The best way to maximize your enjoyment of slot is to pick machines based on your personal preferences. While luck plays a large role in winning, knowing what each machine pays, and which symbols match, can help you find a game that suits your style. The pay table can be found on most machines, either printed above and below the area containing the wheels or (especially on video machines) in the “help” screen.
When a player presses the button or pulls the handle, a computer chip inside the machine sets a number corresponding to one of the thousands of possible combinations. The reels then stop at that position, and the machine pays out the corresponding prize. The random-number generator runs dozens of times per second. So if you see another machine hit a jackpot soon after you left, don’t worry: the odds of hitting that exact combination in that split-second are so small that it would be impossible to predict.
Airport slots give airlines the right to operate at certain times, avoiding delays and fuel burn. EUROCONTROL uses slots as part of its flow management role, to manage capacity at airports that are overcrowded and/or short on runway space. These slots are traded, and a single one may be worth millions of pounds. From Middle Dutch slot, from Old Dutch *sluta, from Proto-Germanic *sleutana (“to lock”). Compare sleuth.