Do Casinos Cheat?
6 August 1999
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
I have always been a bit suspicious of casinos
and especially their ability to cheat players.
Come clean, Mark. Do the casinos tell the
dealers to cheat the customer? Ron T.
If you follow my column regularly, Ron, you will
notice my commentary ordinarily puts me on the
side of the player. With machete in hand, I am
always willing to slash through the green felt
jungle for my readers. Most would call me a
casino adversary/player advocate. Thank you. But
in the case of a casino cheating a player, Ron,
I would be remiss if I didn't say with 100
percent conviction that the casinos are in no
way out to cheat you.
There are two key reasons why casinos don't play
the game of deception. First, most casinos are
publicly traded companies on the NYSE not
interested in exposing their gaming license to
loss with any inkling of cheating going on.
Also, here in Nevada, you won't find a more
regulated industry chock-full of rules that
would close a casino down for defrauding the
public.
A second, if not even more significant reason,
is the way casinos reap their profits-paying
players less than the true odds. Meaning, every
game offered to the player is mathematically in
the casino's favor. Example: When you flip a
coin there is a 50/50 chance of your winning.
But instead of getting even money for every
dollar you wager, you are paid 99¢, or 83¢ or
maybe even 75¢. This in a nutshell is how
casinos operate their license to print money,
paying you less than even money on every bet you
make.
Now, if every single wager placed in the casino
is based on that principle, why, Ron, would they
ever want to swindle you? That's not to say that
a rogue employee on his own never tries to
manipulate the cards in the casino's favor. That
is why the casino manager watches the shift
manager, who watches the pit bosses, who watches
the floor man, who watches the dealers-with the
eye in the sky (camera in the ceiling) watching
everybody. It doesn't take long for a dishonest
employee to be weeded out.
I would also note that in 17 years of casino
employment, working in seven different casinos,
I have never been asked to do even the slightest
thing that borders on fraud. I have been asked
to speed up my hands per hour dealing blackjack
or pick up the pace on a crap game, but that's
to get the math to work in the casino's
favor-never to cheat.
So, Ron, I would be more suspicious of the
wagers you make, not the casino. Let me ask you
this: Are you getting back 75¢ (keno) for every
dollar bet, or 99¢, (perfect basic strategy in
blackjack)?
Follow up: This past week I was deluged with
calls and e-mail about an investigative report
by ABC-TV's PrimeTime regarding slot machines in
Nevada that are preprogrammed for "near-miss"
read-outs, which entice gamblers to play longer.
The theme of the discourse was "I knew all along
they were cheating us."
PrimeTime's main source; a former Nevada Gaming
Control Board computer whiz and convicted felon
named Ron Harris, who prior to sentencing found
religion.
Sorry, but I'll stick with my biased conviction
that because casinos have the percentages
working for them on each and every slot, there
is little chance they would conspire, in this
case with a slot manufacturer, to cheat a
patron. All pulls of the slot handle produce
random results-albeit results that, based on the
slot pay table, generally create losers.
Besides, near-miss technology is not only
illegal in Nevada, but tampering with a computer
chip can easily be detected with the right
equipment, even by a low-level computer nerd
like me. Chips are not only tested before
leaving the factory but randomly checked for
integrity on the casino floor.
Coincidentally, another TV news magazine
program, to which I promised confidentiality for
both the show's name and content, wanted my
opinion about an upcoming investigative report
they were doing regarding a highly sensitive
casino issue. Because my take on the subject
matter wasn't the sensationalist spin that would
improve their ratings, my viewpoint will find
it's way to the cutting room's floor. Why should
they use me? In the gambling industry they can
easily find someone with limited credentials
willing to say off camera or in silhouette,
"Yeah, that's the norm, happens all the time."
Sounds very similar to the PrimeTime
investigative piece above.
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