Slot Machine Computers

The random number generator (or RNG) inside the slot machine is continuously generating winning and loosing numbers.

Simply put. When a casino orders a slot machine and plugs in the power cord, the RNG becomes operational.

In theory, the winning jackpot numbers can even be computed  when no one is actually playing the machine.

Has this ever
 happened to you?

Have you ever stopped playing a stop machine, only to walk away and someone else hits the jackpot on the same machine...

Would you have won if you stayed at it?

Most likely not and here's why.

Since the RNG is constantly computing numbers, the only way you would have won is if you were to have pressed the spin button at the exact millisecond as the player who took your seat.

Your odds are far greater to get hit by lightning or run down in the parking lot.

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Although this sounds like pre-programming, which it is, the pre-programming that involves the payout percentage of a machine is determined by another device - the random number generator (RNG).  With the RNG in place, each spin of the reels has an equal chance of striking a big win.

With the RNG engaged, hundreds of numbers ranging from one to several billion are being generated each second.  The number that is generated the exact millisecond a player presses the spin button or pulls the slot arm is the same number that will then be processed into a program that syncs the number with where the particular stopping point will be for each reel.

This is how the operations of a 3-reel slot machine take place.

You pull the handle or press the button, and the computer records the next three numbers from the random number generator. The first number is used to determine the position of the first reel, the second number is used for the second reel and the third number is used for the third reel. For this example, let's say the first number is 123,456,789.

The player begins by pushing the spin button or pulling the handle of the machine, at which time the computer chip will record the very next three numbers that were generated by the RNG.  Each number corresponds to one of the reels (3 numbers for 3 reels), which are then processed into a simple calculation that will ultimately create a number that tells the reels where to stop.  Let us say the first number corresponding to the first reel is 333.

The calculation that is used next involves dividing the RNG generated number by multiplied values of 32, up to a value of 512.  Since each machine is programmed differently, for the above example we shall say the computer chip uses the value of 32.

After running this particular calculation, we get 14 with a remainder of 2. The remainder is an important consideration for it shows there are only 32 possible end results of this calculation (it cannot be larger than 32 or smaller than 0).  The computer then maps the 32 possible values out as stops on a computerized reel of 32 stops.

These computerized stops each correspond to the actual stops on the reel (they tell the reels which stop to cease spinning).  Since there are less actual stops on a reel than the 32 stops on the computerized reel, some of the actual stops will correspond to more than one of the computerized stops. And when you add all three reels together, the possibilities are exponential.

This mode of operation is a great advantage to modern day slot machines.  The computer system is responsible for governing whether a machine is going to be loose or tight, and just how much money it pays out over the long run.  Not only is less oversight required, the outcome will always be mathematically presice.

References:  HowStuffWorks.com