When you play slots, you’re wagering money based on the odds of hitting certain symbols. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as you know how to manage your bankroll and avoid chasing losses. You can also learn more about slot games by reading about their pay tables, which detail how much each symbol pays out over time and often include the return-to-player percentage, or RTP.
Essentially, when you insert cash or, in the case of ticket-in, ticket-out machines, paper with a barcode into a slot, you activate the reels to spin and stop to rearrange the symbols. When a winning combination is lined up, you earn credits based on the paytable and any special features of the game.
You might think that luck determines whether or not you win, but in reality, the results of a slot game are determined by random-number generators, or RNGs, which generate thousands of potential outcomes per second. Each possible result is assigned a different symbol, and the combinations that appear on the reels are influenced by the weight of those symbols.
From there, the computer programs set a number to correspond with each symbol. This is the same principle behind lottery numbers, but at a much faster pace—and more sophisticated.