Progressive slots-Question

Hey gambling friends: How do you determine whether a particular progressive slot machine payback has reached the 100% amount???

Progressives and Promotions

These days it is not easy to find video poker games that, together with cashback/coupons, can be expected to payback more than 100%. Usually I am able to find good possibilities on progressive slots or video poker. And, sometimes promotions drive the expected returns in the win column. On a recent gambling trip I won  in a slot tournament. (Fortunately I also hit a jackpot that put me solidly in the winner's circle on that particular trip.) Progressives and promotions should be carefully considered to determine whether a gambling trip may be worthwhile.

Master Computer or No?

Regarding the new survey, in Mississippi gambling sites, slots and vp machines return no less than 80% (minimum theoretical payout) and no more than 100%. A random selection process has to determine the game outcome. Further, "After selection of the game outcome, the gaming device must not make a variable secondary decision which affects the result shown to the player." So master computers that determine when a jackpot is allowed... is disallowed in Mississippi casinos! Good news for Mississippi players. I have a couple of additional questions of the gaming commission in Mississippi and will share more information in a future blog. 

More on Master Computers and Gambling

To further explain the master computer issue, I quote from page 55 of Casino Gambling for Fun and Profit: 2nd Edition: "The program, which determines the symbols that will be shown on the payline of the modern slot machine or cards dealt on a video poker machine, is embedded in a microchip and is called the random number generator, or RNG. The RNG is continuously cycling, selecting and deselecting sequences of numbers in the slot or video poker machine whether or not the machine is being played. As I understand the RNG, the instant the ''Spin" button on the slot or the "Max-Bet" or "Deal/Draw" button on the video poker machine is depressed, the cycling is interrupted and whatever sequence of numbers is selected by the RNG at that instant are transformed into symbols on the slot payline or cards on the video poker machine display." The selection at this point is random, but if the play is controlled by a master computer, the number sequence that represents, say, a jackpot, may not be shown on the payline. To win the jackpot, the master computer would have to be ready for the jackpot to be hit!

Master Computers and Gambling

Casino gambling is less "fun and profit" than it was a few years ago, with casinos cutting back on cashback, promotions, and slot machine and video poker returns. There are some bright spots, such as QuikQuad video poker games, but I have become increasingly concerned about gambling machine control by master computers. When researching rules of state gaming commissions for Casino Gambling for Fun and Profit: 2nd Edition, such master computers (that allow slot or video poker machines to hit jackpots at a time determined by the master computer) were apparently disallowed by state gaming commissions, although, even then, it was not unusual to run across a bank of progressive slot machines that promised a jackpot before the progressive reached a certain amount. I intend to canvass state gaming commissions to see what each state's current rules are in this regard and will report my findings here.

You can read what I wrote in Casino Gambling for Fun and Profit: 2nd Edition for the small price of $6.95 from the Amazon Kindle Store:

Casino Gambling for Fun and Profit: 2nd Edition

Now, this is a blog for blogging to an audience...

I am a clinical psychologist/pilot/writer who recently released a work of complete fiction, "A Time in the Sun." I have also written nonfiction books, the most recent being two books on gambling, "Casino Gambling for Fun and Profit" and "Casino Gambling for Fun and Profit: 2nd Edition."  In the 1970's, I co-authored a book on parenting... good luck to those of you who can find it.


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My books can be located here:

Amazon: "A Time in the Sun" by James E. Crowder

Amazon: "Casino Gambling for Fun and Profit - 2nd Edition" by J. Edward Crowder