It's also interesting that in case of slots like that, it is possible to calculate the payout exactly, not just via simulations, because the number of possible combinations are not so high (248832 in case of 5 reel drive).
I made some quick calculations, and the results really amazed me if I'm correct and the above reels are correct:
Whatever the return percentage of this slot is, 78.125%point comes from scatter wins. Am I correct in the below calculations?
P(Exactly 3 scatters)=BINOMDIST(3;5;1/4;FALSE)=0.087890625
P(Exactly 4 scatters)=BINOMDIST(4;5;1/4;FALSE)=0.014648438
P(Exactly 5 scatters)=BINOMDIST(5;5;1/4;FALSE)=0.000976563
Win (3 scatters) = 0.087890625 * 5 = 0.439453125
Win (4 scatters) = 0.014648438 * 20 = 0.29296875
Win (5 scatters) = 0.000976563 * 50 = 0.048828125
Sum = 0.78125
So if we assume that the overall payback is 95%, than 82.2% of the total payback would come from scatter wins...
I worked on this issue, and although I have not completely checked my program written for counting all possible combinations (not just for scattersm but also for line wins), I'm quite condifent that either the posted reel sequence is incorrect or the reels are weighted in case of 5 reel drive. Otherwise the payout would be too high.