Do slot machines *almost win* by design, or did you really almost win?

Question

Like when two of the three big jackpot symbols come up on the paid line, and on the third reel, it's barely one position off....By design? Or did you really almost win?

Answer 1

On the ones I worked on, the reel stops were completely random.  But -- there was no "almost."  The machine knew where it was going to stop the reels before it started spinning the reels.  The stop positions were set by a hardware random number generator in one system, and by a Mersenne Twister software algorithm in another system.

Answer 2

You really almost won.  The older mechanical slot machines were built to produce pretty nearly random results.  The newer electronic machines produce similar results electronically. They are also adjusted to payout as much as 98% of the intake. For years, the thousands of slot machines in Las Vegas paid most of the bills.  2% of the millions of dollars stuffed into them was an incredible amount of money.  Slot machines are designed to be slow but sure money makers for the owner. The occasional winner ensures that the majority losers will continue to pay. The honest casino operators have no reason to rig the machines.  They generally are satisfied with the two or three percent profit each machine produces.  Slots are generally low maintenance and work 24/7.

If you are going to gamble, you need to understand that the house will always win in the long run.

Almost winning is losing.  The next pull is not influenced by the previous pull. While highly unlikely, a slot machine could make two super jackpot payouts in a row, and then not pay anything for a month.