Conceptually, there is a basket of ping pong balls for each reel. Even though the outcomes in both games are chosen completely at random, each pays back 95% of the money played in the long run.Ī slot machine works very much like the RWB Ping Pong Ball Game. The RWB Ping Pong Ball Game is just like a 95% payback slot machine. Calculating this out, we have 0.15(1) + 0.05(16) = 0.15 + 0.80 = 0.95. On the average, then, for every $1 you give me to play, I will return 95 cents to you. Looking at this game from my perspective, I have a 15% chance of paying you $1 and a 5% chance of paying you $16. And when you draw a red ball, I pay you $16.

When you draw a blue ball, I return your dollar. When you draw a white ball, I keep the dollar. You have to pay me $1 each time you want to draw. Now let’s make the game more interesting. Similarly for the blue and red balls.Įven though you drew the balls completely at random, the distribution of colors you recorded will match the distribution of colors in the total population of ping pong balls in the basket. Random does not mean that everything is completely unpredictable and unknowable. Eighty percent of the balls are white, so we expect 80% of your draws to be white. But it is not equally likely that you will draw any particular color. We know that this will happen because you draw the balls at random and each ball is equally likely to be drawn by you.

Also, you can’t tell the balls apart, so you’re no more likely to draw one ball over any other. After you draw the ball, you record the color and put the ball back in the basket.Īs you repeat this action, you will find that the percentage of draws that were red balls gets closer and closer to 80%, the percentage of draws that were blue balls gets closer and closer to 15%, and the percentage of draws that were red balls gets closer and closer to 5%. You draw a ball at random from the basket. There’s a cover on the basket, so you can’t tell what color ball you’re drawing. Eighty ping pong balls are white, 15 are blue, and five are red.

Suppose I have a basket that contains 100 ping pong balls. Let me illustrate how this is possible with my RWB Ping Pong Ball Game. It’s difficult to reconcile the fact that results on slot machines are random and for us to be able to know what will happen overall on a machine. Despite the fact that this governor function does not exist and in all jurisdictions whose regulations I’m familiar with, it is possible for the results on slot machines to be determined at random and for machines to have specific payback percentages.

Blank slot machine with pay reels