Casino Slot Machines - How They Work

Lovingly referred to as the ?one armed bandit,? casino slot machines are one of the oldest and simplest forms of gambling that the world has ever known. Their nick names refer specifically to the way that they are structured, with a slot for feeding in coins, which buy you one (or several) pulls of the arm or lever on the side of the machine. The lever then spins the wheels in side, and you hope that they line up in just such a way that you win the jackpot, or at least a few more spins for free.

If you?ve ever wondered what?s really going on behind the scenes with casino slot machines, it?s important to point out that these days almost every slot machine is electronic, meaning that it is actually controlled by a computer, not just the random pull of the arm. This makes the machines more efficient for the millions of gamblers that like to play on them, as well as making them easier to control and repair for the casinos that own them. Just because the machines now are electronic, it doesn?t mean that it is impossible to win on them, you just have to know what you?re doing.

Old fashioned casino slot machines featured a series of three, independently rotating wheels with a series of pictures or symbols printed on them that could be seen in the machines window. When a gambler inserted his or her coin, the arm would become free and it would be pulled to start the wheels spinning. Gamblers would hope that all three wheels would stop spinning with the same picture or symbol displayed in the window, triggering the winning jackpot and dispensing coins to the winner. Although today?s electronic slots often look the same as these early models, less of the wheels rotation is left up to chance.

When you pull the lever on today?s electronic casino slot machines, you trigger a selection of symbol combinations that are dictated by a computer chip inside the machine, using burst of electricity. The computer chip inside the slot machine is programmed with predetermined stopping points so that the casino can carefully choose what the odds of winning are. Whether or not your pull will result in a win or a loss is determined by another artificial source, the random number generator, which works with the wheels? electronic motors to make sure you only win when you?re supposed to.