This worries me a bit. EA has an algorithm that determines the outcome of an online game based on the players previous win or loss streak. This keeps the player participating in the games...they don't win too much nor lose too much. We know the UI is just that, and the actual data possibly isn't random...this isn't a mechinical machine. It would be smart for totem to keep track of each customer and have a % win and loss for all games that they play so they do not get discouraged nor win too much. Totem doesn't show odds and they change the algorithim mid game so anything is possible.
You are right. I assumed that the algorithm had been tuned to intice people to keep playing, like in Candy Crush, which is one of the most successful incentivising games of chance around at the moment. That modifies the opportunities, based on the player's strategy, and you can game it. So it lets you win, just before it expects you to abandon hope. If you don't touch the game for a week, it increases your chances of success. If you play well and frequently, it makes the game harder. And, of course, it offers you a chance to spend money when it thinks you are getting pissed with trying.
I don't think the scratch game is anywhere near that sophisticated. It is sufficiently random, as to create extreme winners and losers. Presumably the net gain/loss of players in on a bell curve and people at either end of the curve will give up pretty quickly, stopping spending either because they see it as hopeless or because they've got what they want and don't need to play any more.
Totem would make more money out of an algorithm that engineered small losses and regular doses of hope. They need something less binary than SECs and jokers, maybe a points system, so the algorithm can give players regular small rewards for ***** credits.
