Most modern slot machines are designed to look and feel like the old mechanical models, but they work on a completely different principle. The outcome of each pull is actually controlled by a central computer inside the machine, not by the motion of the reels.
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The computer uses step motors to turn each reel and stop it at the predetermined point. Step motors are driven by short digital pulses of electricity controlled by the computer, rather than the fluctuating electrical current that drives an ordinary electric motor. These pulses move the motor a set increment, or step, with great precision (see Introduction To Step Motor Systems to find out more).
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But even though the computer tells the reels where to stop, the games are not pre-programmed to pay out at a certain time. A random number generator at the heart of the computer ensures that each pull has an equal shot at hitting the jackpot.
Whenever the slot machine is turned on, the random number generator is spitting out whole numbers (typically between 1 and several billion) hundreds of times a second. The instant you pull the arm back (or press the button), the computer records the next few numbers from the random number generator. Then it feeds these numbers through a simple program to determine where the reels should stop.
Here's how the complete process plays out in a typical three-reel machine.
- You pull the handle, and the computer records the next three numbers from the random number generator. The first number is used to determine the position of the first reel, the second number is used for the second reel and the third number is used for the third reel. For this example, let's say the first number is 123,456,789.
- To determine the position of the first reel, the computer divides the first random number by a set value. Typically, slot machines divide by 32, 64,128, 256 or 512. In this example, we'll say the computer divides by 64.
- When the computer divides the random number by the set value, it records the remainder of the quotient. In our example, it finds that 64 goes into 123,456,789 a total of 1,929,012 times with a remainder of 21.
- Obviously, the remainder can't be more than 64 or less than 0, so there are only 64 possible end results of this calculation. The 64 possible values act as stops on a large virtual reel.
- Each of the 64 stops on the virtual reel corresponds to one of the 22 stops on the actual reel. The computer consults a table that tells it how far to move the actual reel for a particular value on the virtual reel. Since there are far more virtual stops than actual stops, some of the actual stops will be linked to more than one virtual stop.
Computer systems have made slot machines a lot more adaptable. For example, players can now bet money straight from a credit account, rather than dropping coins in for every pull. Players can also keep track of their wins and losses more easily, as can the casinos. The operation is also simpler in modern machines -- if they want to, players can simply press a button to play a game, rather than pull the handle.
One of the main advantages of the computer system for machine manufacturers is that they can easily configure how often the machine pays out (how loose or tight it is). In the next section, we'll see how the computer program can be configured to change the slot machine's odds of hitting the jackpot.
By John Robison
One of the questions I'm asked most often is - 'how is it possible for a slot machine to be a random device and for a machine to also pay back a certain percentage of the money played through it?' If the results are truly random, people argue, then the payback should be random too.
Despite the fact that this governor function does not exist and in all jurisdictions whose regulations I’m familiar with, it is possible for the results on slot machines to be determined at random and for machines to have specific payback percentages.
It’s difficult to reconcile the fact that results on slot machines are random and for us to be able to know what will happen overall on a machine. Let me illustrate how this is possible with my RWB Ping Pong Ball Game.
Suppose I have a basket that contains 100 ping pong balls. Eighty ping pong balls are white, 15 are blue, and five are red. You draw a ball at random from the basket. There’s a cover on the basket, so you can’t tell what color ball you’re drawing. Also, you can’t tell the balls apart, so you’re no more likely to draw one ball over any other. After you draw the ball, you record the color and put the ball back in the basket.
As you repeat this action, you will find that the percentage of draws that were red balls gets closer and closer to 80%, the percentage of draws that were blue balls gets closer and closer to 15%, and the percentage of draws that were red balls gets closer and closer to 5%.
We know that this will happen because you draw the balls at random and each ball is equally likely to be drawn by you. But it is not equally likely that you will draw any particular color. Eighty percent of the balls are white, so we expect 80% of your draws to be white. Similarly for the blue and red balls.
Even though you drew the balls completely at random, the distribution of colors you recorded will match the distribution of colors in the total population of ping pong balls in the basket. Random does not mean that everything is completely unpredictable and unknowable.
Now let’s make the game more interesting. You have to pay me $1 each time you want to draw. When you draw a white ball, I keep the dollar. When you draw a blue ball, I return your dollar. And when you draw a red ball, I pay you $16. A nice payoff for drawing the red ball.
Looking at this game from my perspective, I have a 15% chance of paying you $1 and a 5% chance of paying you $16. Calculating this out, we have 0.15(1) + 0.05(16) = 0.15 + 0.80 = 0.95. On the average, then, for every $1 you give me to play, I will return 95 cents to you.
The RWB Ping Pong Ball Game is just like a 95% payback slot machine. Even though the outcomes in both games are chosen completely at random, each pays back 95% of the money played in the long run.
A slot machine works very much like the RWB Ping Pong Ball Game. Conceptually, there is a basket of ping pong balls for each reel. But instead of having different colors on the balls, these balls have symbols representing the different symbols on the reels on them. Some symbols appear on more balls than other symbols.
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Let’s set up a basket of ping pong balls for a reel from a real Double Diamond slot machine. Even though there are 22 symbols and blanks on the reel, our basket will have 72 ping pong balls in it. Having more balls in the basket than we have stops on the reel allows us to alter the probability of landing any particular symbol on the payline from what it appears to be from counting the number of times it appears on the reel and dividing by 22.
The reel has 11 blanks on it, but I’m going to put 31 blank ping pong balls in the basket. Half the stops on the physical reel are blanks, but slightly less than half the ping pong balls are blank, so it’s actually a little less likely than it appears for a blank to land on the payline on this reel. There’s only one cherry on the reel, but I’m going to put two ping pong balls with cherries in the basket.
All of the other symbols – single bar, double bars, triple bars, 7, and Double Diamond – appear twice on the reel, but the number of ping pong balls with each symbol in the basket is 25, 4, 6, 2, and 2, respectively. We need about 6.5 ping pong balls with each of these symbols in the basket to have the probability of drawing a ping pong ball carrying the symbol be the same as what appears to be the probability of having the symbol land on the payline from looking at the reel, so you can see how different the true probabilities are from what the reel makes you think they are.
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Just as with the RWB Ping Pong Ball Game, the more you play this Double Diamond machine, the closer the distribution of symbols landing on the payline will get to the distribution of ping pong balls with each symbol in the basket.
Even though it sounds like random should mean completely unpredictable, the only thing we can't predict is what color ping pong ball you'll draw next or what symbols will appear on the payline next. Because we know the distribution of ping pong balls in our basket and the casino knows the distribution of symbols on the slot machine's reels, we can predict -- no, more than predict, we can calculate with near certainty -- how much my game and how much a slot machine will pay back in the long run.
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The only reason we can't be dead certain of how much a machine will actually pay back is because the outcome of each game is truly chosen at random and there is no function forcing the payback to a particular number. But given enough draws or spins, my RWB Ping Pong Ball game and a 95% payback slot machine will both pay back very, very, very close to 95%.
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To sum up, there's no attempt in the programming of a machine to force it to a particular payback percentage. There’s no need to. Random sampling from a known population takes care of it automatically.
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Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert™, at slotexpert@slotexpert.com.
Because of the volume of mail he receives, John regrets that he can't reply to every question.