Page 9 - Southern California Gaming Guide • August 2021

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 are definitely very 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.”
A Slot Machine is a Slot Machine
Slot machines have a random number generator. It’s a small computer chip 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 the 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 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? Perhaps you play the same type of machine every time you go the casino because that’s where you won your last jackpots. 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.
“Walter’s sure he’s going
to win another big jackpot because of his earlier luck. 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.”
“Are you aware of your pattern of casino slot play? Perhaps you play the same type
of machine every time
you go the casino
She said that the first
jackpot he won was a fluke. because that’s where
He was playing a slot he would
usually have never chosen to
play. They planned to meet to
go to lunch, 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
you won your last jackpots. Are you chasing jackpots past?”
AUGUST 2021
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
PAGE 9