Myths vs. Reality Slot Tutorials

Can Slot Machine Stats Help Indicate When a Machine is Due to Pay?

Slot machine hold vs. the WATP setting
Written by Joshua

Some players believe you can check the public slot stat screens, and when bonuses have been low, or big line hits haven’t hit lately, the game is worth taking a shot, since it’s probably due to provide a big win or bonus.

STATUS: Slot machines have no memory when it comes to deciding the next spin, so the odds are no different than any previous or future spin.

Over the years, slot manufacturers have occasionally made slot machine statistics available to view from the main screen. One of the most prominent is the WMS G+ Deluxe line of cabinets, which many times will provide some basic information around the recent performance of the slot.

These numbers may include the biggest wins of the last 24 hours, big wins, recent bonus wins, and so on. Some players will check this and will play machines that have low recent bonuses or big wins, as they believe that the game will somehow have to make up for it with big win bonuses and line hits in the near future.

The reality is that because of the RNG (or PRNG, as recently discussed here), each outcome has no connection to the previous one. So the previous bonuses don’t mean the next one has to be bigger, or will be bigger. Law of averages will smooth it out over time, but the only thing you can know is that over millions of spins, the game will have some number of big wins as it’s designed to do so periodically.

So those stat screens, while interesting in just showing how the machine’s played recently, won’t tell you how your session (or any future session) will go. It’s just another form of entertainment around the slot.

If you happen to see the screen that has things like WATP or RTP, on the other hand, that is at least a bit more helpful in giving you information about the game. But those are never publicly visible – you’d have to get lucky and catch it when a slot is being adjusted or reset.

About the author

Joshua

My name is Joshua, and I’m a slot enthusiast who works in tech as a marketer by day, and dabbles in casinos periodically during off-times. Know Your Slots will reflect my interests in understanding the various ways you can play slots, travel, casino promotions and how you can get the most out of your casino visits.

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