The letter writer continues: "A slot mechanic employee told us he sets the payouts on these video-BJ machines the same as any other slot machine…he assured us that the payouts were different for each machine…If it is a so-called 'slot device' with a set payout, this game borders on being illegal, or at least a misrepresentation."

This is disturbing news because, if true, it would mean that the payout schedule on these machines had nothing to do with the actual payback percentages. If several video-blackjack machines of the exact same type are paying different amounts—then the game is misleading—and, sadly, my fellow video-poker, video-blackjack writers have unknowingly misled themselves and others as to the nature of the games being offered in New Jersey (and other states) because no one has bothered to research the regulated states' actual rules governing video-poker, video-blackjack, video-anything machines.

Finally, to fuel my frustration and mounting ire, the September 1993 issue of Blackjack Forum, once again has Allan Pell writing on these slot machines in video-machine clothing. In an article entitled "Rip-Off Robo-Dealers II," Pell goes after the Japanese video-game manufacturers for employing "an electronic variable hold—which in essence are dip switches (toggles) that vary the programming" on their machines. "All sorts of little tricks can be programmed in without your knowledge, like never dealing you an ace when your first card is a ten, etc. Programming tricks can overcome any set of rules with a seemingly positive expectation."

Pell also states that not only is the Japanese company SEGA selling these machines in the Pacific rim casinos but that cruise ships are loaded with them. In addition Pell states that "manufacturers like Sigma, Irem, International Games Technology, and Bally's operate and sell devices outside the regulated jurisdictions," the implication is that even machines that appear to be standard Las Vegas-type machines may actually use variable programming. Pell concludes his piece: "Expect to see new forms of electronic gambling introduced, but be wary. The game may look the same as a unit on the floor in Vegas, but it only takes a different chip inside it to turn it into a bankroll vampire."

So my quandary continues and I must return to the initial question of this chapter: Do Casinos Cheat at Video Poker and Other Video Games? Fact: the variable programming machines are out there, according to Pell and Friedman, on cruise ships and in non-regulated jurisdictions and in foreign casinos. Fact: we know, based on Dr. James Schneider's remarks, how easy it would be to fix machines so that they wouldn't really be random-shuffle machines. Fact: casinos exist for one reason and one reason only—to take your money (albeit in as pleasant a way as possible). Fact: both AP and I, and others, most notably Dan Paymar, have noticed some strange "patterns" on some draw poker machines—in a regulated state. Fact: the anonymous New Jersey letter writer apparently discovered this type of slot-machine-in-video-machine-clothing in Atlantic City casinos—another supposedly regulated venue.

So what do all these facts add up to? A big CAUTION. As Dr. Schneider said, it's hard to believe the casinos would risk the bad publicity inherent in the public finding out that they are less than honorable in executing their games. Still, some casinos do bar card counters at blackjack, or harass people who play the Captain's Supersystem in craps, both certainly less-than-honorable practices. Maybe only certain types of bad publicity would bother them, then?

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Frank: You mean, the shuffle isn't actually random?
Dr. Schneider: Remember that there isn't actually a shuffle, just random numbers generated from a random number program that simulates what a shuffle would be. If there is a flaw in the random-number program, you might get a shadow effect—thus, the straight sequence has the discard card shadowed with a like card. That shadow effect could be involved with all the cards in a sequence. Maybe behind each one is a like card. It wasn't done on purpose, it's just a design flaw.

Frank: What if it's a serial deal, and not a parallel deal, as many of the newer machines are supposed to be? The sixth card off the top of the deck is the first card given for the first discard, second card off the top of the deck is given for the second discard and so forth? Just like regular dealer would do in a real card game.

Dr. Schneider: Just as a slight-of-hand artist would do with a real deck, a programmer could do with the program. This could be even more sophisticated than anything found on a parallel program. The program could wait to see what the player discarded and then always give a bad card—any bad card in a seemingly arbitrary way. No one would know the difference. No seeming pattern. Just bad draws. Say you had two jacks but simultaneously four cards to a royal flush. Also say the player opted to keep the two jacks and not go for the royal—the dealer would not give him a third jack or any other pair. This could be devastating. The player would just know he was losing an awful lot. Even bad players could get hurt more than normal.

