On the up-n-up?
December 3,
2010
Dear Mark: You
often talk about each pull of a slot machine
having the same odds, regardless of its recent
history. But somewhere along the line somebody
has to make sure the machine does pay what it
claims. Who does this? Richard M.
Because this column is syndicated
nationwide, Richard, accept a generalized,
in-a-nutshell answer to your question. Let’s
begin with some givens that I have written about
time and again.
Since every
machine offered to the player is mathematically
in the casino's favor, casinos make their moolah
by paying you less than the true odds. Second,
many casinos are publicly-traded companies not
interested in exposing their gaming license to
loss with any suspicion of funny stuff going on.
For those two reasons, Richard, there really
isn’t any need to cheat the general public
beyond what the state allows.
Of
course my narrative alone will not satisfy the
hoi polloi, so every state has a gaming
regulatory agency that provides casino patrons
with protection from playing on a rigged
machine.
Begin we must with the
machine itself. Each new machine goes through
roughly a six-month process to get approved. A
state’s gaming regulatory agency tests the
machine to make sure that it operates randomly,
inspects its source code for any possible
problems, and then looks at the principles
behind how the random generation occurs. The
agency scrutinizes how it picks the cards it's
going to show you or how it selects the reel
stops on a slot machine. Then the machine is
placed out in the field (casino) prior to final
approval.
After so many months on
the casino floor, the machine then gets
presented to a gaming commission for their
approval or denial. If the machine is approved,
the manufacturer may modify it under the each
state’s regulations, and make variations to that
machine. By variations I mean, pay table
modifications, or in the case of video poker,
swapping a Jacks-or-better for a Deuce’s Wild.
Approval isn’t necessarily needed to
change a chip inside a machine to make it pay
back less or more, just so long as approved
chips are used, and the payback is within the
minimum limit set by each state’s law.
A state’s gaming regulatory agency also
conducts surprise field tests of “any and all”
slot machines to make sure all the devices in
use contain software programs or chips approved
by their board. Randomly, a gaming agent will
show up at a casino and say; "We're going to do
your casino today and we want access to any
machine of our choosing, now."
Agents in the field come armed with a laptop
computer that has a database of all the chip
signatures, and with each chip having a code
number that contains all its attributes,
including its percentages. They know on the spot
if the chip is legit simply by inserting the
chip into their specialized laptop; it reads the
chip and all its contents to certify that it is
an approved value chip. Hanky panky – even a
slight twitch – and we’re talking the possible
loss of an expensive and hard-won gaming
license.
It happened in 1983 in a
casino that I was working in, the famed Lake
Tahoe resort that Cal Neva that Frank Sinatra
once owned, and where Marilyn Monroe spent her
final weekend, and where its at-the-time owner,
Ron Cloud, allegedly rigged the slot machines
and strong-armed debtors. Life just couldn’t get
better for Yours Truly on its closure:
Unemployment benefits, a season ski pass at
Alpine Meadows and 155 consecutive days of
skiing. Yes, every day was a picnic, every night
a party, for me, that is, but not for Cloud.
Take into account, Richard, that this
was an all-purpose answer. With each gaming
jurisdiction’s watchful eye, using different
glasses, you can be assured that who’s watching
whom is watching out for you.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: “A
wager is a fool’s argument.” - English Saying
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