Slot manipulation possible
- Current Slot Machine Manipulation Techniques
- Current Slot Machine Manipulation Machine
- Current Slot Machine Manipulation Tool
- Current Slot Machine Manipulation Software
Machines are color-coded or otherwise differentiated so the casino can tell that a machine is being played, if a card is being used, and maybe even the elite level of the player. If a card isn't being used and the player has played a bit, the system can indicate that there is a 'hot player' on the machine and a slot club representative can.
- A SIMPLIFIED SLOT. To see how slots pay less than true odds to give the house an edge, let’s set up an example that’s as streamlined as slot odds can get, a game of the type used in the early decades after Charles Fey invented the three-reel slot machine in 1895.A hypothetical three-reel slot game with one 7, two bars, three cherries and four watermelons per reel would have 1,000 possible.
- James Parker-owned Crown Resorts Limited has been fined $300,000 by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation for failing to notify the commission of a trial the casino ran on some its gambling machines between March and April last year. The allegations against the casino pointed out that it had tampered with the slot.
'Server-based' systems loom on gaming horizon deck
By Liz Benston - Las Vegas Sun
Friday, November 17, 2006
Copyright © 2006 - Las Vegas Sun
On any given weekend, casino bosses at Treasure Island can lower a few slot machines' odds with the push of a few buttons in a back room, making it less likely that those slots will pay back as much money as they otherwise might.
The casino also could seat a VIP at a game and improve the odds for that player while the person sitting next to him plays a machine with lower odds.
The casino hasn't yet taken such steps, and executives at other properties eyeing the technology say they won't manipulate odds on the fly as a way to squeeze a few extra dollars and cents out of gamblers.
Others say it would be foolhardy not to capitalize on a relatively painless way to boost profit during special events or busy times of day by changing a slot machine that pays back 99 percent of every dollar to, say, 95 percent. Some casino execs and slot manufacturers say that's bad for business.
'That would kill the business opportunity for server-based gaming,' said Ed Rogich, vice president of marketing for slot maker International Game Technology. 'The last thing you want to do is lose the customer's trust.'
At the Global Gaming Expo, which ended Thursday at the Las Vegas Convention Center, companies revealed more advanced prototypes of so-called 'server-based' systems, which allow casino bosses - or even players - to download different games onto machines on the casino floor from a centralized computer system.
Nevada's regulations require that machines have the same payback percentage for all players - in other words, that VIPs don't get preferential treatment. But some regulators appear open to giving casinos leeway to tweak odds as long as they pay back the minimum percentage required by law.
'That's a decision that should be left to operators,' Gaming Control Board member Mark Clayton said.
Harrah's Entertainment, which owes much of its financial success to customer tracking software and other high-tech innovations, will be launching its own test of downloadable games over the next few months at a tribal casino that the company manages in San Diego. Such games could be available in Nevada casinos by mid-2007.
Offering better odds to preferred players isn't much different from a bank offering more favorable loan rates depending on a person's credit history, Harrah's Chief Operating Officer Tim Wilmott said in an interview at the conference Wednesday.
Many gamblers already believe that slots and slot jackpots are somehow 'fixed' and that bosses know when machines are due to 'hit.'
'The hardest challenge is perception,' said Joe Bertolone, chief of the state Gaming Control Board's technology division, which tests new machines.
'You wouldn't believe now many phone calls I get about the 'little green men in the box,' ' he said.
In Nevada and other casino states, slot machines are governed by computer chips that determine a random outcome. By physically changing the computer chip in each machine - a process that can take hours for multiple machines and involves notifying state regulators - slots can be modified to pay out a certain percentage of bets over tens of thousands of hands.
Nevada regulations allow casinos to download new odds - along with new games and denominations of games such as pennies, nickels and quarters - over a period of about eight minutes.
For the majority of players, a 1 percent difference in payback percentage is negligible - a number noticeable mostly by the mathematicians hired by slot companies to test the devices.
For casinos, however, a change indistinguishable to the masses can mean millions of dollars in increased revenue over thousands and thousands of spins. Systems enabling two-way communication between a machine and centralized server also can cost millions of dollars.
Casinos are still figuring out how to use the systems to boost long-term profit rather than simply pay for itself after a few years, said Richard Haddrill, chief executive of slot maker Bally Technologies.
The benefits of today's systems may be overblown, he said. Gamblers can already choose between several varieties of poker games and denominations on one device, for example. Choosing between hundreds of potential games may be overwhelming for players, although having casino bosses pick and choose games can more effectively weed out underperforming themes, making casinos more efficient, experts say.
The faster, more advanced systems companies are developing over the next couple of years will appeal more to gamblers and therefore make more money for casinos, Haddrill said.
