Everyone who’s ever played roulette, either online or in a real casino, has probably wondered whether or not roulette games are rigged. The answer to this question is more complicated than a simple yes or no, because in one sense, roulette wheels are almost never rigged. But in another sense, all roulette wheels are rigged. Jun 23, 2018 Evolution are clever. Sure they're corrupt, but they're clever too. They manipulate the ball to avoid it hitting the most profitable numbers. This probably is meant to help things look less.
One of the most common questions you’ll see about anything in the casino gambling industry relates to “honesty”. You’ll see this question asked about every casino game under the sun. You’ll also see it asked about every casino, especially the online gambling sites.
In this post, I want to address this specific question:
Are slot machines honest?
How Do You Define Honest?
When I use Google to look for a definition of honesty, I see some of the following definitions listed:
- “Free of deceit and untruthfulness”
- “Sincere”
- “Morally correct or virtuous”
- “Fairly earned, through hard work”
I think most people are thinking of the first definition when they ask whether slots games are honest. They want to make sure they’re not being cheated. In this context, the answer is yes, slot machines are honest. I’ll explain why in detail in the rest of this post.
In the second context, where “honest” means “sincere”—I’m less sure. Are the casinos sincere when they want you to think you’re able to win money? I think so, but they know in the long run, anyone who plays slots long enough will lose all their money.
In the third and fourth contexts, I’d have to say that slot machines are NOT honest. Slot machines are closer to morally neutral than they are to sinful, but you might have a different belief system about such things. It’s hard to say that slots don’t appeal to one of the seven deadly sins, though (greed).
I’m not sure anyone could (or would) consider money won on a slot machine “earned” or to have anything to do with “hard work”. It’s a game of luck. If you win, then you got lucky—it has nothing to do with working hard or being smart.
I’ll explain more about that later in this post, too.
How a Slot Machine Works Mathematically
Answering the question “are slot machines honest?” begins with learning how the games work mathematically. The math behind the games is easier to understand than most people probably think.
The first concept to understand is basic probability. When someone says “probability”, they’re talking about the mathematical likelihood that something is going to happen. That “something” is called an event.
The probability of an event is always represented as a number between 0 and 1. An event that will always occur no matter what has a probability of 1. An event that will never occur has a probability of 0. An event that will occur half the time has a probability of 0.5.
For simplicity’s sake, and to make understanding the concept easier, I just used whole numbers and decimals in the previous paragraph. But probabilities are almost always expressed as percentages or fractions.
How to Express Probability as a Percentage
You’re watching the evening news, and the meteorologist says there’s a 50% chance of rain tomorrow.
That means it’s just about as likely to rain as it is to not rain.
Here’s another example:
You flip a coin. You have a 50% chance of it landing on heads. You also have a 50% chance of it landing on tails.
If you add the probabilities of all possible events together, you always get a total of 1 (or 100%).
Probability is the mathematical engine that makes gambling games possible.
How to Calculate a Probability
Here’s how you calculate a probability:
You take the number of ways an event can happen. You divide that by all the total events possible (including what can happen and what happens if it doesn’t.)
You’re rolling a single six-sided die. You want to know the probability of getting a 6.
There are 6 possible outcomes. Only one of them is a 6.
The probability of getting a 6 is 1/6.
Another way to express that is using odds, which can be useful when calculating whether a bet is expected to be mathematically profitable or not.
Odds expresses the number of ways something can’t happen versus the number of ways it can happen.
In the six-sided die example, the odds of getting a 6 are 5 to 1. You have 5 ways of NOT rolling a 1, and only 1 way of rolling a 1.
If you want to calculate a probability that includes the word “or”, you add the probabilities of the events together.
If you want to calculate a probability that includes the word “and”, you multiply the probabilities by each other.
You want to know the probability of getting a 1 or a 2 on a roll of a six-sided die. The probability of each is 1/6.
1/6 + 1/6 = 2/6
You can reduce that to 1/3.
Here’s another example:
You roll 2 dice. You want to know the probability of getting a 6 on both dice. The probability of each is 1/6.
1/6 X 1/6 = 1/36
Applying Probability to a Simple Hypothetical Slot Machine Game
But how does all this apply to the honesty of slot machines?
I’ll use a super simple hypothetical slot machine game to explain how this probability affects the integrity of the game.
This super simple game has 3 symbols on each reel—an orange, a lemon, and a cherry.
The probability of getting a lemon on the first reel is 1/3.
The probability of getting a lemon on the second reel is also 1/3.
