I am watching Modern Marvels on the History channel.How slot machines are made and work.

They are showing how slot machines are made and how they operate on Modern Marvels.Please explain to me how this is possible.One minute they are explaining how all slot machines work by random number generators so there is know way to predict what is going to come out therefore no such thing as a hot or cold machine etc..etc... Then the next minute they explain that ,by law every machine is required to pay out atleast eighty cents for every dollar that goes into it and that most payout around ninety five cents for evey dollar taken in.Maybe I'm just tired and not computing this very well at the moment but aren't these pure contradictions to one another??
:think2:

I'm gonna be in Vegas from the 23rd to the 26th this month. Tell me the damn secrets!

Oh! I left out some very important info.They didn't just say that most pay out around ninety five cents for every dollar taken in..They said that the machines are SET to pay out these amounts.

oops ,double post..:toast:

It's all math taken over a HUGE number of spins - not just 1 spin.

Take ALL machines in play to get the average hold (vig).

The random number generator, say it picks numbers from 1-100.

#1 - 50 = no pay
#51 - 85 = pay 1 credit
#86 - 90 = pay 2 credits
#91- 94 = pay 3 credits
#95 - 97 = pay 5 credits
#98 - 99 = pay 10 credits
#100 = pay jackpot

Very, very simplified look but it gives you the idea.

In all reality that random # generator may generate #1 ~ #5 Million, and the only time Jackpot gets paid is when the # 5 Million is generated, which theoretically is done once every 5 million spins.

When calculated all in, the slots payback on average 95% of all the money they take in .... it's just that a large portion of that payback happens ONLY when the jackpot is hit - thus for the common guy who doesn't put in 5 million spins his actual payback is around 1%, or a vig of 99% to the casino.