When it comes to slots, knowing a little bit of statistics will help you navigate the world of probabilities and make sound decisions about your bankroll. You’ll also get past the myths and misconceptions that can lead to gambling addiction. Just ask Chevy Chase’s character in the movie National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation, who was consumed by a gambling fever that led to him attempting to win the elusive $4 million jackpot on the Megabucks machine.

In a slot game, the pay table is a table that displays a list of symbols and their payout values. It will also display any bonus features that the game has, if there are any. This information is usually displayed visually, with a picture of each symbol and how much you can win for hitting a specific combination of them on a pay line.

Modern slot games are very complex, with multiple pay lines, a variety of symbols and bonus events. This can mean that there are many combinations of symbols that could hit a jackpot, which makes the math more complicated. And even if there are only 30 different combinations, the programmer has to figure out how to distribute those wins evenly over the long term.

The odds of hitting a particular combination are actually quite low. But that’s part of what makes the game exciting – you can never be sure when your next big hit will happen. And if you can’t win the jackpot, there’s always the next spin – or the one after that.