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Your Weekly Dose of Superstition

Chicago radio host John Grochowski’s recently explored yet another slot machine myth. Grochowski is the much-respected host of “Beat the Odds Tips,” a gambling show that airs three times a day Saturdays and Sundays on the WBBM-AM station. Grochowski has authored several books about slots and gambling and also writes a monthly, syndicated column.

Grochowski’s September column marveled at the irony of two concerned slot players sending him mail complaining of their favorite slot games being “fixed” – in two completely opposite directions! Slot players are a relentlessly superstitious bunch, so this isn’t really surprising. One player groused that casinos rigged the one-armed bandits to pay out the most during the day, when the “idle rich” (who don’t have jobs out of necessity) can take the time to play. Because rich folks stand to bring in a lot of money to a gambling establishment, this reader INSISTED that the logic held.

The same mailbag held a letter from a geriatric slot fan complaining that the machines ALWAYS hit at night – when the young folks came out to hit the clubs and have fun. This person groused that the casinos were biased against the elderly.

Grochowski confirmed that neither of these could be true, because gambling establishments are not permitted to change the payout percentages of a slot machine at whim. In fact, the computer chip controlling the statistical outcomes of a slot game can only be changed out in the presence of a member of the state gambling commission, who then seals the chip with security tape to prevent tampering. It’s a complicated process, so the odds that casinos are going through it on a daily basis are pretty much nil.

Back to September 2008 Archive.