Myths, Superstitions and Slots

With Halloween upon us we decided to take a look at the myths and superstitions that arise when it comes to slot machines. Whether you are a firm believer or a skeptic we hope to give you some food for thought.

Many slot players believe that certain things they do help their chances of winning on the slots. If you have ever been to a casino you will remember the people who seem to be doing all sorts of odd things like warming coins or rubbing the screen.

Only playing on certain days is one which we hear about more often than not. It seems that every second slot player we run into claims that today is the best day to play. Ever heard the player next to you say "This is my lucky hat..." or "I always win in this shirt...", the slots are almost mystical machines to some.

Myths relating to slot machines also abound. In this article we will dispel several of the most common slot myths which should hopefully help in your understanding of the modern day slot machine.

Section 1 - Common Slot Machine Myths

That machine just paid out, it won't pay out again any time soon ...

A slot machine that just paid the jackpot will not pay the jackpot again any time soon. This is totally false. Every spin on a slot machine is random and is not affected by the last spin. While it is highly unlikely, it is still possible to hit two jackpots two spins in a row.

As soon as I stopped playing, someone came along and hit the jackpot ...

If you have ever left a slot machine only to see someone come along, put three coins in and hit the jackpot you may have thought to yourself that they won your jackpot. This is false, you would have had to hit the spin button at EXACTLY the same time as they did down to the millisecond.

So even if you have had played all day on that same machine it is quite possible that you would have never seen the jackpot come up.

It is harder to win on 5 reels slots simply because there are more reels ...

This is untrue, the amount of reels do not effect your chances of winning in any way. In fact many 5 reel slots have a much higher hit frequency than classic slots because there are more winning combinations. A three reel slot with a 98% payout and a 5 reel slot with a 98% pay out will pay out the same amounts over time.

Section 2 - Slot Machine Superstitions

Is Today Your Lucky Day?

We got in touch with Slotland, one of the most popular online casinos for slot players due to their unique games and top notch customer service and asked for a list of jackpots and the day they were hit. We figured that if you are going to be superstitious then at least you should have some facts to help you along.

We tallied the results and now have for you the best and the worst day to play based on the historical jackpot results. Now, you could look at this three ways. Either the day with the most jackpots is better, the day with the least or as the reality of randomness suggests the day has no effect on the jackpot.

Of course this information has absolutely no relation to the day the next jackpot will be hit we thought that it would be interesting to take a look anyway.

The Most Jackpots Were Won On ...

This is where you find out if in fact your superstitions were correct. If you picked Tuesday as the best day to play you were right. More jackpots have been won at Slotland on Tuesdays than any other day. Tuesday is closely followed by Thursday and Saturday which tied for second place.

Monday and Wednesday came in third for the most jackpots won and surprisingly Sunday and Friday were the days when the least amounts of jackpots were won.

Conclusions

Regardless of your superstitions there is one constant FACT. There is absolutely nothing that you can do to change your chances of winning on the slots. All slots use random number generators which cannot be effected by anything you do.

However there are two things that will keep you playing longer and they are a sound money management strategy and comps. Leaning to manage your money properly will give you a better chance of at least breaking even on the slots.

Next weeks article will cover money management strategies for the online slot player. Until then, Happy Spinning and Good Luck ...