Nov 10, 2007 8:42 am US/Eastern
Gaming Officials Reveal The Secrets Of Slots
HARRISBURG (KDKA) ―
When you play the slots, how can you be sure you have as much of a shot of hitting the jackpot as the next person? And can you trust the casino operator is playing fair?
Before a slot machine ends up on a casino floor, it starts out at the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board laboratory in Harrisburg where experts test the machines to make sure games actually function as slot machines, which is all that's allowed in the state.
They also check to make sure the machines payback at least 85 percent of what they take in, according to state law. But players shouldn't think that means they'll get back 85 percent of what they gamble.
"A lot of people think well I played a thousand dollars I should at least have won back $900 because it's 90 percent payback," Michael Cruz, who works for the Gaming Control Board, said.
The payback is over the life of the machine and it's dictated by a computer chip placed inside it in the factory.
"That's probably the biggest myth in the casino that I have a magic button in my office that I can press on the weekends or holidays that can make them tighter or looser - that's an absolute myth," Michael Jankoviak, from the Meadows Casino, said.
Casino operators can change a machine's payback percentage, but it's a long process that requires permission from the Gaming Control Board to replace that computer chip.
But there are some things the Gaming Control Board doesn't control, such as where the casino operator positions the machines that pay out the most. They usually put them in places where the most patrons will see them.
And no one - not the casino operator, not the Gaming Control Board - controls when a machine will hit. Inside each machine is a random number generator constantly cycling through combinations even when no one is playing. To win, you have to hit it at the exact millisecond the winning combination comes up.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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