines. The classic slot machine design works on an elaborate configuration of gears and levers. The central element is a metal shaft, which supports the reels. This shaft is connected to a handle mechanism that gets things moving. A braking system brings the spinning reels to a stop, and sensors communicate the position of the reels to the payout system.

Well, before you start your game, you have to adjust your wager by using the increase or decrease button. Besides, you will witness that every slot consists of minimum and maximum stake amount. Well, it helps the gambler to determine the amount of money that he or she is about to spend. Therefore, let us fathom everything that comes with video slots. It will help you if you want to play video slot games in the Future.

Paylines, Symbols, and reels

Well, when it comes to paylines, symbols, and reels, it is the same for both physical machines and video slots. However, if you see the classic slot machines, you will witness that there are three reels. Well, when the video slots saw its first light online, the number increased gradually. And from that time, developers started to come up with avant-garde games. In the modern video slots, there are and five reels. Also, there are slots where you will even find six reels.

Once you find out the number of reels, you can quickly determine the number of paylines. Therefore, it will provide you with significant insight. To be specific, it will give you a clear idea about how you can win this game. You can win this game by calculating the reels, paylines, and coin value. Well, one of the best ways to win is to select more coins. If you can choose more coins, your potential for winning the game will increase.

There is another factor that influences the winning amount is the symbols. Therefore, you have to make sure that you can differentiate precisely about the low-pay and the high-pay. So, these are some of the ways y which you can win the video slots.

Let comprehend the RNGs

Before going further in the discussion, let us determine the full form of RNG. Well, RNG is nothing but the random Number Generator. And when it comes to the winning amount, it plays a significant role. To be specific, the Random Number Generator is responsible for the amount that you will win or lose. It will be determined after some spins. For this reason, the developers integrate the RNG in the software to get a random outcome.

  • The RNG is responsible for regulating the randomness of a slot game.
  • The RNG also determines the payback percentage that you will after playing a slot game.

Figuring out the RTP

Well, the full form of RTP is Return of Player. Well, it signifies the concept of Theoretical payback Percentage of a game for slot machines. The casinos make use of this term to comprehend the values that a player will receive from the wager. Mostly, the casinos use this term when the players witness a winning a combination during the gameplay.

For instance, if the RTP of a slot game is 96%, there is a possibility that players will receive 96 coins back if their wager is 100 coins, and they win.

Gameplay

By now, you must have comprehended the RTP, RNGs, pay lines, reels, and symbols. Therefore, it will become easier for you to play the game. So, to win the game, you have to select the number of coins and comprehend your total stake.

After you have confirmed the amount of your total stake, you have to click on the play button. In case, if your symbols match or you get the special ones, you will get rewards. Besides, you will also get winning combos. Therefore, this is the gameplay that you must know about the video slots.

Multipliers and bonus games

To make it simpler to you, let us start with an example. Well, if the reels are five and you manage to match the five symbols, you will win the maximum amount. In case if you can match low pay symbols, you will earn less amount of money. Similarly, if you match the high-value symbols, the awards will be higher. To be precise, it will help you to win the maximum amount of rewards possible from this game.

Now, let us discuss the special symbols. If you can match up the special symbols, you can unlock bonus multipliers as well as games. And if you can open those games, there is a possibility that you can win double or triple your amount.

Jackpots

It is the time when we must fathom jackpots. Well, jackpots are one of the most exciting things that attract people to play casino. Now, let us know about the types of prizes. Well, there are two types of jackpots.

Progressive jackpots- There are numerous games where you will find progressive jackpots. The fundamental of the progressive jackpot is that the value will increase with every stake that you made. Well, this signifies the fact that even if you lose, a small fraction of the amount will be added to the pot. And in this way, the jackpot will tend to grow.

Non-progressive jackpots- Non-progressive jackpots are just the opposites of progressive jackpots. No matter how many times you are losing your wager, the amount will be fixed.

So, these are the things that you should know about the video slots. Going through these points will help you to play the game effortlessly.


In a modern casino, you’ll see more gambling machines than anything else. The slot machines (or one-armed bandits) are the most profitable game in any casino, and I’ll explore the reasons for that in this post.

But slot machines aren’t the only gambling machines on the casino floor.

You’ll also find video poker machines, which are far superior to slot machines for a number of reasons.

I’ll explore those reasons in this post, too.

How A Video Slot Machine Works

Here’s an explanation of how gambling machines work:

How Slot Machines Work

What makes a slot machine a slot machine?

It’s the presence of the spinning reels.

All slot machines are gambling machines, but not all gambling machines are slot machines. The spinning reels are what make the difference.

Traditional real money slots work like this:

You have 3 spinning reels with multiple symbols on them. When you activate the machine by inputting a coin and pulling a lever, the reels spin and land on those symbols at random.

If the same symbols line up across the center of the front of the machine, you win a prize. The amount of the prize is determined by the symbol.

Originally, slot machines were powered by big metal hoops (the reels), springs, and levers. They were entirely mechanical.

Modern slot machines, though, use physical reels that land based on a computer program.

Or they don’t use physical reels at all. This is more common than ever. These video slot machines just have animation on a screen, like in a video game, and the results are also powered by a computer program.

This computer program is called a “random number generator.”

The payouts for the various combinations are determined by the probability of hitting those combinations, but they’re almost always lower than the odds of hitting.

