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Payout percentages are the most commonly used form of differentiating slot machines, and the most often used form of advertising slots by the casinos. Many casinos offer "98% payback slots " or some other high number as their payback percentage. This is most often thought of as "98% of the total amount of money deposited into the machine will be returned to the player". People tend to think this means if they play through $100, they should expect to have $98 come back to them. This is a bit of a fallacy however, because the return percentage is a theoretical one based on an infinite timeline. This means if you were to keep playing the slots game forever, you would eventually have made back 98% of what you put in. Most people don't usually play long enough to hit a big jackpot however, and winning that jackpot is part of the calculated 98%. This means if you play and don't win big, chances are you're actual return percentage will be significantly lower.
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What do I mean by traps? I mean slot machines that aren't entirely up front about what they offer you. The biggest trap by far is the full coins trap. There are many slot machines in Vegas that advertise great payback percentages and amazing jackpots, but they also advertise themselves as 'quarter slots ' or 'nickel slots ', which is a little misleading. The majority of these machines require you to play multiple coins in order to be eligible for some or any of its available jackpots. Many of them require that you are playing the maximum number of coins possible on the machine in order to be able to win the jackpot that probably convinced you to play it in the first place! So be very wary, you may find yourself in front of a machine that has three cars lined up in a row making you think you've won the grand jackpot, but no lights will flash, no sounds will erupt, if you only played one coin.
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There are many, many myths around the Internet trying to convince you that the casinos in Las Vegas have masterminded the way they place their slots , with loose slots more visible than tight slots . You will undoubtedly read about how slot machines near the isles, on raised carousels, or near the entrances and exits pay out more and more often than other slots in the casino. The logic is based on the idea that the casino wants any winner on a slot machine to be seen by as many people as possible, convincing them to play too. While this may be a fairly logical assumption, it seems as though if it was true once in the past, it sadly no longer is. Recently Michael Shackleford of the wizard of odds has done some fairly systematic tests of casinos around Vegas and found no difference between the payouts on machines located randomly, and those in previously though of 'loose' spots.
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Slot machines are actual free-standing "machines" easily identified by their spinning reels and pull handles. The concept is simple, drop in some coins, pull the handle and hope the reel
symbols line up. Different symbols win different amounts, and there's usually a jackpot available to be won.
Slot machines are a total game of chance. There are no rules to learn, and the outcome is totally random. The ease of play, the potential huge payoffs, the noise and the excitement level
around the slot area all contribute to a high entertainment value for some.
Slot machines come in a variety of forms with diverse symbols on the wheels and numerous payout systems. Slot machines can have from three to five reels/wheels and one to five payoff lines.
In all of them the basic idea is the same, to line up particular symbols on the payout line. The less likely a combination is to occur, the greater the payoff.
The most basic slot machines require you to bet one coin (a fixed amount such as a dollar), they have only three reels, only one payout line, and pay a multiple of the bet coins value
(e.g. Three cherries on the payout line will result in a payout 300 times the bet coins value). The player inserts the coin and pulls a handle (or presses a button on the front panel) and waits for
the wheels to stop on the payout line to see if, and how much they have won (the payout symbols and payoff values are posted on the front of the machine). The more complex machines accept
more than one coin (up to five), can have up to five wheels, and many also have up to five payout lines (three across and two diagonal).
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