Variable state slots and Progressive slot jackpots at Indian owned casinos

I am brand new to your very informative site! thank you. I have a couple slot questions to post. First some background info. The questions are about video slots at Indian owned casinos which I believe are video pull tabs? I read on your section on slot machines explained about variable state slot machines. I am not understanding how I know if a particular slot machine is a variable state slot since I only play the slot called copper dropper which does not have bonus spins. Does it say it is a variable state machine or are all bonus slot machines fall into being a variable state slot machine? Also from what I thought I got from the definition is that the more you play one of these machines the higher the state the machine reaches. Please explain what that means. Also I read that a casual player may leave a machine in a very high state. Please explain again as would think the next player would restart the machine to base and would have to work the machine up to a high state. It's obvious that I don't know how these machines play and I don't think that the ones you gave as examples of being variable state slots are at the casino I go to near my house in Washington state. My next question is on progressive slot machines that are only linked together in one bank of machines at my casino. The max bet wins the jackpot. If someone plays under the max and gets all the red wilds they don't win the progressive jackpot. What if any effect if any does that have on all red wilds showing up again to pay out the jackpot if any? Also is it predetermined that when the jackpot reaches a certain dollar amount(since these are video pull tabs) it will hit on one of the machines that is playing the max bet? What if that predetermined amount is reached on the machine but the max wasn't bet? Because from my experience as I only play the max on these the machines they only goe down to the pre-jackpot dollar amount when the progressive amount is won by betting the max. I hope I have been clear with my questions which ended up being more then a couple. Oh, one more please. If everyone in the bank of progressive machines except me is playing the minimum and since they are pull tab video machines with a predetermined dollar amount to when the jackpot will hit (I think that is what I read) then will my machine hit the jackpot or is the pull tab with the winning jackpot amount also predetermined to only hit on a particular machine? In short is it the machine or the dollar amount that determines when and what machine will be the jackpot machine with the winning rng combo programmed in that machine only? I look forward to your reply, thank you again!

In Washington, they are indeed video pull-tabs. You can't tell what state a machine is in because the state is only known at the server -- the terminals are just display devices. Also, each bet level is drawing from a different pool of tickets, so it's the wager amount that determines which game set you're playing against. There is no RNG involved (at the machine level) in determining the outcome, though there may be randomization of the display of the outcome. In other words, if you draw a $25 winner, the machine can give you a $25 line award or a $5 line award + $20 bonus round outcome.

Read these:

http://www.wsgc.wa.gov/faq/tls_faq.asp
http://www.wsgc.wa.gov/egl/tls.asp

How do you identify a pull-tab machine? You're not saying *all* slots at Indian casinos are pull tabs?

The best solution would be to not play at Indian Casinos particularly if there is no way to determine a class three slot from something else. Video Display Terminals have the "look and feel" of slot machines. There is no way I would trust an Indian casino with either device.

It would be worth going to the states Department of Gaming website to look at the information. For example, in Arizona, things are pretty tightly wound, including the low limit on payback for ALL slot machines (80%). The information is on the site.

The state just send me a DVD with all the tribal casino compacts. I'll look through there and see what I can find.

I know it's been some time since you replied to my post about Washington state Indian run casinos. I would appreciate if in rereading my origianl post if you . got any info off the dvd the state sent you with all the tribal casino compacts that you would share? Also if you have any other info on slot payouts or tips in addition to the percentages of the various casinos in Washington or where I could get more info that would be great! I usually go to Sno Casino as it is closest to my home BUT they are so tight with paying out that I am considering going back to the casinos that I used to win jackpots at least once a month which are up north. I usually play the progressive copper dropper machines at max bet. It seems to me that especially on the $1.35 max ones that they have been raising the jackpot amounts but compensating by not paying out much of the larger non-jackpot payouts. I am curious if the info you got reflects my feeling that the payout percentage is not very good at Snoqualmie Casino compared to say Tulalip? Where can I get the dvd the state sent you? thanks