or just my bad luck? Seems like the $10 strikes are getting more and more expensive to win.

Several years ago, it seemed like 80% of the time, when I put $20 in a strike machine, I'd get at least one strike and on average two. More recently, it's cost me far more: $18-19 each for the new LVC logo strikes (double that last June at convention time), $25 each at Sierra Sid's, $60 for getting skunked at the Reno airport, and I don't even want to tell you what it cost me to win some of the new Slingo sets. It's often cheaper to buy at auction, but that's not as much fun! I'm not complaining, just wondering.

I did get one good machine 4 months ago, so my guess is that I usually just hit the machines at bad times in their cycles. Or maybe I'm reluctant to stop on a bad machine because there are so few strike machines around that have new strikes in them...but I wonder if the gaming commission allows payout odds to get adjusted periodically depending on the machine's popularity? Anyone else experience this or track their average cost over time?