In fact, it’s the same on each reel.
But the game only pays off if you get 3 of the same symbol on each reel.
The probability of that is 1/3 X 1/3 X 1/3, or 1/9.
Let’s suppose the payoff for getting 3 lemons is 4 for 1.
And let’s suppose the payoff for getting 3 cherries is 3 for 1.
Finally, we’ll suppose the payoff for getting 3 oranges is even money.
- The probability of winning 4 coins is 1/9.
- The probability of winning 3 coins is also 1/9.
- The probability of winning 1 coin is also 1/9.
- The probability of winning nothing is 6/9, or 2/3.
Now let’s suppose you’re putting $1 in on every spin, and you play 9 spins, getting every possible result once.
You win 4 coins once. You win 3 coins once. You win 1 coin once. That’s a total of 8 coins you’ve won.
But you’ve inserted 9 coins into the game.
Where did the extra coin go?
In the pockets of the casino, that’s where.
By setting up the payoffs so that they’re lower than the odds of winning, the casino sets up a situation where it’s guaranteed a mathematical profit over the long run.
Of course, most modern slot machines aren’t quite this simple. They have more symbols on each reel, for one thing. For another, the probability of getting a particular symbol might be different from the probability of getting another symbol.
For example, you might have a 2/3 probability of getting a pear, and only a 1/24 probability of getting a cherry.
What Happens in the Long Run vs. the Short Term?
By manipulating the payoffs and the probabilities of the symbols, the casino can guarantee that over a long period and many spins, they’ll profit.
But in the short run, a player might win a big jackpot or lose several times in a row.
That’s the nature of random events. In the short run, anything can happen. In the long run, the numbers get closer to the theoretical probability.
This is obvious when you look at it with an extreme example.
On an infinite number of spins, your average loss per spin will mirror the mathematical expectation.
The closer you get to an infinite number of spins, the closer you’ll get to the mathematical expectation.
Do Slot Machines Cheat?
The casinos don’t need to cheat to make a healthy profit.
The slot machine designers and manufacturers don’t need to cheat to make a healthy profit.
In fact, in well-regulated jurisdictions (like Nevada), games are thoroughly audited for fairness. When they’re auditing a game for fairness, one of the things they check is whether a game has a jackpot that’s impossible to win.
That’s the main concern many players have when they ask if slot machines cheat.
Does the game have jackpots that are impossible to win?
The short answer in almost every case is no, they don’t.
But you have no way of knowing what the probability of winning that jackpot is. Slot machine games have opaque odds and probabilities. The results are generated by a computer program called a random number generator (RNG).
The only people who know the exact settings for that RNG are the designers and the casino managers.
In fact, you could be playing two identical slot machines located right next to each on the casino floor and have different odds of winning. Not only is this legal, it’s common.
Does that sound like cheating?
By the strict letter of the law, it’s not.
Is it honest?
I’d say yes. Having two games next to each other offering different odds is intentionally misleading. It’s legal, but it’s not sincere in any way.
Online slot machines are no different, except that in some cases, these games HAVE been known to cheat. But not reputable casinos and not reputable software providers.
How do they cheat?
They set up games which are impossible to win.
The reasons baffle me. You stand to make far more money in the long run if you offer an honest game.
Even an idiot can tell after a while that he’s never going to win a rigged casino game on the Internet.
But otherwise smart people will continue to deposit money and wager it at a breakneck pace if they’re winning something every now and then, even if they’re showing a net loss over time.
That’s how gambling works.
What About Video Poker Games?
You need to understand immediately that video poker games are NOT the same thing as slot machine games. They look similar on the surface, but the math and the gameplay couldn’t be more different. And the philosophy behind these games is different, too.
Here’s why:
A video poker machine uses a random number generator that duplicates the odds found in a 52-card deck of cards. You know the probability of getting a specific symbol. Any specific card has a 1/52 probability of appearing.
A card of a specific suit has a ¼ probability of appearing. A card of a specific rank has a 1/13 probability of appearing.
Payback Percentages and the House Edge
Knowing this enables mathematicians and computer programs to calculate the actual payback percentage for these games.
What’s a payback percentage?
It’s the percentage of each bet that’s paid back to the player on average in the long run. It’s the opposite of the house edge.
On a slot machine, you have no way of calculating a game’s payback percentage. It’s impossible, because you have no way of knowing the probability of getting a specific symbol.
But on a video poker game, you can calculate all the possibilities. And since you know how much the game pays out for various combinations, you can add the expected value of each to get an overall payback percentage for the game.
