Mathematics and online slots: is it possible?
It’s a question that is often asked, and the answer has to be “yes,” but with some limitations. Slots are the type of game that is most often associated with math. Players hear about them, and they immediately think about models of probabilities, statistics, and mathematics.
If you suspect there’s even a little bit of math in your life, the chances are that it comes from online slots. Let’s say someone came up to you and explained they were working on a system for winning at online slots.
Would you be sceptical?
Perhaps. Perhaps not. It’s completely understandable if one would assume such things were almost impossible to come up with because math doesn’t seem like the primary driving force behind online slots — but it is, or rather, it can be.
It’s not really that simple, though, because it all depends on what you mean by “math.”
The Mathematics in Slot Machines
The math behind slot machines is this: the symbols and the payouts are well-defined, constant and known to casino owners, slots players and mathematicians alike. Therefore, it’s possible to develop a formula that would yield a payout for every combination of symbols.
This means that every game, no matter what it is called or who developed it, can be expressed in terms of the number of combinations and corresponding payouts for each one.
Indeed, countless mathematicians have taken on this challenge before you. For example, here’s an algorithm that dictates how to set up “Lady Lucks Flower Shop”, which is a slot machine game.
Note that the algorithm calculates for 243,138,816 possible combinations, each with its own payout.
The numbers in the method are in the binary system. However, you don’t need to know what that is to understand what’s going on here because it says “theNumberOfReels = 3”, “theNumberOfSymbols = 13”, “theNumberOfStopsPerSpin = 8”.
In other words, this algorithm calculates the number of unique combinations every slot machine has and how much the player will win if they hit a specific combination.
To sum up: it’s possible to write an algorithm for, say, online slots singapore-based games because every symbol combination is predetermined and has a corresponding payout.
This information, however, isn’t enough to win at online slots. Why? Because as much as we like to think that playing slots is all about the math and the numbers, it’s not — or rather, if it is about math and numbers, then these qualities are secondary to luck.
That’s where it all falls apart because, as you can see from the algorithm above, it doesn’t contain any mention of luck. It only calculates payouts and combinations.
What about people who claim they know how to win at slots?
Some of them do really exist — using psychology and experience, they manage to beat the house time and time again. But the vast majority of winners are only “winning” because they happen to be lucky.
It’s not even their own measure of luck, but rather an outcome that is drawn from a very small margin of possibilities — just like in any other gambling game out there.
Some people try to exploit this fact by looking for patterns in the random number generator (RNG) that generates slot machines’ results. They claim that if you can observe enough of these patterns, then it’s possible to win at slots.
As mentioned before, there are people who seem to be able to beat online slots using psychology and experience. However, this approach is not an example of exploiting the RNG because it does not actually predict the outcome — only someone who is extremely lucky will be able to beat online slots if they can predict what their random number generator will do.
In fact, there’s a whole slew of other people who claim they know how to beat slots and yet they can’t offer any meaningful proof or equations for this to be true.
Why is that?
The answer lies in the fact that beating slots have nothing to do with math or knowing how an RNG works internally. It’s just about being lucky, and if you’re not — well, try again.
Takeaway
There’s no way to use mathematics to ensure your win at online slots because the RNG slots are a random number generator and not a predictable, computerized device.
In other words: there’s no way to calculate or predict what the outcome will be because it all depends on luck. This means that if you want to have a chance of winning at, say, online slots singapore-based games, you should simply play for entertainment purposes and not think about the outcome in terms of money.