Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Gambling not a game of chance

Slot machines are for mugs. Programmed to deliver a profit to casino operators, slot machines are not a game of chance but are rather a certain profit generator for their owners. And should fate intervene with a machine delivering an unexpected windfall, a casino operator can simply cry "malfunction" and refuse to deliver the promised payout:



Lady Luck played a cruel trick on a gambler in Colorado when a slot machine had her thinking she'd won $US42 million.

"People were coming up to me and saying I won $42 million," Louise Chavez told KDRV FOX31.

"Lights were flashing, it sounded like a fire truck, the screen said 'see attendant'."

But the staff at the Fortune Valley Casino said the machine malfunctioned and Ms Chavez wasn't a winner at all.



A malfunction should be a chance event requiring pay out and not an excuse for refusing to cough up the promised winnings. Stay the Hell away from casinos and slot machines.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Steve at the Pub said...

Slot Machines (as you call them) have printed on the front the maximum possible win. Malfunctions are EXTREMELY rare, as the software for EVERY machine undergoes rigorous testing (usually 3 months solid playing) and if there is a lag of something like a thousandth of a second, the software is denied licencing.

When a malfunction (such as this one) occurs, it is a VERY unhappy event for the manufacturer of the machine, AND for the official who signed off on the testing.

Almost certianly the licence will be instantly revoked for every machine with the same version of software, or closely related version. They will only be re-licenced once the software glitch has been proven to be fixed.

I'd say that in the event of the reciprocal malfunction (ie, an EGM does NOT pay out when it should) there is no rush by the casino to thrust cash upon an unwitting winner.

Cynic me, I'd say that, except that nobody would ever know such an event had (failed to) occur.

12:07 AM  
Anonymous En passant said...

Try this in Windows 7 Calculator:
- Select View-Programmer
- In programmer mode, select "Dword" radio button.
- Type "0-12=". The calculator will show -12
- Type "+100" (don't type "=" yet)
- Select "Qword" radio button
- Type "=". Post the result :)

Now watch the video clip in the original story: http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/morning/let-it-rip-slot-machine-mistake-20100329
Pause it after 22 seconds where they show the number that popped up on the slot machine.

Slot machines are computers, and like all computers they malfunction from time to time.

8:30 PM  

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