It is probably not manipulation, it just seems that Rushmore are using something they shoudn't have in "fair and random" software. We already know that these slots can be set to different payouts, yet this is completely at odds with what the game is presented as, a 5 reel video slot. It should simply not be possible to change the payout without visibly altering either the paytables or the reel layouts, yet somehow
RTG operators can do this, and have never explained how this can be both possible, yet still be consistent with their video slots obeying standard accepted rules for random video slots as found in B & M casinos in places such as Vegas.
There is no such problem with the other games, payouts are altered by altering the paytables.
If they can tweak the payouts of the slots, then surely they can tweak the numbers controlling the RNG output as used to accumulate and pay off those RJs. Having them start at $5000 instead of $1000 is already an option that is supposed not to exist within
RTG software, but is now known to exist because we now have a casino that has actually used it.
There are quite possibly other options, ones we have never seen because no
RTG casino has used them so far, or not that we have noticed.
Large bonuses, and often, would certainly give far more play through the games for the same amount of real money deposited by players, and interestingly, giving high bonuses like this and all the time can expose the casino to having too much bonus money feeding into the RJ pools, and being won by relatively small deposits of real money. Most
RTG casinos deal with this by having max cashouts on bonuses, so that large RJ's are generally confiscated above this max cashout, and having artifitially inflated RJ pools before hitting really does help the casino as far less is actually paid out despite being won. I do not know whether Rushmore has a restrictive max cashout policy, or a liberal one, since I cannot play, with or without that playthrough counter, as I have no means to deposit, and a difficult means to cash-out. I also cannot see for myself exactly how these RJ's look and feel, I am relying on how others describe them, and how they look and feel at iNetBet & Club World, and comparing.