I was so close. I was playing my favorite slot machine and I almost hit the jackpot. The last symbol was just off the pay line. It’s got to hit soon.

This is a common experience that happens to slot players all around the world on a daily basis. They get what is known as a ‘near miss’€ and they are sure the machine is due to hit the jackpot.

First, let’€™s examine what happens to a player internally when a ‘€œnear miss’€ occurs. Scientists have studied and found that the body reacts the same way for that split second as if the jackpot had been hit. The body releases adrenaline and endorphins the same way it would react to a jackpot really being won.

This is where the problem occurs for players. They were so close to receiving that jackpot, in fact their body reacted as if they did win for a second, that this drives that need to fulfill this desire even more. It also reinforces the belief that the machine is soon to hit.

Let’€™s take a look into the internal workings of the slot machine. The RNG which is the random number generator that determines the slot machine outcome produces a sequence of numbers. That sequence of numbers corresponds to a result on the screen. The RNG is going through thousands of number sequences all the time. The problem is the number sequence that produced the near miss may be thousands of numbers away from the sequence that results in the actual jackpot.

We all get excited when we are so close to hitting the jackpot, but don’€™t let your emotions override your logical thought process. Make sure you do not play that machine one second longer than you intended because you received a near miss. As you can see a near miss in no way indicates you are close to hitting the jackpot.