That’s an interesting question. It’s something I’m aware of, but it’s usually not something I actively try to account for. As you said, the majority of the time it’s going to be very hard to verify, short of an in with a slot tech or someone else who would know such a thing in the casino. And because many of these games require a big sample to really reveal anything, trying to chalk up a bad run to a possible chip change is often too much of a leap.
According to this informative video from Gamble Smart’s YouTube, a slot tech needs to physically change software chips, as you said. This video, also from his channel, covers the question of “how could you know the RTP on a specific machine”? In short, it would be damn hard, as during his sample of 300 spins on three different RTP settings, the results were all over the place and not in line with what you’d think the return should be based on the setting. Yes, if he did 10,000 spins on each setting, you’d surely see more logical results.
He also notes, “In any individual session, you’re not gonna notice any kind of swings of the RTP.” Yes, in your Legend of the 3X 2X Phoenix example, you could actually notice the intervals between +1 fireballs increasing if you happen to be recording the numbers. But that’s a rare situation.
Long story short, having a slot tech tell you a specific machine’s RTP would sure be useful. Short of that, you’d need to invest too much money into a machine to begin to try to ballpark what its RTP is set at. If you happen to notice something over what feels like a big sample, post it here. Maybe others have experienced the same. Then maybe we could try to adjust starting points.
Ben Rosenthal
