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Ask the Slot Expert: 88 Fortunes and resetting progressives

30 May 2018

Question: I am one of those who wrote in previously having said that I was fortunate enough to hit the Grand Jackpot a total of three times playing 88 Fortunes. Twice at CasaBlanca Casino ($11k+ and $13k+) and once at Eureka Casino ($11k+), both casinos are located in Mesquite, Nevada.

I hit the jackpot on two occasions playing the minimum ($0.88) and once while playing $176.

I will also mention that the progressive resets almost immediately as I have hit the bonus almost simultaneously with a player sitting next to me. She selected the coins faster than I did thus hitting the Minor just seconds before I did. She was awarded $34.25 and I was awarded the reset of $25.

Answer: Congratulations on those big wins. That must have been really exciting to see the third Grand symbol revealed, especially if you already had two each for the other progressives.

Who picks faster should be irrelevant in deciding who gets the current progressive amount and who gets the reset amount. The person who gets the current progressive amount should be the person who entered the bonus round first, not necessarily the person who revealed three matching symbols first. The value of the progressive the lady won should have reset on your machine as soon as — well, a few milliseconds after — the RNG on the lady's machine chose that progressive.

Consider the situation if the value didn't reset until the match was revealed. You made your bet thinking you could win $34 for the Minor and then the value of that progressive and your expected value for that spin dropped and you didn't have the opportunity to decide not to bet.

Machines should not be able to change the values of winning combinations while a play is in progress. Allowing changes would be allowing bait and switch. The player makes a bet thinking that a particular combination will pay a certain amount. The casino can't change the payoff for that combination after the bet is made.

There might be exceptions for progressives, though, especially when the progressive isn't decided until after some player interaction. I haven't yet found anything in the regulations that deals with these situations. Players moreover understand that the first player who fulfills the requirements to win a progressive will win the progressive, even if a second player is in the middle of an interaction that also fulfills the requirements for the same progressive. It's FIFW - First In, First Wins.

I'm sure there are other machines that does this too, but another machine that takes a long time to reveal a won progressive is Quick Hit Riches Rising Free Games. When you are going to land enough Quick Hits to win one of the progressives, the machine puts on a dog-and-pony show on the screen before spinning and stopping the reels. Does the progressive amount change on the other machines when the show begins or does it change only after the reels have stopped and the win revealed? I'll see if I can watch some players play linked Quick Hit machines for a while without creeping them out.

Oh, and here's another instance when one player could be in the middle of a play when a progressive is won. Some casinos have a bank of machines with a progressive on the royal flush. Say two people are playing. If Player A is, for instance, taking a long time to decide if the progressive is high enough for a three-card royal to now be worth more than a high pair and Player B hits a royal while Player A is still thinking, does the progressive meter on Player A's machine change to the reset amount or does it display the old progressive amount until after Player A completes the hand? Please drop me a line if you've noticed the progressive value in your paytable change while you're in the middle of a hand.


John Robison

John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots
John Robison
John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots