Do slot machines have a “hot” and “cold” period?

Slot Machines do not have hot and cold periods even though most gamblers would argue that there are hot or cold periods. The truth of the matter is that this belief was born out of noticeable strings of bad luck or good luck resulting in several wins in a row or consecutive losses. Many declare the cold or hot cycles based on how they’ve done and then decide to continue or discontinue play on that belief.

Every single spin on a slot machine is random, independent of the previous result or outcome, not influenced by the size of the wager and not influenced by any event. Machines are not programmed to provide winning or losing sessions.

How could a slot give a feel of hot or cold if all spins are random?

A slot could give a feel of hot or cold even though all spins are random since random data can still have what you would call a trend. For example, should you flip a coin 900 or a thousand times and record the result of every single flip, it is likely to find a grouping of several tails or several heads in the results data. This shows that just because an event is random it doesn’t mean it won’t have periods of repeating grouped results. In fact, if you’re flipping a coin you can’t expect the results to perfectly alternate as then it would not be random since the results would be predictable.

So, what is slot machine cycles?

Slot machine only shows result cycles if you investigate the history of results over a long period of time and then decide to declare a string of wins or a string of losses to be classified as cycles. Yet, the terminology is, to say the least, misleading as it guides slot players towards believing that they can “sort of predict” the outcomes of future spin based on the past results, which is impossible with RNG technology.

The bottom line is that slots are not programmed to be cold or hot and all that counts is that they meet the required payout percentage indicated over many spins, which are more than a single player could play. It is inevitable that some slot devotees enjoy incredible luck with a slot, although attempting to predict the results while outcomes are based on an RNG is impossible.

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Doug is a passionate Slot fan and an expert in the gaming industry and has written extensively about online slot games and various other related information pertaining to online slots. In his spare time, he enjoys time with friends and family, reading, travelling, and of course, playing the slots.

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