For example, if you have a 500 to 1 probability of getting a specific combination, it might only pay off at 400 for 1.

The difference between the actual odds and the payout odds gives the casino a profit in the long run.

This is called “the house edge,” but most people don’t use the expression “house edge” when discussing gambling machines.

Instead, people talk about the “payback percentage,” which is the other side of the house edge coin.

Instead of representing the average amount of each bet that’s lost over the long run, the payback percentage represents the average amount of each bet that’s won over the long run.

A slot machine with a 5% house edge has a 95% payback percentage.

Over the long run, though, it’s impossible to win at slot machines. The math behind the game ensures that.

Most slot machines have a payback percentage of 75% to 95%, but there’s no real way to know what a payback percentage is for a modern slot machine game.

You don’t know what the odds are for getting specific symbols in any given game—that’s determined by the random number generator which determines the results.

How Video Poker Works

Video poker looks a lot like a slot machine, but it doesn’t have spinning reels. Instead, you’re dealt a 5-card hand on a video screen.

Almost all video poker games are based on 5-card draw, so you get to choose between 1 and 5 cards to discard and replace.

You get paid off on the poker value of the final hand based on the pay table for the game. The jackpot hand is always the royal flush—the 10, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit. That only comes up about once every 40,000 hands.

The royal flush pays off at 200 for 1 unless you wager the max bet—5 coins—in which case it pays off at 800 for 1. This is remarkably consistent from one video poker machine to another.

Other game-play elements, like payouts and wild cards, vary wildly from one video poker game to another, but the top hand is almost always the royal flush, and the payoff is almost always 800 for 1 on a 5-coin bet, but less if you bet fewer coins.

This makes the first aspect of video poker strategy easy—you always place the max bet of 5 coins.

There are no advantages to wagering fewer coins, and the lower payout for the top hand changes your expected results more than you probably think.

The Difference Between Video Poker and Slot Machines

The major difference between video poker and slot machines is the difference between reels with arbitrary symbols and arbitrary symbols and a deck of playing cards.

How a video slot machine works without

There’s no way to calculate the payback percentage of a slot machine, because you have no way of knowing what the probability of getting any of the symbols is.

For example, you might be playing on a slot machine where cherries are programmed to come up 1/8 of the time, but apples might only be programmed to come up 1/16 of the time.

An identical slot machine next to this example machine might have entirely different probabilities programmed in. The cherries might be programmed to come up 1/10 of the time, and the apples to come up 1/32 of the time.

The payback percentage for the game is based on the payouts for the combinations AND the probability of getting each combination.

Without the probability, you can’t solve for the payback percentage, which is the “unknown” in the equation.

But video poker games are different.

The symbols on a video poker machine are based on a deck of playing cards.

And if it’s a legitimate video poker game, the probabilities for getting each card are identical to the probabilities you’d have in a real card game.

Since you know that a deck of cards consists of 4 suits with 13 ranked cards in each suit, you can calculate any probability you need to related to your results.

This also affects your strategy for the game. Deciding which cards to hold and which ones to discard is a critical aspect of video poker strategy.

With slot machines, there is NO strategy, ever.

The payback percentage on a video poker game is something that can be calculate, and it usually ranges from 95% to 99%.

Video Slot Machines Free

Keys to Success with Gambling Machines

If you’ve been paying attention so far, you’ve probably already figured out the first key to success with gambling machines:

Play video poker instead of slot machines.

Remember how I pointed out that the payback percentage for a slot machine ranges from 75% to 95%?

And the payback percentage for a video poker machine ranges from 95% to 99%?

That was your clue to the first aspect of gambling machine strategy.

Always go for the game with the highest payback percentage and the lowest house edge.

Video Slot Machine Software

You’ll still go broke in the long run if you play long enough, but you’ll take longer doing so.

And since the point of casino gambling is entertainment, your goal should be to get the maximum amount of entertainment for your gambling dollar.

The other key to success with gambling machines is to always join the slots club and always play with your casino players club card inserted. As weird as it sounds, casinos want you to use your players card.

The card is meant to track how much money you’re gambling so that the casino can reward you (incentivize you) with rebates.

They calculate these rebates based on a percentage of the action you’re bringing the casino. This usually amounts to between 0.1% and 0.3% of your action.

That doesn’t sound like much until you start doing some of the fancy math that casino experts like to do.

The first thing to do is calculate how much you can expect to lose in the long run on a gambling machine.

Let’s take, for example, a Jacks or Better video poker machine with a 99.54% payback percentage. The house edge for that game is 0.46%, which is the amount you’re expected to lose in the long run on that game.

If you play a $1 video poker game and make the max bet each hand, you’re gambling $5 per hand. If you’re an average video poker player, you’re playing 600 hands per hour. (It’s a fast game.)

That’s $3000 per hour you’re putting into action, and your expected loss is $3000 X 0.46%, or $13.80.

If you’re getting 0.3% of your hourly wagers back in rebates and comps from the casino, you’re looking at getting $9/hour back from that $13.80.

Video Slot Machines

How can you turn that down?

Conclusion

Those are the basics of gambling machines and how they work. If you’re already a casino customer, you probably already have a preference when it comes to gambling machines.

How Casino Slot Machines Work

Machine

Do you think your preference might change now?

How A Video Slot Machine Works Reviews

In other words, if you’re a slot machine fanatic, do you think you might be willing to try video poker now?