Spinning any slot machines’ reels is going to be exciting, if you choose to play for real money, for you never know in advance whether you are going to win or lose, and all slot games will come with a jackpot which could of course be won on any spin you do decide to play off.
However, you will need to know and have the peace of mind that each slot you do end up playing is giving you a random outcome, and that is when you may be asking yourself whether each slot machine is fair and random, and how do you know they are.
Slot machine regulation is something that all Gambling Commissions and Gaming Authorities take extremely seriously, and in this guide I will be looking at that very topic, and giving you an insight into how slot machines are regulated, to ensure that all players do get a fair chance of winning.
Slot Machine Certification
Before a slot machine is launched and goes live in any casino venue, site or even online, each one of them will have to be passed over to a casino game verification company, who are going to be charged with checking the software to ensure that the slot machine works as it is supposed to.
You will often find on a casino’s website for example the name of the company that is charged with certifying that each slot machine and any other casino games that are on offer have been fully approved and are complete games of chance.
In fact, land based casinos and both online and mobile casinos will have to prove beyond any doubt that there slot and casino games are random, fair and true and often the Gaming Authority or Gambling Commission that licenses casino sites and venues will have their own team of casino game software engineers too.
So with that in mind, when it does come to you playing slot machines in any environment, you will need to have the peace of mind in knowing the ones you play are random ,so always make a point of checking to see which company had certified the slots on offer to you wherever you choose to play.
Random Number Generator Verification
It is of course the one device apart from the slot machine software that will ultimately determine whether you have a winning slot playing session or a losing one, and I am of course talking about the random number generators that you will find attached dot every single slot machine.
Now, how an RNG works regarding slot machines is such that they are constantly churning out random numbers constantly, even when a slot machine isn’t being played, and each number that will be generated will equate to a losing spin or a winning spin ultimately.
Slot players do need to be aware that it is at the point in time and the exact moment in time that they click into the random number generator that they will then discover, once the reels have spun and stopped whether they have had a winning outcome or a losing one.
The random numbers that are generated along with the slot machines design will, over the long term give the slot machines its expected long-term pay-out percentage, and that pay-out percentage could be a low one or a high one by the way.
Fruit Machine Pay-Out Percentages
The average pay-out for a casino based slot machine is around the 94% to 96% range, however do keep in mind that many such venues may offer slot machines that come with low or high pay-out percentages and that they are often permitted to change them whenever they like.
Fruit machines though which are found in pubs and clubs or amusement arcades for example are usually the one type of gaming machines that have some of the very lowest pay-out percentages attached to them.
As such you should try and avoid playing fruit machines that have been set with a very low minimum long term expected pay-out percentage, for your slot playing bankroll will not last very long when playing those types of gaming machines if you pick a lower paying one.
The RTP of fruit machines is often legally required to be displayed on the glass of each fruit machine, is it shouldn’t prove to be too difficult finding out just how low or just how high the pay-out percentages are on any fruit machines you like the look of and may be about to play, so o keep that in mind and always look out for the vital and very important piece of information.
Minimum Legal RTP’s
It is going to be dependent on where you choose to play any type of slot machines, slot games or fruit machines that will ultimately determine whether there are any legal minimum RTP’s that operators of slot machines must ensure their slot machines are never set lower than the minimum legal RTP’s.
As mentioned above it is possible or some fruit machines to be set with very, very low pay-out percentages, and over the years I have seen some of them that have paybacks as low as just 72% and no savvy player is every going to want to play those much lower paying slots.
Slot machines that are located in airports or on cruise ships may also have much lower RTP’s than the ones found attached to slot machines in other places, for both cruise ship guests and people in an airport are a captive audience so to speak and as such that is how slot machine operators can get away with offering very low legal minimum long term expected RTP’s.
Some of the very highest paying slot machines by virtue of their pay-out percentages however can be found at both online and mobile casino sites, so always do keep that in mind when you are thinking about playing slot machines.