Gaming Guru

Being Honest about Hot and Cold Streaks in Slots

Dear Frank:

Slot machine experts (you included) state absolutely that a machine has "hot" and "cold" streaks. But if the random number generator means just that - that any number can come up at any time producing any combination of winning or losing results - how can you justify the hot and cold streaks when any number can come up at any time? Or, is it not honest to say that the random number generator is computerized so that the numbers with winning and losing combinations are not "random" at all, but fixed to give the casino the upper hand.

Let's be honest, here....

Thanks,
Robert

Dear Robert:

Okay, okay, you want honesty, here it is. You are wrong in your analysis. Randomness has incredible streaks. If it didn't, it wouldn't be random. Take the number Pi. That number is infinite and random, yet if you look at the digits there are amazing streaks of certain numbers coming up time after time -- in short-run strings. However, there is no way to predict why or what numbers are going to come up next until you do the proper math to ascertain the numbers.

Flip a coin. You will see outrageous streaks of heads and tails the longer you flip; yet the flip is still random. Slot machines are as random as computer experts can make them. The house gets its edge not by fixing the machine to be non-random, but by manipulating the payouts so that the money taken in is larger than the money paid out.

Flip a coin again. It's 50-50 but if you only pay out 80 cents on your opponent's hit but collect $1 on a loss, you are going to be making money. The game is random; the payout is fixed.

Now, let's get really picky in our honesty. When you win on a slot machine a few spins in a row, you are having a good streak. But the house is having a bad streak. So, what is it? A good streak or a bad streak? It's just a streak. It's random. Period.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Frank Scoblete