Frank: That's a problem right there. Losing a lot wouldn't affect many players since they are used to losing a lot— they expect it. This could be going on and except for a few sharp players, no one would even sense it. In video poker, you tend to lose more sessions than win to begin with—even for expert players. But experts can keep the losses to the minimum and come roaring back when the big hands and sessions make their appearance.
Dr. Schneider: You think the natural tendencies of gamblers would play into a scheming programmer or casino?

Frank: Yes. The big hands just don't show up, or show up much less than they should. Who would know?

Dr. Schneider: I just don't see the casinos doing this because they don't have to do it. They structure the games and order the type of programs they want. If a casino wants to offer a good video game, it can; if it wants to offer a bad video game, it can. Why cheat?
Frank: Because competition is fierce. Because they want all the players to play in their places and not the competition's places and that means they even want good players to play in their places. But to take the good player's money, the casinos have to finagle a little. That would be reason to cheat. The good players will only play the best machines and the good players know exactly what these machines are.

They won't play an inferior-paying machine. So lure the good players in with supposedly full-pay machines and cheat them so your casino can compete with the other casinos. It's cut-throat competition. That's the motivation to cheat. The more casinos—the more cheating, not the less cheating. Offer seemingly great paying machines but rig them.

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"We'd be throwing our money away," I said. "We think we're playing a break-even machine and in reality we're being taken to the cleaners."
"It would be a dirty business," she said.

When AP and I arrived back in New York from our month-long sojourn in Las Vegas, I had an interesting surprise awaiting me. The September 1994 issue of Arnold Snyder's masterful, quarterly newsletter Blackjack Forum was in the mail. On page 35, Don Paymar, an excellent video-poker columnist and author [Video Poker Precision Play], writes about his own feelings, based on his own playing experiences, that something might be amiss on "at least some machines" in Nevada.

He recounts observations of "too often receiving a card of the same rank as the discard, primarily when drawing one card to two pair or to a four-card straight. For example, discarding the jack from 4-5-6-7-J (not necessarily in that order) on a common Draw Poker machine, we too often receive another jack." He admits that in a small number of trials, it would not be unusual to see this unusual event occur in three of 16 such hands—since anything can and does happen in the short run. But according to Paymar it's happening much more frequently than that.

He writes: "How about records of dozens of playing sessions, and during every session getting a card of the same rank between 25% and 55% of the time, with an overall average of 43% instead of the expected 6.4% (three in 47)?"

Whenever someone harps your fear aright, you figure there must be something in it. Well, Paymar had harped my fear all right. While neither my, nor Paymar's more extensive experiences playing Draw Poker machines were enough to scientifically "prove" that something was seriously wrong with these machines—whether deliberately or accidentally— it was enough to make me consider the "possibility" that this was so.

So I contacted my computer expert, Dr. James Schneider (see my book, Break the One-Armed Bandits!) to see if he could shed some light on the subject of possible casino and/or manufacturer chicanery in the world of video poker.

Frank: I'm interested in casino and /or manufacturers cheating at video-poker. How it could be done and whether it is done.

Dr. Schneider: It can be done in any number of ways but I don't know if it is done. I think in the United States there must be some laws about it.
Frank: In Nevada, Colorado, and New Jersey and maybe some other places, the individual states or casino control commissions have rules that any game that is represented by cards must deal from a 52-card deck and be random. The games with jokers would deal from 53-card decks.

Dr. Schneider: The shuffles have to be random? Frank: Yes…I think.
Dr. Schneider: You haven't actually talked to anyone from these commissions?
Frank: No.

Dr. Schneider: Or looked at their regulations?
Frank: No. It's a good point. I've just assumed that all the commissions have laws against such things because other writers have written that they do. The commissions are the next stop I guess. But let's discuss the random shuffle idea.

Dr. Schneider: A random shuffle doesn't preclude the house from having an edge. The payouts for the various hands would dictate what the house edge would be.
Frank: The machines show their payouts per hand and it's possible to calculate just what the house edge is. There's no secrecy there.

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