(...)
On the other hand any gambler knows that ultimately you must lose if you keep playing. For me it is just the nature of the losing streaks that raises an eyebrow and tbf sometimes the winning streaks seem just as unlikely.(...)
Exactly!
To give people a sense of what winning streaks may look like in a random game, try a dice site with 0 bets (just-dice or any)... Since I'm coming from the crypto currency gambling world.
A slot machine is basically a dice where the multipliers change between x1.1 (bet 0.10€, get only 0.01@) and, say x2000, jackpots excluded. Now, trying rolling x10 for a while, you should win on average little less than once every 10 rolls (house edge). Try with x100, x1000.
Imagine now, in a slot, the multipliers change all the time. And most importantly spins take an eternity 15-25spins/min. Dice sites throttle 0 bets to 120-300 rolls/min. Higher bets are not throttled. If you play with the money (btc etc..), it's tens of thousands per minute.
If you roll only x100 multipliers for a while (a LOT while), you might encounter, say, 4 wins within 6 rolls. Or maybe six x50 wins within 30 rolls. But remember, in a slot the x100 bets are diluted in an ocean of bets with multipliers x1.1, x1.25, x1.8, x2, x2.4, x ..... x50, x80, x166, x180 etc depending on the game design, and most of those bets are (net) losses. In would take on average millions of rolls to find crazy streaks like the ones of these crazy runs in casinos.
You don't find those crazy runs/busts every million spins in casinos !!! That would mean, 1'000'000 x 0.10€ = 100'000€ wagers or 1'000'000 x 2s = 23d 3h (assuming constant bets 24/7 non stop). EVEN if you divide the figure by 10, the frequencies just don't match! One should encounter these crazy runs. These crazy runs, and especially ensuing busts, happen way too often.
Someone said gamblers are expert at turning wins into losses. I'd say it's only because they're facing unfair games.
The fact is, if I play 1€, 1€, 1€ (wins) and then 1€ (loss), I have no way to verify that the slot decided to make me lose the last bet.
Same if play 1€, 1€, 1€ wins, 100€ loss.
Or just if I bet one 100€ spin and lose. How do I know the casino didn't decide to rig the game because he saw a big bet ?
In dice sites, I can see by myself that the rolling number hasn't been decided by the site after my bet. Although I cannot know what the rolling number will be, after the roll, I can ask the server secret key (which is used to compute the rolling number) and compare it with its hash which was available before my bet.
When you come from cryptocurrency gambling sites, you wonder why people here don't care about the game being fair.
I came to casinos for various reasons, but the fascinating high frequency of those crazy runs was one of the reasons... and the entertainment vs rather boring dice Hi-Lo 00.00 00 99.99 99 figures.
The very fact that online casinos are dark businesses (anonymous/fake agent names, no offices, game codes kept secret, user game data kept secret) and that none of the reps' makes any statement about these OBVIOUS facts is a blatant proof the games are not about chance, but about entertainment, behavioral analysis, addiction etc...
IF THE CODES ARE SECRET
How can you trust theoretical RTP published by game designers themselves ?
How can you trust actual RTP published by casinos themselves ?
How can you thrust any firm (that earns money of them!) or authority that certifies them ?
Remember any scandal recently (mortgage crises, cigarette industry, food industry, car industry) ?