You don’t need to be a gambling veteran or genius to play slots, in fact, you don’t need to know anything about gambling at all, and because of this fact most people don’t understand their inner workings – which makes it that much easier to explain away a losing streak with some false logic.

Like other myths or legends, they get passed from person to person until eventually they assume some resemblance of truth. While most of these misconceptions are mostly harmless, they can cause frustration in players. Let’s take a look at some of the most common ones and see if we can bust them wide open.

Someone hit a jackpot on a machine you just left

If you’re looking to play online slots, Mecca has an incredible selection of jackpot games that pay out more than we’d care to admit! Our lucky winners have skipped away with over £6,270,000 in 2018 and 2019. We’ve even had an odds-defying double jackpot winner on Cleopatra Megajackpots. Licensed and regulated by The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (licences 13 C1 & C2) for non-GB customers playing on our online site. Licensed and regulated by The Gambling Commission under licence 2396 for customer playing in our land-based bingo clubs. Mecca Bingo is part of the Rank Group. MECCA® and the MECCA logos are registered trade. If you love to play online slots, you’re in good company at Mecca. We’re home to some of the nation’s favourite slots and casino games, with everything from timeless classics like Rainbow Riches to blockbusting movie and TV game slots like Jumanji. With hundreds of games to choose from, with us you’ll be spoilt for choice.

So, you’ve just finished up at your machine without any decent pay-out and you start looking around the casino for the one that will win you a jackpot. All of a sudden you hear the jackpot alarms going off and you look back to see that the machine you had just left has paid out huge to the very next spin.

That should have been your jackpot, right? If you’d just spun once more, you’d have won big!

This is easily one of the most common misconceptions about slot machines and the way they work. Slot machines have a computer chip inside that runs a random number generator that continuously cycles through numbers – even while the machine is not being used. These numbers correspond to stops on the wheel that displays the symbols on screen. If you had remained at the machine and played that one extra time, it’s highly unlikely you would have stopped the number generator at that exact nano-second to display that same combination of numbers. Truth be told, the person who sat down at that machine after you, had no better or worse chance of winning it than you did.

You can predict the odds of winning by counting the symbols

Another common misconception is that you can predict the stops on a wheel in a slot machine by counting the symbols and doing a little maths. Let’s say you count 20 symbols on each wheel of a three-wheel slot machine – so you work out that 20 x 20 x 20 = 8,000 and put your odds at 1 in 8,000 of hitting a jackpot. Well, unfortunately, if it were that easy, I’m pretty sure slots would have been removed from casinos decades ago. The aforementioned random number generator actually generates a sequence of stops for each wheel each time the machine spins, so if the number generated for this spin is 256, then your working out looks more like 256 x 256 x 256 = 16,777,216 possible combinations! The reason slots can offer such huge pay-outs is because of their ability to generate millions and millions of possible combinations – they work out really well for the casino.

A machine that has not given you a win is due to hit

You always want to believe that if you could sit there long enough eventually the machine will pay you out because of some statistical measurement you’ve taken. Unfortunately, there’s no actual way to determine when a payout is imminent.

Every time you spin the wheels it’s considered a random occurrence and has nothing to do with what has happened in previous spins, or how long you’ve been playing. Don’t allow this misconception to keep you playing longer than you should, or for longer than you can afford.

Knowing when to stop is incredibly important in gambling, and not knowing can have severe consequences on your bank balance.

Slot machines can be loosened or tightened with the press of a button

This one actually crops up a lot when people talk about their pay-outs from sots, and in reality, the truth is much the same as the previous old sores already mentioned. The machines’ computer chip determines their pay-out percentage and this is set in the factory. For the casino to change the pay-out ratio would mean replacing the chip entirely – which requires far more work than simply flicking a switch or pressing a button. Casinos typically decide on pay-out percentage before purchasing the machines and have them shipped in ready to go. It is far too expensive and time-consuming to switch chips every time you decide you want feel like upping the house edge.

The temperature of coins affects the machine

As far as these myths go, this is a weird one and sounds more like an “old wives’ tale” than anything else. Slot machines are simply not affected by temperature – so you can stop rubbing that coin now. It doesn’t matter if you play old or new, hot or cold coins, they will not affect your odds. After all, the coin slot is a mechanical device and has no feeling.

Using the auto play feature pays less than clicking

This myth speaks specifically to online casinos and playing slots online but can also be translated to brick-and-mortar casinos where people believe that pulling the lever pays out more than pressing the button. The random number generator and the chip inside the machine have no way of determining how the reels were spun, and even if they could, there would be no benefit to the casino to pay out less for the autoplay function – it is simply a myth.

You can’t do anything to improve your chance of winning

With all the talk up until now about randomness, wit might surprise you that this is indeed a myth that can be busted. Just because you can’t do anything to affect the outcome of any given spin at a slot machine, doesn’t mean that there aren’t ways to improve your chances of winning overall.

Not all slot machines pay out at the same rate – with some having pay-out rates from 85% to 98%. You always have a chance at winning regardless of the pay-out rates, but the higher the rate the higher your overall return is likely to be. So, technically, you can improve your chances of winning by carefully picking which slots to play. You can also improve your chances in online slots by taking advantage of bonuses and rewards available from the online casinos – the house is typically stacked in a casino so take every advantage you can get.

