Odds of a Royal Flush in Video Poker

Dear Mark, My friend put £20 in a video poker machine, playing £5 a hand to get the maximum payout. He lost the first three hands, but on the fourth was dealt a natural royal flush. Number one, what are the odds of a natural royal flush happening in video poker? Number two, what would happen if he got nervous, and pressed the wrong button discarding all the cards instead of standing? I suspect in that case he is out of luck? Keith A.
There are a total of 2,598,960 different hands that can be dealt to you in video poker, or 649,760 for each of four suits. Odds for a natural flush on the hand as dealt: one to 649,760.
Luckily, the casino allows us mortals to discard some cussed cards before we cross the Rubicon (See below.) By drawing, simultaneously with using your noggin, your chances of hitting a royal flush rise to approximately one in 40,000 -- sixteen times better than the odds on a natural.
As to the second part of your question, -- nervous friend, wrong button, etc. - -NOTHING thing would have happened. Why? Because, realising most players do have nerves on edge passing through what they see as a jungle of hungry lions, slavering tigers, and grizzly bears, all casinos (OK, if not 100% of them, just a twitch fewer.) idiot-proof the machines so as to lock in the jackpot, thus blocking any suicidal tendency among those of us who get nervous among undomesticated beasts.