As of January, playing the slot machines in your local pub, amusement arcade or club means a higher payout when you hit straight cherries! UK Culture Secretary Andy Burnham confirmed that UK gaming industry lobbied for and received an increase in the winnings received from a slot machine, giving the industry a much needed boost.

The live slot payouts have been increased from £35 to £70, possibly bringing in an additional 20% in revenue for the UK with this the second increase in two years. And the Treasury is thrilled with the prospect of another £27 million per year from the VAT.

Fans of the ‘one armed bandit’, although most of the machines are now push-button, are delighted at the fact that the lobbyists also managed to get the maximum stake set up from 50p to £1 which will in turn prompt the larger jackpots to play out. More players are coming out, betting higher and winning bigger, making everyone happier, the gamers, proprietors of the establishments which house the slot machines, and the government who collect revenue.

Although the payout is now permitted to be larger than before, the actual odds of winning are really the same. Slot machines are no longer mechanical, they are equipped with a microchip called a RNG, a Random Number Generator. A RNG does pretty much what one would assume, it randomly creates number sequences every millisecond. It has no memory, there is, therefore no system to beat. It is by all counts completely random.

However, the slots never seem to lose their excitement. All the colorful graphics, thrilling sound effects and flashing light combine to make you and your button-pushing a part of the action. And it works! And when, randomly, you hit on the magic sequence, that perfect combination of matching images, and all the flashing lights blink at once, the whistles go off together signaling that you are the big winner, that is the moment that makes it all worth while! The universe comes together for that moment in an unrandom pattern just for you! One arm bandit lovers of the world unite!

By Hollie Wilcox
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