Every one of these is still repeated in forums and comment sections. Every one is wrong for the same underlying reason: the random number generator has no memory.
1. A machine goes hot or cold
There is no state carried between spins. A run of wins and a run of losses are both ordinary features of a random sequence, visible only in hindsight.
2. A game is due
The gambler's fallacy, and the most expensive one. A game that has not paid in three hundred spins is exactly as likely to pay on the next as one that just paid.
3. Stopping the reels changes the outcome
The result is determined when you press spin. Stopping the animation early shows you the same answer sooner.
4. Bet size changes your odds
Betting more scales the stake and the payout together. It does not change the probability of any outcome. Where it matters is exposure: a larger bet shortens the session on the same bankroll.
5. Playing longer improves your chances
The opposite. Each spin carries the house edge, so more spins means more expected loss, not less. Time is the mechanism by which the edge is collected.
6. Someone else won on the machine I just left
The generator cycles thousands of times a second. Had you stayed, you would have pressed at a different microsecond and drawn a different number. That win was never yours to miss.
7. Near misses mean you were close
Two jackpot symbols and a third just above the line feels like a whisker. It is not. The outcome was already fixed, and a near miss is simply a losing result that happens to look tantalising. Some games display them more prominently than chance alone would produce, which is a design decision rather than a signal.
8. There is a strategy
In a slot there is nothing to decide that affects the outcome. Bet size and stopping point govern your exposure, not your odds. Anyone selling a system is selling the absence of one.