I want to clarify - the wheel that malfunctioned had no multiplier. What I
thought actually happened was ball landed on 25 and should have beeped once
that you won 25 and stopped. Instead it seemed to "hang" and beeped
repeatedly, and then the 1000 payout came up - as though it rang up 25 and then 25 and
25 and 25 and 25 etc - (though I didn't see these credits show up in the
window - that is just my impression of what may have happened). It didn't seem
to me that the real payoff was 1000 and that the ball was stuck in the 25
slot instead of going halfway around the wheel to get to the 1000 slot. My
whole impression was that the ball/payout were stuck in some way and I thought
the payout hadn't happened at all until the attendant paid the "jackpot."
As for wheels creating a misimpression - definitely they do - you might
naively look and see 20 combinations and think you have a 1 in 20 chance of
hitting each slot (like a manual "wheel of fortune"). But anyone who plays
machines with bonus wheels quickly realizes that the wheel is for display only, and
isn't an actual mechnical wheel. Should regulations require slot
manufacturers to state this somewhere on the machine? Maybe. But they don't.
Similarly if you ever see a blackjack table with a bonus wheel, those
bonuses are also non-random and possibly even more "deceptive" looking.
Naive slot players (and even VP players) often self-deceive themselves as
they look at any disply. Haven't you seen people yelling and calling over
friends as the Double Double and woops - nothing symbols come up on Double
Diamond and other slots? Haven't you gasped yourself as 4 to a Royal comes up and
then a 2 of the same suit and maybe even said to a friend or person next to
you -- "I almost got it!" ?? Of course all those "almosts" and "near misses"
really aren't near-misses - they just look that way. The only thing that
counts is when you hit.
Yesterday I was in a casino playing a Monte Carlo wheel-of-fortune type
machine. They are pretty good with a lot of payouts, keeping you playing a long
time. I was hitting a lot of 100 coin bonuses (but not the wheel) and the
machine next to me was empty. A lady was playing the actual "Wheel of Fortune"
machine next to that and losing. I said to her, "These Monte Carlos" are
pretty good." (and she saw me hitting), so she moved over. 5 minutes later,
after a couple of wheel spins, she hits for 1000 coins! The so-called
near-miss was mine -- 'Why didn't I play that machine?' I thought. Of course the
pundits will tell you that my timing hitting the button would have been
different and I never would have hit that 1000 coin wheel combination. But still,
self-deluded as we all are, I chided myself for telling that lady how good
the machine was, and then not playing it myself! (she tipped the attendant who
paid her - shouldn't she have tipped me for advising her to move?). Oh well
- such is life!
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