If you have ever dropped a crispy hundred dollar bill into a slot machine only to watch the machine suck your money away and leave you with nothing more than a story, you might have wondered to yourself…
That isn’t all that surprising of a question to have pondered, as I am sure that over the course of the history of all casino gaming, both online and brick and mortar, that someone, somewhere, has likely been cheated.
But I am here today to tell you that you need not worry about whether or not you are getting a fair shake at the casino when you are playing a slot machine, as slot machines absolutely ARE NOT rigged! How can I be so certain that you aren’t being cheated at the casino when you play slots?
Because casinos don’t need to cheat you to take your money, as you are going to give it to them willingly!
Are Slot Machines Rigged?
The first thing we have to do before we can definitively say whether or not slot machines are rigged, is agree on what rigged actually means. Just because you lose money in a slot machine, does it mean that the game is rigged?
As long as the machine is functioning correctly and the reels or random number generator (RNG) that are controlling the machine are not tampered with, your short-term results aren’t going to be any indication as to whether or not the slot machine is rigged.
You might be thinking, how could I ever prove something like that? Well, you can’t. But luckily for you, you don’t have to!
As the NGCB is a taxpayer-supported state agency, they are there to protect the players, not the casinos. If you ever question your results or payout, you can call the commission, and they will dispatch an agent to your location to investigate the matter on your behalf.
Now, as someone that has worked in the casino industry for a very long time, I will tell you that very rarely does gaming rule on the side of the player, and that is because it would make zero sense for the casinos to rig a slot machine.
But they are there to support your claim and the burden of proof is on the casino to show that their offerings were legit.
Casinos Don’t Need To Rig Slots To Take Your Money
By far the biggest reason that slot machines aren’t rigged, is because the casino doesn’t need to rig them to take your money.
Yeah, of course sometimes players win on them, that is the real attraction, the chance of hitting it big. But if players were only playing slot machines to win money, they would have given up on it years ago, as players just don’t win very often. It is the chance at winning that hooks the players in, and if the game features your favorite TV show, movie, or recording artist to make it more fun along the way, it is that much more entertaining.
But nobody is putting their money into a machine thinking of it as a wise investment. Get rich scheme? Maybe. But a sound investment of your money? Of course not.
At the end of the day casinos basically have a license to steal and doing anything that could put that privileged license at risk would be silly. Slot machines are the most profitable game on any casino floor when they are 100% legit and that gives the casinos zero incentive to cheat.
Does A Game Malfunction Mean a Slot Machines Is Rigged?
In today’s modern casinos, the only area where slot machines get a little bit fuzzy in terms of whether or not they are rigged, is when a game malfunctions.
Most of the time this is the internal computer going haywire and on some of the older reel machines, sometimes the reels jam up and fail to spin correctly.
Sometimes when a slot machine malfunctions, it will just turn itself off. Other times, the reels will spin and look like they landed on something, when in actuality, that is just the reels slowly coming to a stop on their own during a malfunction.
When the reels are malfunctioning and inevitably land on a winning combination, and the player isn’t paid, it can cause some upset guests that may question the legitimacy of the machine.
I know when you get a slot bonus that might take 5 minutes or more to complete, where you are choosing between floating mystery boxes or waiting for free to spin to finish up, it might feel like your win is undecided, but in reality, that is all just window dressing, as the RNG is fast.
All slot machines are required to have a recall option on their internal GPU, and that recall option can tell definitively whether or not your spin was a winner.
Malfunctions are the closest thing you are going to see when it comes to feeling like a game truly is rigged, and even then, that’s just not the case.
What If The Casino Isn’t Regulated?
First off, you should never be playing in any casino, live or online, that isn’t regulated. If you ever question whether or not a casino is regulated, you can always ask them, and they would be happy to provide the contact information of their oversight body.
In Nevada, casinos are required by law to give you the contact information for the NGCB. Online casinos are a bit different, as there isn’t one body that oversees everything, but the vast majority of the major online casinos feature independent regulators governing their business.
The Kahnawake Gaming Commission is an example of a major online casino regulator that oversees over 50 online casinos and poker rooms, and with nearly 25 years in the business, they are a trusted name in online gaming.
Luckily for you, we here at TheSportsGeek have done that homework for you, as we have compiled a list of websites where you can play slots for real money, and you can be sure that any site we share with our readers is legit and can be trusted.
Do a little homework on the front end before you deposit or sit down to play, but once you are sure that the casino is licensed, you don’t need to waste any time worrying about whether or not the slot machines are rigged.
Conclusion
Playing slot machines can be a great form of entertainment and once in a while, you are going to win some money, which only adds to the excitement.
But in today’s casino world, as long as the casino is licensed by a reputable independent 3rd party, you have no worries in the world as to whether or not the slot machines are rigged.
And if something does happen that makes you think otherwise, talk to the casino manager or the online customer service, and they will put you in touch with the regulator that can investigate on your behalf.
Gaming has come a long way since its early years in smokey rooms and back alleys and these days you can be sure that you are getting a fair shake and that the slot machines are NOT rigged!