As early as next year, some manufacturers expect to introduce systems that can greet customers by name and offer discounts to favorite restaurants.
Future systems also will also be able to create on-demand tournament games, offering side jackpots for those who opt into competitions with players gambling elsewhere in the casino.
The transformation won't occur overnight. Software upgrades that take a few months to implement in other industries can take at least two or three years for casinos, highly regulated businesses with rules that differ by state. Gaming equipment makers are just starting to work together to develop compatible systems - an approach taken by engineering firms in other industries to spur innovation and growth.
One game tester described the process as 'flying the space shuttle with a compass,' Bruce Rowe, a gaming consultant and former Harrah's executive, said at the conference. 'The technology is there. We just don't know how to manage it yet.'
Current Slot Machine Manipulation Techniques
If you had put in one or three coins the outcome would likely have been entirely different. The machine is constantly drawing random numbers and the numbers that were drawn at the moment you spin the reels determine the outcome. So, if you had played fewer or more coins you would have spun the reels at a different moment and thus the outcome would have been different.
Congratulations also on the new gig with Casino Player, I enjoy it the site and your occasional posts on bj21. As someone who works in the industry, admittedly not slots, I was under the impression that the more recent slots have the RNG stop the moment the first coin drops, so it really doesn't matter if you play 1,2, or 3 coins -- the symbols will line up the same. Have I been misinformed? According to your previous answer I apparently have. Keep up the good work and I'll stay in touch, thanks and best wishes.
Thanks for the kind words Dave. You're right that it was the money that finally made me accept the banners. It is my understanding that when the player presses the button to spin the reels the random numbers are drawn at that instant, which determine where the reels stop, and ultimately what you win. The number of coins bet does not matter.
Thanks for the compliment. The outcome of the game is determined when the player initiates the spin. The game is constantly drawing random numbers, even when not played. The random numbers chosen at the moment the button is pressed to spin the reels determine where the reels stop, which determines what the player wins. So, if the player bet three coins he would have pressed the button at a different moment, causing a different outcome.
No, that information won’t help you at all. Your odds are always the same on every spin, regardless of the counters.
To answer your question I asked a well connected gaming consultant and he said Nevada regulations state that one stop on a reel can not be weighted more than six times more than either stop next to it. So if a jackpot symbol were weighted by 1 and both bordering blanks were weighted by 6 then there would be 12 near misses for every one time the reel stopped on the jackpot symbol. This would be the maximum allowed near miss effect. My own results detailed in my slot machine appendix 1 back up this theory well. The red double seven was the highest paying symbol and I saw the blanks above and below it about 5 to 6 times as often:
Double Strike Actual Results
Symbol | Reel 1 | Reel 2 | Reel 3 |
Blank | 250 | 248 | 291 |
Double red 7 | 52 | 51 | 55 |
Blank | 259 | 292 | 262 |
The same source said that New Jersey and Mississippi likely have adopted the Nevada regulations.
My understanding is that the person who is pressing the buttons gets the money. I asked Brian, who helped with the last question, about this. Here is what he wrote, which I agree with.
In the scenario described, the person who put in the money and pressed the buttons would receive the jackpot.
What I find interesting about this question is the paradox that in all likelihood, the jackpot never would have occurred without this chance encounter.
As you know, the random number generator in the slot machine is continuously working even when the machine is not in play. So even though one patron feels cheated, their run-in ultimately led to pressing the spin button at that exact millisecond when the RNG was on the winning combination. So, if one patron had acquiesced, there is never a jackpot to fight over.
Thanks for helping in the fight against betting systems. First let me say that I have never worked for a major slot machine company and don’t have direct knowledge of this. However, I know many people in the industry and those I trust pretty much are in agreement on this topic.
Current Slot Machine Manipulation Machine
That said, it is my understanding that in all forms of electronic games, including video slots, video poker, and video keno, the outcome is usually determined the moment you make your decision. Meanwhile the possible outcomes are constantly being shuffled, thousands of times a second. I can’t speak for every slot machine but I believe that with the major U.S. slot makers the outcome is not predestined but depends on the exact microsecond you press the button to make your play.
Current Slot Machine Manipulation Tool
Current Slot Machine Manipulation Software
Thanks for the kind words. Scratch cards and pull tabs can indeed be printed in batches. These batches will have a specified number for each win, and the return of the overall batch will be exactly as the maker intended. In some jurisdictions, where only pull tabs are legal, the outcome can be displayed to the player on a video monitor, in the form of a slot or video poker machine. However, in Nevada, that is not how slots work. Each play is completely independent of the past. A machine programmed to average a 97% return, could indeed pay under 95% or over 99% over a year, especially if not heavily played.