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Will the Machine “Warn” You of a Jackpot?

So many questions aimed at the editors of gambling magazines and websites have to do with jackpots, and the mechanics involved in hitting it big. Slot machine players are a superstitious bunch, and nothing gets a group of them going faster and more predictably than the topic of what, exactly, makes a slot game trigger a big prize. That one is closely followed by the question of whether one can time the big prize or somehow intervene in the process of getting a machine to make you a winner!

It’s an unfortunate fact that none of these myths are true, and, despite the hopes of many thousands of frustrated slots players, there is NO WAY to tell when a machine is ripe for a fat jackpot – much less to guarantee that you will be the one to score it! First of all, there is no way to tell whether a machine is “hot” or “cold,” besides just playing it. A device (whether an online slot machine or one in a casino) will not flash, or click, or give any other exterior indication that it is ready to surrender a big win. In fact, if you should happen to note any such irregularities in your game, you might want to switch to another and notify an attendant… it might be broken!

Nor do the reels have to be in a certain position to align on the next spin in the combination for a jackpot. Whether you knew it or not, the combination displayed on the screen of your slot is just for show. A random number generator buried deep in the body of the machine spits out a random number per spin, which corresponds to win or lose. The display is an afterthought of the machine’s “intelligence,” simply designed to let you know the outcome.

Back to September 2008 Archive.