Do pokies contain a memory chip
Do online pokies have a memory?
Can online pokies remember how much they have paid out and adjust their behavior accordingly?
In other words, if no big prize has hit for a while, can they make sure to compensate the player with a nice payout? Or, if the player has won a lot, can they recover it by giving nothing for a while?
It is an important and exciting question: do online pokies have a memory? And, what can we do with the answer if we know the answer?
The Orb gets asked this question regularly and therefore thinks it’s high time to answer the question once and for all about whether (online) slot machines can remember what has been won and influence future play with that information.
We’ll dive a little deeper into how online pokies work to answer the question correctly.
How does an online pokie machine work?
To find out if an online slot machine has a memory, we first need to find out how an online slot machine works.
An online pokie machine is nothing more than a visual representation of a result. The result is the outcome of your bet. The result is credited to your balance.
For example:
You play on Wolf Treasure and bet 1 dollar (the bet)
Consecutively you win 2.00 dollars (= the result)
You have five pigs on a winning line (the visual)
The result gets deducted from your account balance
Please note! The result (the 2 dollar payout) determines which symbols appear on the screen in which order, not the other way around (which is what many people think).
And so, every spin is unique: you place a bet, you win or lose, and the screen provides a visual representation of what the outcome is.
Finally, the outcome of the bet (win or lose) gets credited to your account balance.
How does the online slot machine know if you have won?
A slot machine must, of course, be able to determine whether you have won or lost. This is how it works: at the heart of every slot machine is the Random Number Generator, which will be referred to as the RNG for convenience.
This RNG generates millions of unique numbers within a microsecond.
Each unique number is linked to a fantastic game outcome.
When you press the spin button, the RNG chooses one unique number. This number has a fixed outcome (for example, 6 x payout of the bet) which translates into a visual representation of the symbols on the screen.
There are millions of combinations and, therefore, millions of ways to win or lose money.
Naturally, there are more losing outcomes than winning ones, so the slot will always generate profits in the long run.
After all, RNG will smooth out the statistical variance over millions of spins.
Does an online slot machine have a memory?
The RNG randomly determines its following selection independently of each previous spin.
The RNG does not think or allow itself to be influenced.
You could even call the RNG a dumb computer since it doesn’t care what the outcome will be. Its only job is randomly selecting a number from millions of possible combinations.
The answer to the question is, therefore: no. An online slot machine has no memory at all.
The slot machine does not know what was won or lost, nor by whom. And that’s a good thing because you don’t want to play slot machines that casinos can manipulate.
That’s why Quickspin and IGTech pokie machines, for example, are regularly controlled for independence and randomness.
And it’s also good to know that online casinos do not have access to slot machines; they only function as an intermediary.
The servers that run online pokies are located at Isoftbet and Betsoft, not at the casino.
If you win – or lose – big on an online slot machine, there’s nothing the online casino can do about it.
All they can do is make sure the playing experience is as enjoyable as possible for you.
So how can I improve my chances of winning?
While it’s impossible to influence the RNG, you can positively influence your odds of winning.
You can do this by playing only on pokies with the highest payout percentages and avoiding pokies with a progressive jackpot.
This is because, on the latter type of pokies, a large portion of your deposit (between 5% and 8%) is withheld to fill the progressive jackpots.
And that means a much lower payout on the base game making it almost impossible to finish a session profitably.
Unless you win a progressive jackpot, of course.