Remember the movie National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation, when gambling fever consumes Chevy Chase’s character, Clark W. Griswold? He goes on a losing streak to beat all losing streaks while his son, Rusty, wins four cars by playing the slot machines. Maybe Clark would have done better if he had read Probability For Dummies! In this article, you discover the basic ideas behind slot machines and how they work, so that you can get past the myths and develop a strategy based on sound probability.

• How Do You Stop A Slot Machine With Your Phone Calls
• How Do You Stop A Slot Machine With Your Phones
• How Do You Stop A Slot Machine With Your Phone Numbers

Understanding average payout

When casinos advertise that their slot machines pay out an average of 90 percent, the fine print they don’t want you to read says that you lose 10 cents from each dollar you put into the machines in the long term. (In probability terms, this advertisement means that your expected winnings are minus 10 cents on every dollar you spend every time the money goes through the machines.)

You aren’t really there—you’re with the machine and that’s all you’re with.” New kinds of machines are key. With multi-line slot machines, say you put in a hundred coins.

Suppose you start with $100 and bet a dollar at a time, for example. After inserting all $100 into the slot, 100 pulls later you’ll end up on average with $90, because you lose 10 percent of your money. If you run the $90 back through the machine, you’ll end up with 90 percent of it back, which is 0.90 x 90 = $81. If you run that amount through in 81 pulls, you’ll have $72.90 afterward (0.90 x 81 = 72.90). If you keep going for 44 rounds, on average, the money will be gone, unless you have the luck of Rusty Griswold!

How many pulls on the machine does your $100 give you at this rate? Each time you have less money to run through the machine, so you have fewer pulls left. If you insert $1 at a time, you can expect 972 total pulls in the long term with these average payouts (that’s the total pulls in 44 rounds). But keep in mind that casinos are designing slot machines to go faster and faster between spins. Some are even doing away with the handles and tokens by using digital readouts on gaming cards that you put into the machines. The faster machines can play up to 25 spins per hour, and 972 spins divided by 25 spins per minute is 38.88 minutes. You don’t have a very long time to enjoy your $100 before it’s gone!

1. Belief that you will win back money that you lost on a slot machine. Developing a personal relationship or bond with a particular slot machine. Feeling irritation when you see someone else playing on “your” slot machine. Playing a slot machine longer than planned. Spending more money on a slot machine than you can afford.
2. Introducing URComped Slot Machine Finder. URComped's Slot Machine Finder is a product of the URComped community where we have received uploads from thousands of members that have tagged pictures, videos, slot machines, and casinos of over 3,000 different slot machines at hundereds of casinos.

The worst part? Casinos often advertise that their “average payouts” are even as high as 95 percent. But beware: That number applies only to certain machines, and the casinos don’t rush to tell you which ones. You really need to read or ask about the fine print before playing. You can also try to check the information on the machine to see if it lists its payouts. (Don’t expect this information to be front and center.)

Implementing a simple strategy for slots

Advice varies regarding whether you should play nickel, quarter, or dollar slot machines and whether you should max out the number of coins you bet or not (you usually get to choose between one and five coins to bet on a standard slot machine). In this section, you’ll find a few tips for getting the most bang for your buck (or nickel) when playing slot machines.

Basically, when it comes to slot machines, strategy boils down to this: Know the rules, your probability of winning, and the expected payouts; dispel any myths; and quit while you’re ahead. If you win $100, cash out $50 and play with the rest, for example. After you lose a certain amount (determined by you in advance), don’t hesitate to quit. Go to the all-you-can-eat buffet and try your luck with the casino food; odds are it’s pretty good!

Choosing among nickel, quarter, and dollar machines

The machines that have the higher denominations usually give the best payouts. So, between the nickel and quarter slots, for example, the quarter slots generally give better payouts. However, you run the risk of getting in way over your head in a hurry, so don’t bet more than you can afford to lose. The bottom line: Always choose a level that you have fun playing at and that allows you to play for your full set time limit.

Deciding how many coins to play at a time

When deciding on the number of coins you should play per spin, keep in mind that more is sometimes better. If the slot machine gives you more than two times the payout when you put in two times the number of coins, for example, you should max it out instead of playing single coins because you increase your chances of winning a bigger pot, and the expected value is higher. If the machine just gives you k times the payout for k coins, it doesn’t matter if you use the maximum number of coins. You may as well play one at a time until you can make some money and leave so your money lasts a little longer.

For example, say a quarter machine pays 10 credits for the outcome 777 when you play only a single quarter, but if you play two quarters, it gives you 25 credits for the same outcome. And if you play the maximum number of quarters (say, four), a 777 results in 1,000 credits. You can see that playing four quarters at a time gives you a better chance of winning a bigger pot in the long run (if you win, that is) compared to playing a single quarter at a time for four consecutive tries.

