[morgante]

The fixed odds do not guarantee that a certain payout will happen. You seem to have misunderstood how it works. The odds determine the likelihood on any individual roll, not some theoretical "payout per hour."

Slot machines are based on RNGs.

> If each outcome were truly independent, it would be possible for the machine to never pay out

It is possible for a machine to never pay out. That would probably trigger an audit to see if there's a bug, but there is no guarantee that th

[SimonPStevens]

This may be jurisdiction dependant, but in the UK, the small prize fruit machine style games you find in pubs are required by law to payout a fixed percentage of their income over time. I believe it's 70%, but I think there are variations and exceptions to the rule.

So if £1000 is paid in during the day, the machine by law must pay out at least £700 in prizes. This is not allowed to be fully random, the odds of each game are not independent because they must by law ensure the minimum payout.

It's semi-common knowledge that the way to win at these machines is to watch them until you have seen someone else have a long losing streak, then take your turn when they leave as the machine is now 'behind' and overdue a payout.

[morgante]

You're right, this actually does vary by jurisdiction. I looked into and was quite surprised that the UK allows something called "compensated game control" to adjust the odds dynamically so the observed payout matches the expected one. [0]

Nevada has the opposite rule: machines must only incorporate chance when paying out and the theoretical payout is what the gaming commission analyzes. They can't dynamically adjust odds to favor a preferred payout. [1]

[0] https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/authorities/guide/page...

[1] https://gaming.nv.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=4...