When it comes to reading slot machines, there are hundreds of “experts” out there who believe they have the key. Anyone who has been looking into the games for any amount of time inevitably has come in contact with people who claim to have tips and tricks. Most are nonsense and don’t offer any value at all to the player. Remember that if these tips were truly strategies, then why isn’t every slots player walking away a winner? The reason is because most “wisdom” is a myth. No one can predict when a machine is going to pay out or when it is going to take your money. Every machine has a random number generator, or RNG and that is the only thing that dictates how a slot machine’s reels land. Here are some common myths that still run rampant in today’s gambling world.

• Loosing machines are segregated to one area of the casino. Exactly what sense would this make? The only distinction is that looser machines may be put in different areas, but they aren’t sure fire losing machines.
• The numbers of symbols on a reel dictate the amount of wins. This isn’t entirely true. What is true is that there are probabilities you can calculate to see how your chances of a winning combination change as you add reels. Of course these are pretty complex, but if you have a free weekend, take a chance and see how the numbers play out.
• Slots can be remotely tightened or loosened. Slot machines have computer chips that can be changed, but the changes are regulated by third-party. That means that the chances of a casino changing the odds and risking fines and other actions just aren’t that great. Plus, the negative publicity any act like that would bring would definitely bring a casino to its knees. No one in today’s competitive market wants to take that risk and lose consistent paying customers to another casino.
• Winning machines have something “special” and trained players can spot them. Again—if this were the case, people would win more as they continued playing. A slot machine is run by the RNG and that’s it. The law of randomness is the only thing that influences the reels.
• If a machine hasn’t paid out in a while, it will soon. Recall the RNG? And how it is the sole influence? Same here. A machine that hasn’t paid out in a while could pay out on the next play, or could hold out for a lot longer. That’s the beauty of working on a totally random system.
• Hot coins will increase a player’s chance of winning. Anyone who understands how a slot machine operates, will know that a hot coin (meaning hot from a real flame) is not going to warm up the gears and get them to “loosen” up. This myth was likely started by an optimistic and creative gambler who had one too many free drinks sitting at the slot machines.
• You always have better winning odds on the weekends. Although casinos may change their betting stakes to accommodate certain types of players at certain times of the day, the payouts of slot machines still operate on a random basis as dictated by the RNG.

When it comes to practicing online slots, you want to take advantage of all the tools out there. Of course the game itself is run by a RNG, or random number generator, so there is no way to influence the game’s outcome, but you still want to be familiar with the game rules. For anyone new to the game of online slots, there are ways to give yourself an advantage. One of the best ways is to find Free Slots Play websites that let you test your luck at gaming, but without risking your own hard-earned cash while you learn.

If you are looking for good online Free Play Slots websites, check out the following for some of the best gaming:

• Cherry Red. Cherry Red is one of the hottest websites around when it comes to online gaming. This one uses RTG, or Real Time Gaming, software, and that’s a huge advantage in the world of online gaming. It’s one of the premiere software companies and if you test out a few of their games, you’ll see quickly why they are a leader in the casino software industry.
• All Slots. All Slots has a huge selection of online slots and it offers some of the best variety you’ll find online. Downloads are super simple and one-click away from playing live. Whether you like the 3-, 5-, or 7-reel slots games, you will find them here. The website is also adding games regularly and you’ll be surprised to see how different it is every week.
• Rushmore Slots. Rushmore has a wide suite of free slots games and they can be played by clicking on the “instant play” icon. You won’t have to wait through a hefty download or worry about compromising your computer. This one has a Flash-based application that will have you playing in no time.
• Go Casino Slots. Go Casino is another popular slots casino. You will find a wide variety here too in terms of various games. There are tournaments and progressives to play. It’s a great place to get accustomed to the fast game of online gaming without risking your own money.

For anyone wanting to get into online slots play, using the Free Play option is a great way to get used to it. In today’s world, it’s a great option to be able to test the games you want to play before you wager your own cash.

There are still some people out there who believe that slot machines have brains. They believe that a machine is somehow “waiting” to payout to the right person and if they happen to “fool” the machine, that person can be them! We’ve all seen these people. They sit at a slot machine for hours waiting to make back their money. There is also another group that believes that if a machine pays out, then have to either move quickly to another machine or stay with the winning machine to extend their play. The underlying belief is that the machine “knows.” Both of these scenarios give the slot machine a decisive brain– the ability to reason and understand the payout process.

The reality is that a slot machine is run by a Random Number Generator, or RNG, that makes a completely random choice as to what symbols show up on the reels. That’s why you can sit at a slot machine for hours and have nothing, while another time you sit at the same machine and it pays you right away. It isn’t the slot machine making the decision, but rather the RNG deeply imbeded in the machine that is calling the shots.

The only deciding factor the game may have is its payout percentage. That’s how much the machine pays back versus how much is put in. That number though is preset within the machine however. It isn’t a moving number, but rather a one-time programmed number that never changes. Sure you want to play on games that have higher percentage payouts– that only makes sense– but remember that the money it is paying out is over a long period of time, say a year.  You can’t sit at a machine and expect it to pay you because it hasn’t a certain number of times.

There are also some people who think that if a slot machine pays out, then it’s going to NOT payout to recoup the money it lost. Again, this won’t happen because the machine is working on a RNG and that mechanism keeps resetting every time you hit the “spin” button.  There is no such thing as the machine “knowing” it hit out or wanting to strategically recoup its loss. The great thing about slots is that they are random. There is no rhyme or reason to their payouts, but they just payout when the numbers are right/ when the stars align/ when you get lucky. Put away the theories and just have fun!

Although some people don’t believe in superstitions, there are those who do. In particular when playing slots some people will fall back on the most primitive notions. One that comes up all the time is the following scenario:

You are sitting at a slot machine that is not particularly treating you well. You are frustrated, but convince yourself that the next reel spin “has to be” the lucky one. So you sit there longer and keep playing. And playing. And playing. Finally, you get tired and pack up your things to move to another game. No sooner have you situated yourself at another slot machine when you hear “KA-CHING!” coming from the game you just left. Some one moved in on your game the second you left and ended up capitalizing on it. You think- “What the heck?? Why does this always seem to happen to me??”

Has this ever happened? You are not alone if it has. It seems like the game was just “waiting” to payout… but not to you.  Is there any reality to the superstition that the game “just didn’t like” you? Probably not.

Slots games are built on random number generators, or RNGs. These are the inner mechanisms that dictate where the reels are going to fall. They are just what their name suggests- random. You can’t dictate when they make a win or when they pull up another loss. The RNG is constantly coming up with numbers. The only way you would have won, instead of the lucky guy to follow you, is if you managed to push the spin button at exactly the same millisecond as the player who took your seat.  Since you can’t go back in time, reality tells us that you just didn’t win.

Although it’s difficult to take sometimes, the only real stationary thing in slots play is the percentage payout. It may be 95%. That means that over a long LONG period of time the game needs to payout that much. That doesn’t mean that if you play for an hour, you’ll win 95% of the time or 95% of your money back!  It just means that over the course of a year, for example, the slot machine will have paid out 95% back to players as a whole.