We live in Las Vegas.
On average, we will go to a casino once a week for a buffet and movie, and then play $40 in nickel video poker. (At this low amount, we get to play more hands on our limited budget.)
On some days, we will win $100-$500 just playing that $40.
On other days, ten minutes later, that $40 is gone.
I would say those “lucky days” are about 1 in 5 days - meaning 4 times we come out with “zip”, and maybe one time we will come out ahead.
This isn’t a science; sometimes 10 visits to the casino playing video poker winning absolutely nothin’. Other times there will be two, or three visits in a row where we might come out with something.
The “trick” - once you have more than doubled your money, learn how to stand up and walk away. If you can do that, and play video poker with some sense of strategy, you can play longer and maybe come out ahead every once in awhile.
Still, over the long term, it is rare (unheard of) for “lucky streaks” to last longer than a couple times in a row.
However, memory is selective. You remember those good days and tend to forget those other days. Every local in Las Vegas can tell you about the time they hit two Royal Flushes back to back or the time they won $10,000. They tend to reminisce less frequently about the two months they didn’t win anything, or about the time they took a nice jackpot and stupidly put it all back in the machines and lost it.
Rule of thumb - only take the amount of money you can afford to lose and play it. Once that is gone, go see a show, hit a buffet, take a walk, go take a nap, whatever. In our case, we just go home.
And if you win, plan in advance when you will call it a day! Winning anything more than double your daily investment is always a wise time to bid adieu to the machine/tables.