Page 21 - Southern California Gaming Guide • May 2020

Jackpots Past Recognizing Your Patterns of Slot Play
by Maya Winkler
Winning a jackpot at a casino is a wonderful thing. Winning jackpots consistently sounds fantastic and unreal, right? It must require an amazing amount of luck. At one of the casinos I visit, I’ve made “slot
friends” with a few players, and our consensus is that once you’ve won several big jackpots in a short period of time, you have to be pretty lucky. And you seem to expect to win again ... and again. It’s human nature to want more. We want to win and we want to win as often as we can. After all, winning is fun — and we go to the casino to win!
“It’s all about expectations,” VIP player Ginny said. “The more you win, the higher your expectations are
that you’ll win each time you play.”
Ginny’s husband, Walter, won several large jackpots
at the beginning of the year. Since then, says Ginny, Walter’s playing more and
going to have fun and being surprised
by winning. He’s expecting to win, and
when it doesn’t happen, he’s upset. I
say winning is a matter of chance (of
course) and that he needs an attitude adjustment.”
jackpot on a reel-spinner and then the second on video slot, his pattern of play has changed. Now he only plays the same or similar slots on which he won, and expects to win again.
Chasing Jackpots Past
Are you aware of your pattern of casino slot play? Do you play the same type or the same machine every time you go to the casino? Do you do it because that’s where you won your last jackpot? Are you chasing jackpots past?
Ginny says, “I tell Walter to mix it up and play different games. Before he won those jackpots, we had a lot of fun. Now it’s like work. He comes to the casino expecting to win big, and when he doesn’t win, he’s not happy. And besides, he’s played a lot his winnings back just trying to get another big jackpot.”
Sound familiar? I’ve had my share of big wins and I recognized what Ginny was saying. There have been times that I have stopped playing at the casino for a while because I did exactly what Walter was doing — chasing jackpots past.
It takes discipline to be a winner and stay a winner by walking away. Ginny’s advice sounds pretty good to me: Mix it up. Try different games. Keep your casino experience fun. And if it’s no longer fun, do something else. It’s inevitable that you’ll lose at the casino. Just don’t make a habit of it.
enjoying it less. “Are you aware of your A Slot Machine is a Slot “Walter’s sure he’s going pattern of casino slot Machine
to win another big jackpot
because of his earlier luck. play? Do you play the He’s actually expecting to
win. I tell him it’s not the right
attitude. When he won those
other jackpots he was playing
totally differently. He wasn’t
expecting to win at all.”
She said that the first jackpot he won was a fluke. He was playing a slot he would usually have never chosen to play.
They planned to meet to go to
the buffet, so he sat down next
to her to play while she was
finishing a bonus round on a
game. And, wouldn’t you know,
she said, after three pushes
on the SPIN button, he won a $2,500 jackpot. They agreed it was sheer good luck.
“We didn’t go back to the casino to play for a few weeks because Walter said he couldn’t win twice in a row. But he was wrong. His second jackpot came during our next visit. He was lucky twice in a row! Now, for Walter, it’s all about winning instead of
same type or the same machine every time you go to the casino? Do you do it because that’s where you won your last jackpot? Are you chasing jackpots past?”
Slot machines have a random number generator. It’s a small computer within the console that constantly spews out numbers, whether anyone’s playing or not, that when they line up, create a particular outcome (win or loss) at the particular millisecond the SPIN button is pressed. Once you sit down to play, your only choices are the number of credits you play and when you push that SPIN button. So what’s luck—or chance—got to do with it? Everything.
If you think you’re lucky, will you win? Attitude can affect patterns of play. For instance, according to Ginny, before Walter won his two big jackpots, he played a variety of slots—reel-spinners and video slots in different denominations. He would let his intuition and wallet guide him, and he’d play whatever he liked on a given day. He would win some and lose some, but always had fun at the casino. Since he won his first big
MAY 2020
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
PAGE 21