Ask the Slot Expert: Distracted slot playing

Question: Whenever we go to the casino, usually in Atlantic City, I notice groups of Asian slot players just banging on the machines, not even giving a second pause in between hits. In fact, they don’t even watch the machine; they stare at other things or other people.

Does playing a machine this way increase your chances of winning? Have you ever seen this? Why do they do this?

Answer: No. Yes. Dunno.

Playing quickly does not increase or decrease your chances of winning. The results of a spin are determined by numbers from the Random Number Generator and it doesn't care how quickly you play. Once the spin results are displayed and the Spin button is enabled, the machine is ready to take your money again -- er, give you another shot at the jackpot. The machine doesn't care whether you press the Spin button right away or take a breather while you take a sip of your drink or chat up the cocktail waitress.

A friend of mine told me that he uses all of his senses when he does something to get the full experience. When he rides a roller coaster, for instance, he puts his arms up and screams as the car plummets down. He's completely involved with what is happening, not like the players you saw.

I can't say that I've ever seen players just banging away on a slot machine, but I have seen it on video poker. I have seen players pounce on the machine to choose their discards and to start a new hand. It's like they're playing in a video poker tournament and trying to get in as many hands as possible.

I have seen slot players seem to be somewhere else while playing. There was this one older fellow I used to see at the Desert Inn often. (Older than me at the time. Now I'm probably about the same age as he was.) He used to sit at a Double Diamond machine with his chair turned about 45 degrees counter clockwise. He hit the Spin button with his right hand. He held his drink in his left hand.

He rarely looked at the machine. I guess he could tell whether there was anything worth seeing by the sounds the machines made. He played for hours this way, looking somewhere else.

I have to admit that I sometimes get distracted while playing a slot machine and I may pay more attention to something interesting -- like a handpay or shouting or even some people chatting -- near me and only glance at the machine to see how the spin ended.

So, distracted playing? Seen it. Rapid playing? Yes. Rapid distracted playing? I don't think so.

The only theory I have about why they're not watching the machine is that they are bored. I have more ideas about their rapid playing.

Maybe they're trying to earn enough points for a comp or to qualify for a tier in the slot club. And maybe they don't want to spend a lot of time doing it. Finally, maybe they're practicing for a slot tournament, but banging away on a slot machine on the slot floor is an expensive way to practice.

The only times I've played that rapidly were when I was competing in a slot tournament. Well, not quite only. Once I played rapidly on a machine on the slot floor.

A long time ago, the Tropicana (TropWorld, then) in Atlantic City had a group of machines that were linked into a sort-of ad hoc tournament. As I recall, you would start a timer on your machine and then play like mad. Your score was whatever you had won when your five minutes (or whatever it was) ran out.

At the end of the day, or whatever the tournament time period was, the top scorers won free play or something.

There were two key differences between this "tournament" and a usual tournament. First, you had to bet real money. Second, the machines had normal slot floor payback programs, not the goosed programs that they use in a tournament.

I pretty quickly bailed on the promotion. I realized it could get very expensive. My chances of getting the prize, in addition, were not that good. And the prizes weren't all the good too. The risk was too big; the reward was too small. The risk/reward ratio was too high.

If you would like to see more non-smoking areas on slot floors in Las Vegas, please sign my petition on change.org.

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