And you know what’s even better than this?
The payback percentages for video poker games are significantly higher than the payback percentages on slot machines in almost every case.
Even the worst video poker game usually has a payback percentage of 95% or so. But the better games offer payback percentages in the 98%+ range. Some (rare) games have pay tables which offer a slightly positive game for the player, like 100.2%. But those numbers assume perfect strategy on your part.
But even the best slot machine games usually have a payback percentage in the 95% range. The more common games slip down into the lower 92% or so range.
Expected Hourly Loss Rates in Slot Machine Games vs. Video Poker Games
What does this mean to your bankroll?
Let’s look at how much money you can mathematically expect to lose playing 2 different games:
We’ll start with an average slot machine game with a 94% payback percentage. You’re playing for $1 per spin, and you’re making 600 spins per hour. You expect to win 94% of each bet back, which means you expect to lose 6% of each bet.
6% of $600 is $36, which is the amount the casino expects you to lose on this game on average over time.
Then we’ll consider a 9/6 Jacks or Better game which you’re playing with perfect strategy. The payback percentage for this game is 99.54%, which means the house edge is 0.46%.
We’ll assume you’re playing a quarter machine and betting 5 coins per hand. You’re putting a little more money into action on each bet–$1.25. Most video poker players are as fast as slot machine players; they play 600 hands per hour. That’s $750/hour in action.
But with a house edge of 0.54%, your expected loss on that kind of action is only $3.77.
That’s right.
Playing slots costs you 10 times as much as playing video poker.
Video poker offers other advantages over slots, too. One of these is the skill element. You might not want to think about what you’re doing when you’re gambling.
But if you’re anything like me, you want to be able to at least exert a little bit of control over your destiny.
In video poker, you get to do that. The decisions you make playing each hand have a direct effect on your bottom line.
Play your hands well, and you’ll be playing one of the best gambling games in the house.
Should You Play Slot Machines at All?
This is a legitimate question. Should you play slot machines at all?
Here are some pros and cons of playing slots:
Pros:
- You can win bigger jackpots on slot machine games than any other gambling game except maybe keno. If you’re looking for a life-changing jackpot, like you’d see if you won a lotto drawing, slots are the way to go.
- They require little in the way of attention or effort on the part of the player. This suits some temperaments just fine. Relaxing in front of the spinning reels seems like a good deal for a lot of people.
- They’re available in an endless variety. You can find a slot machine game with any theme you can imagine. Love Elvis Presley? You’ll find a slot machine for it. Play Dungeons & Dragons when you were 12? There’s a slot for that, too. The themes and games are almost endless.
Cons:
- They offer some of the worst odds in the house. The house edge for slot machines vary widely. Some of them might offer good odds, but most of them have a house edge of between 5% and 10%. This isn’t awful. After all, roulette has a house edge of 5.26%. The problem is that slots play so fast that you can easily put more money into an action than you thought you could.
- You can’t figure out what the odds are. I have a philosophical problem with slot machine games. No other casino game is opaque about your odds. You can calculate the house edge for any table game in the casino. You can calculate it for video poker, too. But you’re never given the information you need to figure out the house edge on a slot machine. This is unacceptable to me.
- They’re designed to be addictive. Slot machine manufacturers spend millions doing research into what kinds of stimuli are going to put most people into the “flow” state. Flow is great if you’re interested in personal productivity at work, but if you’re playing a gambling game, it’s awful. No other casino game is as addictive as a slot machine.
Conclusion
Yes, slot machines are honest—in a manner of speaking, anyway. Casinos don’t make claims about slot machines that are blatantly untrue. If a game has a maximum jackpot of $1 million, you do have a chance of winning that much money.
What you don’t know is how likely or unlikely it is to win that amount.
Is this disingenuous on the part of the casinos?
I think it is, at least to some extent.
But all casino games have math behind them that puts the odds in the casino’s favor. That’s just the nature of the games. Slots are no different in that respect.
No matter which casino game you play, if you stick with it long enough, you’ll eventually lose all your money.
The only exceptions are certain games that can be played with advantage techniques, but that’s another subject entirely.
The only way for you to get an edge against a slot machine game is to cheat.
In most jurisdictions, cheating is blatantly illegal. You’re better off learning to play poker at an expert level, or learning how to count cards in blackjack.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Roulette Machines Rigged
Everyone who’s ever played roulette, either online or in a real casino, has probably wondered whether or not roulette games are rigged. The answer to this question is more complicated than a simple yes or no, because in one sense, roulette wheels are almost never rigged. But in another sense, all roulette wheels are rigged.
Can Slot Machines Be Rigged
The difference is based on what you considered rigged.
Can Casinos Control Where the Ball Lands?
In any legitimate or licensed casino, the wheels are checked to make sure they’re balanced correctly on a regular basis. This is done for the protection of the players, but it’s also in the best interest of the casinos. Rigged games are a sure way to get a bad reputation and lose customers.
This type of checking goes on at Internet casinos, too. But most Internet gambling venues use a random number generator program instead of an actual roulette wheel. (Live dealer casinos are an exception.) Online casinos rely on a reputation for fairness even more than land-based casinos do. People are already comfortable with playing casino games in places like Las Vegas, but they’re still nervous about playing online.
In either case, casinos have no real incentive to physically rig their roulette games. That’s because the math behind the game, in a sense, has already rigged the game in the casino’s favor.
The House Edge in Roulette Could Be Considered “Rigged”
All casino games provide the casino with a mathematical edge over the player. They don’t do this by rigging roulette wheels to have certain numbers come up more often than others. They don’t rig their blackjack decks or use loaded dice in craps, either. They just offer payouts on their bets that offer lower odds than the odds of winning.
Mathematically, over the long run, on almost every casino game, the casino is guaranteed to win a certain percentage of every bet. This percentage is called the house edge. Here’s how it works in roulette.
A standard American roulette wheel has 38 numbers on it. There’s a 0, a 00, and the numbers 1-36. Your chances of landing on any one of those numbers is 1 in 38, or 37 to 1. If you bet on a single number, then you win 35 to 1. The difference between your 37 to 1 chance of winning a 35 to 1 payout is the house edge.
Suppose you made 38 bets on a single number, and suppose you saw mathematically perfect results. You’d win one bet and lose 37 bets, right? On each of those bets you lost, you’d lose one unit, so you’d be down 37 units. On the one bet that you won, you’d be up 35 units, for a net loss of 2 units.
Does that mean the game is rigged? In a sense, yes. Mathematically, the game is unbeatable in the long run. Of course, in the short term, people can and do win at roulette, which is what keeps people coming back.
What about the Other Bets?
All of the gets on a roulette table exhibit this same phenomenon. Take the other end of the game, where you bet on red or black and get an even money payout. Suppose you bet red for 38 spins a row. Again, this is a mathematically perfect simulation, so you land on every single slot once.
You’ll hit red 18 times, black 18 times, and green twice. You’ll lose 20 bets and win 18 bets. Since you’re being paid off at even money on the 18 bets you won, you’ll be up 18 units, but when you subtract the 20 units you lost on the other bets, you’re down 2 units—just like you were down 2 units in the previous example.
The 0 and 00 are where the roulette table is “rigged”. The casino doesn’t have to have a button hidden on the croupier’s side of the table that controls the outcome. (You might have seen that in the movie Casablanca.) The casino makes plenty of profit over time on a roulette wheel.
The house edge is 5.26% on an American roulette wheel. If you owned a small casino with a single roulette table, and it had an average of 3 players playing 24 hours a day on it, you could predict (with a small degree of error based on variance) how much money that table would earn your business over time.
With 3 players at the table, you’ll probably see an average of 60 spins per hour on a roulette table. If those players are wagering an average of $10 per spin, you’re seeing $600 per hour per player in action, or $1800 per hour. After 24 hours, you’ll have seen $43,200 of action, of which the casino expects to win about $2272. (That’s 5.26% of $43,200.)
As you can see, the casino has no reason to rig the mechanical aspects of the game, because the math ensures their winnings over the long run.
What about Online Roulette Games? Are They Rigged?
No one can say for sure that no online roulette games are rigged. But most Internet casinos are licensed and regulated somewhere, which means their random number generators and software are audited. Since we’ve already demonstrated that the casino has a very profitable game already without rigging the results, it’s hard to imagine that a casino would bother to rig their roulette games.
Of more concern to an Internet gambler should be how quickly the casino pays out winnings. The Internet has way more horror stories about players who couldn’t get paid than it has about players who didn’t win or lose as often as they expected to mathematically.
The main point to remember is that all casino games are mathematically going to favor the house. That’s the nature of the game. If you play any negative expectation game long enough, you’ll eventually lose all of your money. That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun trying to win in the short run, though. In fact, that’s the whole point of casino gambling.
So play roulette without fear that the wheel or the ball are somehow rigged. They don’t need to be rigged for the casino to show a tremendous profit over time.