Travis,

Your idea that a machine is ripe is a little flawed. To be legal in most if not all gaming districts, a machine must be TOTALLY random on each pull. This means the odds of hitting are exactly the same on each pull. In reality it means a machine does not ever have to hit a jackpot of any kind OR it can hit the top jackpot every time. I think this is why they call it GAMBLING!

I have seen poker machines hit 3 royal flushes on 3 consectutive pulls. Play one off and it comes right back, twice.

By law, a casino may only set the odds, not the time to pay a jackpot.