Slots: Payout Process

Slot machines have a whole host of different variations, and the payout process for these may also differ from one another. Today, payout schemes for slots can run well over the dozens. However, in its most basic design, the payout amount a winning player receives is determined by how deep the notches in the discs connected to the reels are.

To simplify things a bit further, let's examine this type of payout process in a slot machine that requires only a single type of coin. Also, the machine we'll be examining only has images that correspond to a single winning combination.

The moment a player drops a coin in our slot machine, the coin will automatically fall inside a transparent case. The bottom part of this transparent case is really a movable shutter which is attached to a metal linkage. In most cases, this metal linkage is the device which keeps the shutter from opening.

The only time the shutter will open is when a player hits the jackpot. What happens here is that once the slot machine detects that someone hits the jackpot, number three stopper will automatically move up the linkage, which in turn will open the shutter, thereby making it possible for the coins inside the transparent case to drop out of the slot machine.

There are three discs in a typical slot machine, with each having a notch that corresponds to each stop position on the reel. The jackpot stop has a notch that is deeper compared to the other stops. This ensures that only when all three reels land on the jackpot stop will the shutter open to drop the coins out of the machine.

The first stopper will automatically shift to the left the moment the first reel hits the jackpot stop. It will move farther to the left since the first reel hit the jackpot stop. If that isn't the case, the stopper will still move left although it won't move as far left as it would've if the first reel hit the jackpot stop. The second and third reels and stoppers also acts the same way as the first.

Let's say only the third reel lands on the jackpot stop, what will happen then? What happens in this case is that the third stopper won't move to the left most side into the notch. This is because the second stopper has a device attached to it that will prevent the third stopper from going past through it. Same thing goes for the first and second stoppers.

So unless all three reels land on the jackpot, the player will receive nothing. This is only a basic example of the payout process for slots, since most slot machines have a more complex payout process.

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