Slot Machine payout?
I was reading the post "Entering a Contest", and it made me think of problems created by playing against yourself. 30 years ago (pre PC era) I argued that the hold on a five line slot machine (three lines plus diagonals) would exceed the hold of the same number of coins played on a single line (assuming no 5th coin bonus).
My reasoning was that the reel symbols were staggered in such a way that a single win would nearly ensure there was no win on the other four lines, which was not true if the coins were played independently. My opponent argued that all lines were random selections, and how they were grouped made no difference. The obvious grouping was the jackpot symbol, which only appeared once on each reel.
I've never gone back to figure it out. Anyone know who was right?
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