I have been doing pretty much the same thing since the late 90's, I had 2 all sevens machines at NY NY, ($1 machines, $3 max bet), the max jackpot was $5k, (my theory is lower max jackpot machines hit more often, I would put in $300, if I didn't hit a $1k+ during my $300 (plus any small wins) I would get up and walk away and play later in the day until others had dumped more money into it. Don't think I actually ever had to do it. Pretty much always hit $1k or better. 2004 I went 4 times that year, made $23k. (not huge, but better than most people do.) Now those machines are no longer there, and the video games have taken over, I still seek out the old school style games, but I played the same 3 you did, triple sevens, pinball and top dollar at the first weekend in May, I did well. One key thing I suggest when picking a machine is to pay attention to the max jackpot, the lower the better (I have never hit the max jackpot, but these machines payout a lot better than machines that offer $25k, 50k etc. I will pick a 5k, 10k machine anyday.