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by whoisburbansky 1402 days ago
Why does the GP's comment strike you as implying that the minimum is calculated per person or session?
2 comments

> each loss does in fact bring you closer to the winning spin

To me that implies that the machine is keeping track of a period of time to make sure it pays out 75% during that period.

Each spin is random and independent of whether it's been on a losing streak or not.

Ok, I can see what you mean. This is also why when I made the comment about a "strategy" I put this in parenthesis "(in the sense that there can be a strategy to a game of luck)".

My intent was not to imply that each individual losing pull increases the odds, but more that if you just keep rolling the same two dice long enough eventually it's going to come up snake eyes. And this leads to people (especially gambling addicts) continuing to pull that lever after they are long past what they can afford. They know if they just keep pulling the lever (or more likely pushing the bet max button these days) that eventually it has to pay. But the reality is the casinos are predators that feed on that behavior.

Most casinos actually have a much higher takeout rate than the legally required minimums as well; it's very common that they are set closer to the 90-97% range. It's generally observed that a higher takeout will result in more money for the house. With a higher takeout people are more likely to keep winning a bit and feel like they are getting lucky, so they will actually spend more money than if the aren't hitting at all.

Yeah, I was a bit confused why they thought that is what I was implying. I was just trying to explain high level how it works. I previously worked on a couple of online "slot machines" and several of my former colleagues write software now for WMS on physical machines.