So if you want to try your hand at busting some of these myths for yourself, or just want to see what all the fuss with slots is about, why not give it a try on one of our slots games?

Alternatively, if all this talk of myths and legends still has you a little wary of slot machines, why not try out a game of online bingo?

We’re here to help you keep it fun – remember to set your deposit limit. Click here for more details on the safer gambling tools available including reality checks and the ability to take a break from your gaming.

If you love to play online slots, you’re in good company at Mecca. We’re home to some of the nation’s favourite slots and casino games, with everything from timeless classics like Rainbow Riches to blockbusting movie and TV game slots like Jumanji. With hundreds of games to choose from, with us you’ll be spoilt for choice. So to help you decide, we’ve put together a list of our top ten most popular games. Without further ado, here’s the crème de la crème of online slots at Mecca…

Slingo Rainbow Riches

Even if you’re abeginner, odds are you’ve heard of Rainbow Riches before. Now you can enjoythis ever-popular slot with all the thrills of bingo thrown into the mix too.

When you play Slingo Rainbow Riches online, this combination of features means double the fun. Set up like a classic bingo board, you get 10 spins in each round, each revealing 5 numbers. The more lines you fill, the better your chance of winning amazing bonuses like magical multipliers.

Rainbow Jackpots

At the end of thisrainbow, you’ll find a pot full of golden prizes, with a top payout of £250,000from the reels. There’s also the chance to win a Daily Jackpot – this prizemust be won every 24 hours.

It’s not hard to see why our customers love to play Rainbow Jackpots online. The win potential here is huge and it gets even bigger when the lucky Leprechaun pops up. One little puff on his magical pipe and you could win surprise prizes like free spins and top bonuses.

Cinderella’s Ball

There’s everychance of a happily ever after with this next game on our top ten list. Ourcustomers love to play Cinderella’s Ball online for its magical fairy-tale theme.

But there’s more than just a dashing prince and a missing glass slipper on offer here. With the Magical Ballroom Bonus, you could win up to 800x your stake. So if you’re looking for a slot with fantastic features and a classic story, this one will fit you perfectly!

Diamond Mine

Megaways has gonedown the mine and many of our players are getting their head-lamps on too. With117,649 paylines, there’s never been so many different ways to strike gold!

Play Diamond Mine online and when you unlock the Strike Gold Bonusfeature, you can dig into unlimited retriggering multipliers every time youwin. There’s no doubt about it, this is by far the most explosive game in ourrundown of the most popular online slots at Mecca.

Rainbow Riches

An absoluteclassic. That’s the only way to describe Rainbow Riches. When you go searchingfor this pot of gold, there are three ways to multiply your winnings; the Roadto Riches bonus, the Pot of Gold Bonus and the Wishing Well Bonus.

But the best thing when you play Rainbow Riches online? The Lucky Wilds. Land five across the same line and you could win up to 500x your stake. No wonder our players love it so much.

Reactoonz

We’re going to outerspace for this next slot in our top ten list. Played on a 7×7 grid, ourcustomers are having an absolute blast on this cascading reel style slot withan extra-terrestrial theme.

Naturally, the bonus features when you play Reactoonz online are out of this world too. The Implosion feature transforms 3 – 6 symbols into wilds, adding another dimension to this intergalactic adventure. Prepare for lift-off and you could land on a payout of £250,000!

Jumanji

When you play Jumanji online,the unpredictable action of the hit 1995 movie is recreated in your livingroom. Wild Rhinos could charge across the reels at any time!

But the real stampede comes with the incredible bonus features. Land three or more Jumanji symbols and you’ll have a chance to roll the famous board game dice for Free Spins. And don’t forget, if this is your kind of game, you’ll love our collection of movie and TV game slots.

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Fluffy Favourites

If you love cuteanimals, you’ll love cuddling up to this fun and fluffy slot. It’s like a toyshop and a petting zoo rolled into one, with an adorable design and hugeprizes.

Play Fluffy Favourites online at Mecca and make the most of the ToyBox feature. Triggered by 3 or more scattered Claw symbols, you can use the arcade-style claw to pick prizes out of the pile, which could award you up to 100x your total bet.

Reel King Potty

When it comes to majesticthemed slots, Reel King Potty reigns supreme! You’re cordially invited to apalace packed with four progressive jackpots that constantly grow until they’rehit.

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On top of these amazing jackpots, there are some right royal prizes up for grabs too. The Jester Hat is the wild in this game and substitutes for all symbols. When you play Reel King Potty online, you could win up to 1,000x your total bet. Long live the king!

Cleopatra

All the gold ofAncient Egypt is up for grabs when you play Cleopatra online.Inspired by the famous Queen, this popular 20-payline slot is packed with freespins and scatter bonuses. If you’ve played in one of our bingo clubs, chancesare you’ll have seen this game there, too.

Make your way across the great pyramids and keep your eyes peeled for the Sphinx. Three or more of these mythical creatures appearing anywhere on the reels starts the Cleopatra Bonus. Not only do you earn 15 free spins, but all the wins are 3x their normal value!

So there you haveit. Our ten most popular online slots. We hope you enjoyed reading the list. Ifyou’re new to our collection of online slots and games, you canfind out more about online slotsterminology on our blog.

And if you’re still not sure where to start, read our guideon how to playonline slots.

All the best!