The Most Common Pokie Myths and Facts
Pokies are the most popular form of gambling in Australia. There are more than 200,000 machines dotted around the country. Australia is home to 18% of the world’s pokies despite making up only 0.3% of the global population! Pokie myths are rife among players. They believe all sorts of nonsense to explain winning and losing streaks. Most pokie myths are exactly that, myths. But some are actually true.
Poker machines are about having fun. The fact they make it possible to win money is a bonus. Try your luck at blackjack, roulette, or poker if you want to make money consistently through casino gambling.
Pokies are a game of chance. There is no skill involved in most of them. There are some, however, where the user’s input affects the game. These are few and far between.
The Most Common of Pokie Myths
Players claiming they can predict where the reels stop is the most common of pokie myths. Anyone who claims they can do this is a barefaced liar; do not take them seriously. A typical five-reel machine has around 102 million possible combinations. Do you believe someone can see a pattern in this many potential results? No, neither do we.
Some people think they can predict when a machine is due to payout. This is another common pokie myth. This may have been possible many years ago when machines were not that complex. Modern pokies, however, have advanced algorithms that determine winning and losing spins. Not even the game’s engineers can work it out because it is entirely random.
A machine is just as likely to payout, or not, on any given spin. It does not mean it is about to award a big win just because the player has gone through a barren spell. Nor does it mean the pokie will stop paying out because it has awarded many prizes. The machine’s algorithm dictates everything. The same algorithm aims to reach the machine’s RTP, or house edge, over billions of spins. Pay your money, enjoy the game, and hopefully win.
Other Common Myths
Gamblers like to blame anything other than luck for their lack of winning. This is why pokie myths are so common.
Changing the speed you press the spin button affecting your chances of winning is one of the newer pokies myths. Betting fast or slow has precisely zero bearings on if you win or not. Likewise, using the autoplay mode does not alter how the machine works. In fact, online casinos prefer you to use the autoplay mode because your games progress faster.
The time of day you play pokies does not change your chances of winning. This pokie myth stems from land-based casinos where players believed casinos alter the RTP of their machines so they payout less during peak times. This is entirely untrue; I refer you back to the talk of algorithms.
Furthermore, casinos do not rig their pokie machines, not even online casinos. Why? Because they do not need to. They clearly display their RTP on the machine, and it tells you how much the machine wins for the casino. Online casinos, where there are thousands of pokies to choose from, make ridiculous sums of money through sheer volume. Rigging their machines is possible, but the casino would shut down if they were caught. It is not worth the risk.
This is, however, one of the pokie myths that have a touch of truth to it. Some unscrupulous online casinos use fake pokies or pirated versions of the software. They pretend Game A is by a well-known publisher, but it is a copy designed to relieve you of your money. This is why it is so important to play at casinos that have a license. The online casinos in our reviews are all tested by us personally to ensure they are fair.
