A period during which a player experiences consistent losses or poor results in gambling. This concept is commonly applied to slot machines, table games like poker or roulette, and even sports betting, where players perceive a run of bad luck or unfavourable outcomes.
A slot machine or table game is labelled “cold” if it hasn’t paid out significant wins over a period. For example, a slot machine might be avoided if players notice it hasn’t awarded a jackpot in hours. Also, an individual player might describe themselves as “cold” if they’re on a losing streak, such as repeatedly receiving poor hands in poker or losing bets in roulette.
On the other hand, in slots, cold streaks are often tied to a game’s volatility. High-volatility slots may have longer cold streaks but offer larger payouts during rare wins, while low-volatility games provide smaller, more frequent wins.
Unfortunately, many players believe cold streaks indicate an impending win (gambler’s fallacy), but casino games like slots and roulette rely on random number generators (RNGs), making each outcome-independent. For example, a roulette wheel landing on black five times in a row doesn’t increase the odds of red on the next spin. Similarly, a slot machine’s past performance doesn’t influence future results.
When facing a cold streak in casinos, players often respond in various ways, from avoiding “cold” games by switching machines or tables in hopes of finding a “hot” game that’s recently paid out to adjusting bets by reducing wager sizes or taking breaks to avoid chasing losses during a personal losing streak. However, it’s crucial to remember the distinction between myth and reality, as while casinos sometimes display recent payout statistics, these figures don’t predict future outcomes and cold streaks are statistically normal occurrences in games of chance.
