Posts Tagged ‘video poker machines’
Do The Casinos Cheat At Video Games Part9
Well, there it is. The payback schedule on the front of the video-poker machines in Atlantic City can not be considered as an unquestionably accurate gauge as to the playability of a particular Atlantic City machine. It is theoretically possible to have a machine that appears to have a positive expectation when, in reality, it would be returning the minimum 83% because the programming is variable. Because video-poker machines in Atlantic City are considered slot machines, the payout schedule should be viewed just the way a payout schedule is viewed on a regular slot machine—as informational material only, not as an indication of the percentages inherent in the game.
Next, I spoke to Rex Carlson, Laboratory Manager of the Nevada Gaming Control. He assured me that the video-poker machines in Nevada must conform to the random shuffle principle "of a 52 card deck" and that "the programming cannot have any secondary decisions in it. If the royal flush is about to be dealt the machine can't say, 'No royal on this hand.' The machine also can't say, 'I've given out too many paybacks today, I'd better cut back on winning hands.'"
Then I asked him if the payout schedule is the only way a casino can get the edge in Nevada machines. "Yes," he confirmed. "If a player understands how to read the chart, the player can determine exactly what he faces, unlike a regular slot machine where the percentages are unknown." Had he ever heard of variable programming for video-poker machines? "Yes, in other areas of the country and in foreign countries you might find these machines but they violate the law in Nevada. Video poker in Nevada is a game of skill and luck. That skill factor must be there for a machine to be a video-poker machine. They are not slot machines."
Now, many of you who play in Atlantic City will be faced with a dilemma—should you continue to play? My guess— and it's only a guess mind you—is that most of the machines in Atlantic City are exactly like the ones in Las Vegas— that is they use a random shuffle with no variable programming and no secondary decisions, and the payout schedule is the deciding factor in determining the casino's edge. Why do I think this? A quick perusal of the payback charts shows that Atlantic City machines are rarely full pay. Most are ranging from 92% to 96% if the payout schedule is accurate. The average payback for all Atlantic City slot devices is approximately 92%. These are bad bets for the player and great money makers for the casinos. The Atlantic City machines are manufactured and programmed by the same companies that service Nevada—would it really be necessary to include a variable program in the Atlantic City video-poker machines to reduce them a few more percentage points—even though such a practice would be allowed? Hopefully, no. The operant word here is—hopefully.
Thus, if you are playing an Atlantic City video-poker machine with a 93% payback based on its payout chart, there's a decent chance that it is indeed a 93% payback and that all the sequences are in the programming based on their actual probability. (Why you would be playing this machine after reading this book is beyond me!) However, what if you should find that rare Atlantic City machine that seems to be a full payback? Here would be the opportunity for the casino to use a machine that makes "second decisions" and changes the percentages. Dilemma time. The seemingly better-paying machines might just be the worst paying ones! And the machine would be legal—rigged against you, misleading you, yes, but legal nevertheless.
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Tags: slot machines, video poker machines
Do The Casinos Cheat At Video Games Part8
So I had to do my homework. My fellow gaming writers have assumed that because New Jersey is a regulated state, its regulations are the same as Nevada concerning video-poker machines. Had anyone really bothered to talk to the members of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission or ask to see a copy of the regulations? If the anonymous letter writer in Blackjack Forum was right—New Jersey did not have the same rules governing video-poker machines as did Nevada.
I called the New Jersey Casino Control Commission to see if I could ease my fears or fuel my fire. After all, the control commissions of the various gaming jurisdictions set the rules that the casinos must abide by. Supposedly these commission exist to protect us—the players. I spoke with Tony DiFlorio who told me that while the video-poker machines must conform to the same payback percentage range as any other slot machine, that is 83% to 99% return, "they are considered slot machines" and that there are no separate requirements for them as in Nevada. When I asked him if they must be based on a totally random shuffling of the cards, and that each hand must theoretically appear with it expected frequency, he stated that there were only two criteria for the machine. The first— that it fall within the payback scheme (83% to 99%) and the second, that "every sequence be in the programming."
"But that means," I said, " that if a natural royal flush is a 40,000 to one shot, the machine could be programmed to pay it once in every 300,000 hands or more?"
"Yes," he said. "The machine has to have the royal flush sequence in the programming just as a slot machine would have to have for example the triple 7's but the frequency is up to the programming."
Two days later I received a set of the regulations from John M. Kovac, Administrative Practice Officer for the New Jersey Casino Control Commission concerning slot machines in New Jersey. No distinctions were made between video-poker and other slots. The information that Mr. DiFlorio had given me checked out. Indeed, the letter writer to Blackjack Forum had been correct. Video-poker machines in Atlantic City are slot machines and the probabilities are not necessarily the same as they would be for similar machines in Nevada. Remember, Nevada is based strictly on the random shuffling of 52 (or 53) cards.
The hands will appear in the long run within their expected frequency range. This does not have to be so for New Jersey Casinos. The game will be random, yes, but random the way a slot machine is random—that is, based on a program that dictates the probabilties and not based on the probabilities in a 52 (or 53) card deck.
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Tags: blackjack, video poker machines