Why do some slot machines seem ‘hotter’ than others?

No slot machine is ever ‘hot’, because wins and losses are determined randomly. Slot machines use a ‘random number generator’ to generate all outcomes. No machine is ever ‘due’ to win, or to pay according to any kind of pattern.

No player can predict the payout of a slot machine – every win is purely random.

What does that mean? A Random Number Generator (RNG)—or computer chip inside every machine—makes a thousand mathematical calculations per second to determine each outcome.

What happens when you touch ‘spin’? The screen’s outcome is set by the RNG, randomly locking a set of numbers that become associated with the symbols that appear on the machine’s screen.

Predicting a winning combination is impossible because no payout’s timing is pre-determined.

What ever happened to the old one-arm bandits that won with “three cherries”?

Back in the 1940s and early 1950s, slots were purely mechanical. They had gears and springs and were physically powered by the person pulling the handle to start the reels spinning. These machines usually accepted a single coin and offered limited jackpots because the coins paid out had to physically fit inside the machine.

By the 1960s, slots were evolving into electromechanical machines. You still had your handle on the outside, but pulling it activated a motor to spin the wheels.

Not until the 1980s were computer-controlled slot machines introduced into casinos. Suddenly, everything was determined by a digital chip. Progressive jackpots could be linked across many machines. Instead of trying to line up 3 cherries, the new generation of slot machines gave players a much higher ‘action’ factor.

Today, slot technology offers multiple pay lines, progressive jackpots, ‘second-feature’ bonus rounds, stereo sound, full animation and more. Coin payouts seldom happen anymore—computerized payout slips are the rule, not the exception—though the machine may well mimic the sound of coins cascading upon a win.

You never know what the next play will bring, but the result will be purely luck.

The best advice is to play the machine that you enjoy playing the most that fits with your budget.