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Gaming Guru
Is the RNG Programmed to Wipe People Out?24 May 2004
Dear Irisanne, I'm glad you've been lucky at the Borgata. They get their slot machines from the major manufacturers: IGT, Bally, WMS Gaming, etc. The manufacturer of the machine programs it. I suspect the reason the Borgata has so many winners is because they have a lot of slot machines and those machines get a lot of play. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Dear John, The RNG generates numbers. Nothing more. Nothing less. It is not programmed to do anything but that. The computer running the slot uses numbers from the RNG to choose a symbol from the virtual reel and it lands that symbol on the payline. It's the layout of the symbols on the virtual reels that determines the payback of a machine. The RNGs in slot machines are fair. Fairness in this case is determined by various mathematical tests that are run against the numbers generated by the RNG. Before the RNG, comparisons were done in exactly the same way. A casino would compare the amount of money paid out by a machine with the amount of money played through it and compare that with the payback determined by the layout of the symbols on the slot's reels. Finally, every possible combination of cards or symbols is possible on a machine. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Dear Lucas, Thanks for the kind words about by column. There's not much to choose from at the north end of the strip and my feeling is that they're all pretty much the same because they have to offer good games to get people up to that area. Judging by the video poker offerings listed on Skip Hughes' site (www.vphomepage.com), I would rank the casinos in this order: Stratosphere, Sahara, Riviera. If you go a south a bit, I would put Circus Circus and Westward Ho in above Riviera. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Dear Bob, The statement does not apply to video poker machines. The statement deals with the difference between low hit frequency and high hit frequency slot machines. The number of times each symbol appears on the virtual reels determines the hit frequency of a slot machine. Every video poker machine deals from a fair deck and each card is equally likely to be drawn, so the hit frequency of video poker machines cannot be set in the same way. Nevertheless, different video poker paytables do have different hit frequencies. The hit frequencies are different because the paytables are different and you play hands differently depending on the paytable. You should never seek out machines that don't appear to be paying very much very often in order to wait for the big one. No machine is ever due. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Dear Dave, Slots that are based on Bingo are called Class II gaming devices. These machines put a slot-like face on what is essentially a Bingo drawing. Native American casinos need compacts with their states in order to have Las Vegas-style, Class III gaming devices. They don't need compacts to offer Class II devices. According to the slot manufacturers, the amount you win in bonus rounds in which you have a choice is not predetermined. That said, a recent correspondent gave some convincing evidence that in some jurisdictions, specifically Washington state, the amount may be predetermined. Best of luck in and out of the casinos, Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert, at slotexpert@comcast.net. Because of the volume of mail I receive, I regret that I can't send a reply to every question. Also be advised that it may take two or more months for your question to appear in my column. This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net. Recent Articles
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