The latest slot machine sweeping the nation is the so-called “penny slot machine.” Although it professes to require only a penny for a spin, you get this rate only if you want to bet one penny at a time. The machines entice you to bet way more than one penny at a time; in fact, on some machines, you can bet more than 1,000 coins (called lines) on each spin — $10 a shot here, folks. Because these machines take any denomination of paper bill, as well as credit cards, your money can go faster on penny machines than on dollar machines because you can quickly lose track of your spendings. Pinching pennies may not be worth it after all!

Every year, my husband and I take our kids on a two-week trip that differs from our other holidays in one significant way: We completely unplug from the internet. No phones, no email, no Facebook. We don't even check the news.

How Do You Stop A Slot Machine With Your Phone Calls

At first it's hard. I feel twitchy, unsettled and panicky. After a few days, though, amazing things start to happen. We talk more and dream up new ideas. We read more books. Even the boys become content to stare out windows on long car rides.

But it never lasts. No matter how much I vow to resist the smartphone when I come home, I soon find myself resuming old habits: answering texts while making dinner, reading articles while brushing my teeth and ignoring my husband while I comment on Facebook posts.

READ MORE: Five apps to quit your smartphone addiction

Worried that I might have a problem and wondering how to detox, I called David Greenfield, the founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction.

How Do You Stop A Slot Machine With Your Phones

I'm far from alone, he confirmed, and it's nothing new. Since the 1990s, he says, dozens of studies have documented the addictive nature of the internet. And access to the internet has only intensified with the popularity of smartphones.

Brain studies, in particular, reveal how vulnerable we are to the unpredictability of what we might find with each swipe. Reward areas light up. Our brains surge with feel-good chemicals, such as dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin. Down go levels of chemicals that signal anxiety and stress, including cortisol and norepinephrine.

Meanwhile, an endless series of beeps, dings and flashing lights reminds us that a potential reward might be waiting. It's like carrying a casino in our pockets.

'The internet is the world's largest slot machine,' Greenfield says. 'And the smartphone is the world's smallest slot machine.'

ADDICTION STATISTICS

- Between 3 and 10 per cent of people find smartphones interfere with life and relationships in detrimental ways.
- 33 per cent reported that their phones made them feel frustrated.
- Students unlock their devices 60 to 80 times a day for three minutes at a time.
- Sixteen percent of people in one survey said they woke up multiple times a night to check their phones.
- 77 percent said their phones made them happy.

The more we let our phones dominate our lives, the worse off we may be. In one 2014 study, students who had to sit quietly in a lecture hall for an hour without access to their phones suffered in direct relation to how much they normally used their phones to begin with.

The minority of the group who weren't big phone users didn't have much trouble with the task. For everyone else though, anxiety spiked early. Those uncomfortable feelings plateaued among moderate phone users after about 20 minutes. But anxiety levels started out higher and continued to climb for the entire hour among heavy users.

Other studies have shown that just seeing a smartphone in a room can hinder people's ability to complete complex mental tasks and even form relationships. Also common are phantom vibrations and imagined ring tones.

'The theory is that part of the brain is thinking about the phone,' says psychologist Larry Rosen, co-author of the forthcoming book The Distracted Mind: How to Focus When Technology Hijacks Your Brain.

And no wonder. 'It contains everything in our world. It is essentially an infinite space that contains our life.'

Given the pleasure they bring and the anxiety they can alleviate, reducing dependence on our phones can seem impossible. When I told Rosen that I wanted to use my phone less, I was relieved when he said going cold turkey was a bad idea and wouldn't work.

HOW TO WEAN OFF YOUR PHONE

Instead, he recommends a gradual strategy that he has seen work for many people, including himself. First, he suggests announcing what you are doing publicly so that people won't expect immediate responses from you. Then, set a timer, starting with an interval of 15 minutes and that will increase over time.

His goal is 30 minutes between checks. At the end of each interval, a minute or two of phone time is allowed. During intervals, leave your silenced phone nearby to reduce the stress of wondering where it is.

I started my detox on a Wednesday afternoon with a Facebook post that elicited mostly supportive comments and one request for my iPad since I wouldn't be using it anymore. Then I set the timer.

Over the next few days, I learned some things about myself. For one thing, my urge to look at my phone is strongest during life's lulls: waiting in lines, waiting for red lights to turn green, and waiting for people to return from bathrooms. And while my 15-minute intervals quickly became 30-minute intervals without much trouble, waiting for the alarm was hardest in the hour or two after my kids go to bed.

Another thing I learned is that I don't really like alarms to tell me what to do. After a couple of days, I stopped setting the timer and instead paid attention to the moments when I felt compelled to unlock my phone. Whenever I could, I chose to look at the world instead.

How Do You Stop A Slot Machine With Your Phone Numbers

When my phone inevitably starts to control our relationship again, I plan to use a day or two of intervals to get back on track. Better yet, I'll schedule our next device-free holiday.