Most widely spread slot myths

Just pause for a second and consider what would happen if Charles D. Fey had never created his Liberty Bell slot machine and subsequently proceeded to take over the world with his marvellous gambling invention. These days it is genuinely hard to imagine a world without slot machines, especially seeing as they are visible in pretty much every part of our everyday lives. Because you don’t have to visit an actual casino slots hall in order to play on slot machines, these games are also available in a variety of places in the 21st Century, from pubs to clubs, chip shops to pool parlours and everywhere in between. And anyway, with the amount of online slots that are around at the minute you don’t even have to go anywhere for a spot of reel spinning, as it can all be done from the comfort of your own home! 

Due to the extreme prominence of slot machines and free spins in the modern day there is understandably going to be a whole load of myths and mistruths associated with them, as is always the case when something gets too popular. These false facts can come in a range of different shapes too, from fake advice on how to win big on a slot machine, to incorrect ways in which people can successfully cheat at these games. It really does pay to be aware of these things too, because you could fall for a rubbish piece of advice, like using the Martingale betting system for instance, that would end up costing you a fair amount of money. There are so many widely spread slot myths that it would be hard for us to pinpoint absolutely all of them, however there are certainly several main ones that ought to be highlighted. Read ahead for a lowdown. 

The coin on a string cheat trick 

Granted, you would have to be seriously silly to think that the age-old coin on a string cheat would still work in the 21st Century, but just in case you needed some confirmation it certainly doesn’t work nowadays. Casino cheats in the 60s used to love using this trick, as they actually ended up having a fair amount of success from it, so much so that casinos very quickly updated their equipment to make it impossible to profit from. 

Savvy cheats would basically drill a hole through a coin and thread some string through it, meaning that they could effectively trick the slot machine’s coin mechanism, and use the same one each time. It didn’t take long for slot machine makers to void this cheat through changes to the coin feed mechanism however. 

Progressive jackpots get more likely to drop the longer they hold out 

Many people think that progressive jackpot slots that have taken a long time to pay out the current jackpot will be more likely to pay out, and we can understand why, however this isn’t the case at all. It can be tempting to think that a progressive jackpot slot approaching 5 million dollars would be more likely to pay out than one just hitting 500 thousand dollars, but in reality it really does not make a difference. 

Most modern progressive jackpot slots are made using a Random Number Generator, so the outcome of your reel spinning is exactly that – random. 

Using the Martingale strategy is a good idea 

You are bound to come across a few so-called gambling experts that will heavily advocate the use of a betting system called the Martingale, however we would recommend you stay well away from this method. In it you double your bet after every loss, thereby making sure you will recoup all your losses from the next winning spin. 

On paper this sounds like a good idea, but the reality is that using the Martingale will rapidly deplete your bankroll. For gamblers with a huge bankroll this isn’t the worst thing, but believe us, most slot gamblers won’t have the money to use the Martingale method effectively. 

“Cold” and “hot” slots 

Some people like to think that each slot machine is ever so slightly different, and that some are just more likely to pay out than others, but again this is a complete slot myth. Whilst there are various differences across slot machines, there is no such thing as “hot” or “cold” slots, as this just doesn’t make sense. 

With that being said, if you use pieces of information like RTP – Return To Player – to your advantage, you can work out what slots are less likely to pay out than others, but this is just down to how they are designed. 

Manually stopping the reels makes a difference 

Many gamblers love slots that allow them to manually stop the reels because they feel as though this has a positive impact on the overall position of the symbols, but in reality this is also a slot myth. Because modern video slots use an RNG to dictate where the reels will land stopping them manually does nothing, as the overall result is still going to be random. 

On a mechanical slot machine it would be a different story, but in the modern slots world manually stopping the reels really makes no difference. 

Slots are rigged against the player 

Human beings are suckers for a good conspiracy theory, and one of the main ones in the gambling world is that slots are inherently rigged against the player. The biggest reason people seem to think this is that the slot always seems to win slightly more than the gambler, but this is just the way casino gambling works. 

The house has to win, because if it does not the casino cannot survive. The odds are therefore rigged in the house’s favour, however this does not mean that there is a secret conspiracy against the gambler, it just what the slot developers and online casinos have to do in order to survive. 

The time of day has an impact 

Some people like to imagine that playing at a less popular time of day can have better results, however this is not the case.