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- Feb 28, 2001
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I used to work for a slot machine manufacturer. They are not "rigged", at least not the legal ones. They are heavily regulated and the software checked closely. They control the payout with math.
I wonder about that for the modern fully electronic slots that tie into a casino's "big prize" - whatever it is. And there are cases where people have "won" a big prize only to lose it to a "machine malfunction." When the machine is fully electronic I have trouble imagining that it would have a "spin error" though that is often the excuse for a non-payout.
As to the big USA lotteries, the odds against winning are about 350 million to one against (rounded off). So I wait until the payout is bigger than 350 million, to make the return reward proportional to the cost of a ticket. Of course, being that selective means I rarely play because I know how bad the odds are. But those big-ticket cash-out prizes become seriously tempting when they get high enough. So ... I indulge just a little.