The key to successful slot gaming lies in diversifying your investments across a variety of machines, increasing the odds of hitting a winning combination while protecting yourself from excessive losses. Furthermore, choosing those with higher payout ratios may increase your odds further; but this should only be attempted if you know exactly what you are doing.
Gamblers are always seeking ways to beat the house, including when playing slot machines at casinos. There are numerous tricks people use to cheat in order to win; some may be illegal and even end up landing them in jail. Here we explore some of the more prominent slot machine cheats and determine whether they actually work.
This trick uses magnetism to manipulate reels and increase wins. While this was once common with mechanical slots, modern machines that utilize computer software make this practice impractical and any such magnet may break it instead of altering its outcome.
One common method for cheating slot machines was using light to confuse their sensor, as Tommy Glenn Carmichael did to trigger jackpots and increase coin payouts. Though one of the earliest ways of cheating slots, this hack quickly faded due to easy detection by casinos.
Scalping was another more sophisticated means of cheating slot machines. This involved replacing game chips with counterfeit ones made to look identical to their originals; unlike using counterfeit coins this required skill and an eye. Louis Colavecchio became famous as an expert scaler who managed to amass over 2 million dollars this way.
Recently, skilled hackers have found ways to predict random number generator (RNG) sequences to accurately predict when slot machines would pay out and place bets that guarantee certain payouts. Unfortunately, this technique has become less relevant thanks to casinos and software engineers updating systems regularly to combat such hacks; though technically proficient hackers may still attempt this approach using accessing internal casino systems and with technical knowledge. A successful hack could incur felony charges and imprisonment time.