As with any game of pure chance, there is no real effective strategic system for winning at slots. You will probably, of course, encounter someone who claims to have developed thefool-proof' slots strategy system but please, ignore such advice. The slots don’t have memory, that’s why it is not wise to try to outwit them. But there are some tips, which you can use as a basic strategy. Try to play slot machines that have the highest payout. Try to find something above 95%. When playing slots you must always know the odds and probabilities of the slot you are playing. Make sure you know the payout schedule before you start pumping in your virtual coins. Determine your losing limit for the day. Stop playing when you reach this losing limit. When playing remember that you can win as well as lose. If you think that the machine you are playing will hardly pay anything out you’d better stop playing it. If the machine pays out good you’d better make higher bets. Don’t make high bets if you are not very lucky with this very slot machine. Find a machine that suits your bank-roll. Play dollar machines if you don’t have much money. Before leaving the casino don’t forget to cash out the credits. It may seem strange but some gamblers forget to do it. Always play what you know.

There are at least two types of slot players.
The first type is a persistent player.
This type of slots player is the one that believes the win is right around the corner. Just a second and the coins will be flying all over the casino!
Players become so persistent if they have already spent a lot of money for this slot and haven’t got anything or if they have found a slot machine that haven’t paid for a long period of time. They know the next big win, or any win is due to pay out. They can’t leave the machine because as soon as they do it will burst forth and pay out large sums. Makes sense if you have lost 0. 00 and have yet to win. The machine must pay.
Many years ago players have their own way of determining whether the machine has not paid out for a long period of time. They touch the coins to see whether they were cold or hot. If the coins were hot they believed that the machine had not paid for a long period of time. The heat of the machines lights, etc would eventually heat the coins.
The chaser.
The player have won and being reinforced by the win gains trust in the slot machine. A sense of comfort exists between the slot machine and the player.

It seems that every type of activity has its own rules of etiquette, and playing the slots is no exception. Though slots are played by one person, still thinks which can and can’t be done during playing slots. First of all decide whether to deal or not to deal with this very slot machine. As a gambler you are sure to have faced such a problem: you want to go to the bar or to the restroom, but still want to keep this slot. How can other understand that your machine is in play? If you hang a coin cup over the handle of the slot machine it will mean that this slot is in play by you. Another signal is to place the coin cup on the seat. If you play in the casino that uses a cashless system you can just leave the jacket or one of your belongings on the seat. In your turn you should respect other players and never sit to a slot that is in play. It happens very often that a player leaves his card and walks away. If it happens to you, put the card on the top of the slot machine. The player will come back and find it easily. Nowadays most casinos allow smoking while playing. Of course, others will hardly like it, so try to make as few inconveniences as possible. Tipping is another difficult issue for many slot players, and many people are unsure how much to tip the attendant that brings the winnings. For jackpots that require a hand payout, the customary tip is one half of one percent of the jackpot.

You can be sure that slot machines are designed to be honest. What you can really doubt is the honesty of some manufactures.
The very first slot machines worked according to the following principle: the wheels spun and then each of them stopped randomly. Modern slots are much different. These machines contain computer chips that are programmed to select numbers randomly. The selected number determines the symbol which then comes out. There is a computer code. It generates the random numbers and determines whether the slot machine is loose or tight. The gaming inspector will examine the machine to make sure it will not deceive the player. The machine has to pay out either to the legal rate or better. Of course the latter happens very seldom.
Because slot machines don’t pay off with every spin, it’s difficult for customers to tell whether a slot machine’s chip has been programmed to pay off less often than is legally required. Inspectors look at brands of machines and their chips before they are installed in casinos, but they can’t inspect each machine. Once inspectors approve a brand of machine, the manufacturers can make changes to individual machines as long as the changes fall within the legal bounds. Manufacturers can change chips to make a machine pay less as long as the inspectors have approved that particular chip.
There is an example when there was inserted an illegal tip which doesn’t allow royal flushes. Similarly, Universal Distributing Company was caught programming machines to show a “near miss” of a jackpot. The player would never hit a jackpot but keep on playing maximum bets. If you think you’re playing a machine that is not honest, you can complain. Inspectors will respond by pulling the slot machine’s chip and seeing if it is an approved chip. Manufacturers that cheat are fined or they can lose their license.

Have you ever met a man who has managed to cheat slots?
It is not a secret that it is next to impossible to cheat a slot machine. But do you know that Tommy Glenn Carmichael managed to improve the payout of the machine to his benefit.
Tommy is now 53 and he can be said to have spent all his life inventing different devices to cheat slot machines. His first device was a kind of a top-button joint. By the way, for this device he was sent to prison. Upon his release, he continued to work on the problem and to devise a better way to cheat the new slot machines. The principle of his next invention was following: he inserted a guitar wire in the slot machine and it made the coins release from the hopper.
Later the slot machines were not any longer mechanical, they were computerized and as a result there appeared a need for a new device. He fooled a manufacturer into believing he was a customer and showing him the inside of a slot machine. From that experience, he learned what he needed to know to beat it. Carmichael invented what he called a “light wand. ” The wand, built with a camera battery and a bright miniature light, was used to shine into the slot machine and blind a sensor, causing the hopper to pay out coins. Carmichael marketed these wands to other slot cheats, making as much as ,000 a day. He drove expensive cars, took cruises, and bought two houses.
But good thing will end one day. For Carmichael, they ended in front of a slot machine at Circus, where he was caught with the light wand when he tried to run from security. While charges from that incident were later dropped, he was caught under similar circumstances in Laughlin and later Atlantic City. By this time, authorities had tapped his phone and recorded conversations with other cheats who used his device. He served three years’ probation and lost both homes. He has been banned from entering any casino.