Are online slots are a scam? Are they rigged by the casinos to prevent real players from winning?
These are important and common questions and we’re hear the lay them to bed once and for all. Let’s kick things off by talking about if online casinos actually have the power to rig slot machines.
Can Slot Machines Be Rigged?
The best way to answer this question is to look at exactly how slot machines work. There are two crucial mechanics you need to be aware of: the Random Number Generator (RNG) and the return to player percentage (RTP).
Random Number Generators
Random Number GeneratorAn RNG is a complex piece of software especially designed and created to produce strings of entirely random numbers and these numbers then dictate what symbols are displayed on the slot machine.
What is important to recognise here is that the software ensures that all combinations displayed to players are random. That therefore means that there is no scope for a casino to control the result of a player’s specific spin.
Are they truly random?
When players learn of RNGs and hear that legitimate machines are indeed all entirely random, many players are more than a little sceptical as they are sure that casinos must do something to guarantee that they profit from slots.
The fact is, that the casinos certainly do have those kinds of guarantees but that it has nothing to do with ‘rigging’ the machine or cheating players.
RTP Percentages: The Casinos Edge
Return To Player PerecentagesOver the long term – and when we say long term we mean a life span of a machine which can encompass millions of spins – a casino or games provider can be certain that they will profit from the machine due to the ‘house edge’.
That ‘house edge’ is built into every slot by way of the payout or return to player (RTP) percentage of the machine.
That RTP percentage is programmed into each slots game by the software companies who make them and represents the amount paid out to players as compared with the total amount wagered on the game over an extended period of time.
How do RTP percentages work?
If an RTP percentage is 95% for example, then a machine will on average pay out 95% of what it takes in over its life time and the ‘house edge’ will be 5% – as that is what the casino or provider will take for themselves.
That combination of RNG and payout percentage therefore, is what ensures that casinos make a long term profit from slots games without the need to ‘rig’ the machines or to attempt to scam players.
The machines can – and do – payout to different players at different times after all, whilst still maintaining the overall ‘house edge’ over an extended period of time.
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