Overview:
Slot Machines are those lovely electronic lights flashing pieces of equipment that literally no one can agree on how they work.   Buy ten books on the subject and there will be variances in many areas.  No set odds are available for slot machines because each casino orders their machines with their particular random payoff percentages.

Synopsis:
Gaming expects today cannot even agree how the winning and losing selections are determined on each slot machine.  Two schools of thought represent when a winning hand is determined.  The most common slot machine uses a microchip that has many random winning and losing combinations, in reality, 4,294,967,296 different combinations.  Some experts think the moment money is dropped into a slot machine the microchip selects a random combination.  Other experts think once a player pulls the handle, or pushes a button to start the game, the random selection starts.

For people who think you are on winning or losing streaks or patterns, slot machines are nothing more than a random chance occurrence that people bet on the outcome.  Having slot machines play patterns is impossible because their outcome changes by using a microchip that randomly selects each game outcome.  The odds of hitting two jackpots in a row are identical as hitting a second jackpot 500,000 games later.  They preprogram the machines and over a period of many millions of outcomes will bring in more money than they payout -- end of story!

No matter when the winning or losing combination is selected, slot machines are interesting gambling tools for casinos.   Billions of dollars per year are collected in revenue throughout the United States from slot machines.  It is really a matter of luck and random selection.  These highly programmed machines are nothing more than a cash cow for the casinos.  We should play slot machines as an amusement, not as an opportunity to make money.