Revealing the reality about successful back-to-back jackpots
By John Grochowski
Through the years, I’ve acquired loads of emails—and again within the day, even letters delivered via the U.S. Postal Service— asking if it’s actually potential to hit multiple large jackpot on the identical machine in a brief span of time. The wording varies, however the underlying query is normally the identical: “Doesn’t the machine should go chilly to make up for the payoff?”
As you’ve little doubt learn in Strictly Slots and different publications, slots and video poker machines don’t should go chilly after an enormous win. The random quantity generator simply retains producing random numbers, the sport retains paying in regular proportions, and over lots of of hundreds of performs, the massive win fades into statistical insignificance.
I used to be a little bit stunned when one one who wrote to me got here at it from a different angle:
“I get that the percentages of hitting a jackpot are the identical each time, even should you’ve simply gained one,” he wrote. “I get that even back-to-back jackpots are potential. However there are tens of millions of performs daily. So inform me, why don’t back-to-back jackpots occur extra usually?”
That’s an enormous leap from “is it potential?” to “why doesn’t it occur extra?” The reply lies within the odds of the video games.
In video poker, royal flushes happen a mean of about as soon as per 40,000 arms, with some variation relying on participant technique as video games and pay tables change. Consecutive royals come up a mean of about as soon as in 40,000 instances 40,000 arms—a cool 1.6 billion arms.
That’s an enormous, large quantity, however there are tens of hundreds of video poker machines on this nation, getting hundreds of performs per day. Each few days, or few weeks, someone, someplace goes to attract back-to-back royals.
In December, I acquired an electronic mail from a reader named Sara who had completed simply that.
“My husband and I had been taking part in collectively in Las Vegas,” she wrote. “I used to be taking part in Double Double Bonus Poker and he was taking part in Deuces Wild, each on quarters. He loves these Deuces. We had been joking about how good it could be to hit a royal, and even 4 deuces, to assist with Christmas procuring. I used to be dealt an Ace of spades and 4 low playing cards. I stored simply the Ace, and the opposite excessive spades all got here up.
“I couldn’t consider it! I’d by no means drawn 4 to a royal earlier than. He gave me a nudge and mentioned now I might purchase him an iPad, and we laughed. Now I had greater than 4,000 credit, and I went to play once more. This time I used to be dealt the Ace, King and Jack of hearts. I don’t keep in mind what else. I mentioned, “Look, I’m going to do it once more.” Then I did! I mentioned, “His and hers iPads?”
We haven’t completed that but, however we didn’t should put something on the bank cards for that Christmas, both.”
On slot machines, there’s a variety of chances. On a sport with a comparatively small jackpot, designed as a quick-hit machine, you would possibly see a prime jackpot as soon as per 10,000 performs, whereas the percentages on hitting the jackpot are longer on most machines, and MUCH longer on some big-money video games. Two in a row on a 1-in-10,000 sport could be anticipated a mean of as soon as per 100 million trials. The chances are lengthy towards it ever occurring to you, or to me, or to every other particular person. However the possibilities of it occurring to somebody, someplace? Given sufficient machines and sufficient performs, it’s virtually a certainty.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve heard from a reader who hit the highest jackpot on back-to- again spins on a slot machine, nevertheless it has occurred. I save tales like that, together with one from Teri, who was taking part in Blazing 7s close to her suburban Chicago house in 1999.
“I’ve at all times favored these video games,” she wrote. “I’ve been taking part in since earlier than there have been casinos right here. My husband likes craps, and we’ve at all times gone to Las Vegas a time or two yearly. I’ve hit the progressive on Blazing 7s a number of instances, however by no means twice in the identical day.
“There have been six machines collectively. The very best jackpot was $1,367, and I made a decision to not play that one as a result of if I gained I’d get the tax type. So I began taking part in one the place the jackpot was $1,143. It solely took a number of spins earlier than I acquired the three blazing 7s, they usually came to visit and paid me $1,144.
“They requested me to play off the jackpot, however that was OK, as a result of I used to be going to maintain taking part in anyway whereas my husband was on the tables. The progressive went all the way down to $1,000, and on my first spin it got here up blazing 7, blazing 7, blazing 7. I used to be flabbergasted. In actual fact, I went all numb. One jackpot was thrilling. The second was simply completely exterior something that had ever occurred to me in a on line casino.”
Alternatively, the prospect of changing into a multimillionaire by hitting Megabucks is sort of 1 in 50 million. The possibility of hitting that prime jackpot twice in a row involves 1 in 50 million instances 50 million— until my fingers and toes deceive me, that’s 2.5 quadrillion. May as properly go to the seaside and rely grains of sand.
And that, I informed my electronic mail acquaintance, is why these back-to-back jackpots don’t occur extra usually. For many video games, consecutive jackpots gained’t occur usually, however they may occur. Given sufficient trials, something that may occur ultimately will. At jackpot odds, it simply takes plenty of trials to get there.
