Strictly Slots November 2022

READERS TALK BACK

The Magazine for Slot & Video Poker Players VOLUME 19 • NUMBER 9

P R E S I D E N T & C H I E F E X E C U T I V E O F F I C E R Derek James P U B L I S H E R & E D I T O R I A L D I R E C T O R Lisa Rober tson-Dziedzic

Hot Machine Hunting When my sister and I go to the casino, she in sists on walking all around first. I asked her what she’s looking for, and she says,“The hot machine.”On the way home,I asked again,and she insisted that was what she was looking for. How do you know a hot machine when you find it? —John S. Via the Internet She might be looking for favorite games, just getting the lay of the land and scouting where different games are, or maybe trying to spot games where others are winning. But there’s no way to tell a high-paying slot game from a low-payer. It’s different in video poker—where a glance at the pay tables will tell you the qual ity of the game. But on slots, two identical looking games can have different payback percentages, and looking at them won’t tell you which is the higher payer. RNG Revisited When playing slot machines with multiple coin denominations,does every game have its own random number generator? What about machines that have multiple games? Are there different generators for each game? Not necessarily, though the answer may vary from game system to game system and man ufacturer to manufacturer. The same RNG can drive results for different games and dif ferent payback percentages. The RNG does nothing but generate ran dom numbers.It doesn’t tell the reels where to stop, nor does it tell the game to launch a bonus event.That’s up to other portions of the programming. Numbers from the RNG are mapped onto possible outcomes. If the game designer needs more frequent bonus events in a higher-paying version of a game, it can use numbers that are mapped onto other sym bols in the low-paying game onto bonus sym bols in the high payer. If there’s a game that doesn’t have bonus events, numbers mapped onto bonus combinations in other games can be mapped onto other combinations in stead. In the casino world, RNGs are single purpose devices, adaptable to any number of games. —Anonymous Via the Internet

Attendants and Tips I love reading both your magazines; keep up the great work!There have been a lot of ques tions about slot attendants losing tips if Con gress votes to increase the reportable slot jackpot to $5,000. (Currently, the casino is re quired to issue aW-2G form for any slot win of $1,200 or more.) The casinos could keep the hand-pay limits the same on all the machines. If the jackpot is $1,200 or more, it would still be a hand pay, but when it’s over $5,000, then the casino must issue the player a W-2G. It is up to the jackpot winner to pay the taxes. Does this sound like a reasonable fix? —Rick Via the Internet It sounds like a very reasonable fix, Rick. It also sounds like something you shouldn’t hold your breath waiting to happen.Casinos, like any other business, are all about low costs and high profits.When ticket in/ticket out operation took the place of coins, it meant a lot lower labor costs for casinos, since players simply printed out tickets for wins under $1,200, where with coins, hand pays were almost always required for any thing approaching that.The machines would run out of coins before that many coins could be distributed, which meant atten dants were required to refill the hopper, even if a tax form was not required. Don’t expect casinos to rehire slot attendants who are no longer needed.Not in this lifetime, anyway. Sequential or Random? My question concerns this scenario: You’re dealt five cards in video poker and keep three. Are the next cards already behind the two dis card windows, or is there a random number generator selection for each window, waiting for you to hit the deal button? It doesn’t seem that the individual RNG situation would be likely because if they both stopped simultane ously, they could theoretically pick the same card from the 47 remaining cards. It would make a difference on if you might hesitate to influence the timing of the pick or play quickly because it doesn’t matter—the cards are al ready predetermined. Do the manufacturers publish such information so you could check the machines you tend to play? —ChuckV. Washington,MI

S E N I O R E D I T O R S Sean Chaffin Karrie L. Zukowski

C O P Y E D I T O R Lon Rozelle

P R O D U C T I O N D I R E C T O R Diane Stevens-Gillan

C O N T R I B U T I N G W R I T E R S

Frank Scoblete Tim Wassberg Sharon Harris-Zlotnick

John Grochowski Steve Kieva Frank Legato Jerry “Stickman” Stich

N AT I O N A L S A L E S D I R E C T O R Karrie L. Zukowski

C I R C U L AT I O N MA R K E T I N G D I R E C T O R Maureen Rober tson

C I R C U L AT I O N D I R E C T O R Jessica Taylor

I T D I R E C T O R Rober t Walden S U B S C R I P T I O N & R E N E W A L C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E 1-800-969-0711 O F F I C E S ATLANTIC CITY: 333 E. Jimmie Leeds Rd., Suite 7 Galloway, NJ 08205-4123 (609) 484-8866 • Fax (609) 645-1661 LAS VEGAS: 1137 South Rancho Drive, Suite 110 Las Vegas, Nevada 89102-2259 (702) 736-8886 • Fax (702) 736-8889 Strictly Slots (ISSN 1527-5027). Strictly Slots is published 12 times a year by Casino Player Publishing, LLC POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Strictly Slots, 333 E. Jimmie Leeds Rd., Suite 7 Galloway, NJ 08205-4123 Periodicals Postage rate paid at Galloway, NJ and at additional mailing offices. © 2022 Casino Player Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No por tion of this publication can be reproduced without expressed written permission of the Publisher. Strictly Slots magazine is a publication of Casino Player, LLC, owned by Casino Player Media (CPM). Not responsible for typographical errors. READER’S ADVISORY: Readers are recommended to make appro priate inquiries and take appropriate advice before sending monies, incurring expense, entering into any binding commitment, or wa gering any sum in relation to an adver tisement, ar ticle, column or other feature published in Strictly Slots. Strictly Slots shall not be liable to any person for loss or damage incurred or suffered as a result of his/her accepting, offering to accept, or following an in vitation, advice, or other recommendation contained in any adver tisement, ar ticle, column, or feature published in Strictly Slots . The views and opinions expressed by the writers and columnists of this magazine are not necessarily representative of the views of its management and employees. 333 E. Jimmie Leeds Rd., Suite 7, Galloway, NJ 08205-4123 Basic Subscriptions: 12 issues $24; 24 issues $37; 36 issues $53.

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