# Casinos and urine soaked carpets? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2002, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930 "2002-12-15T20:33:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/21 "2002-12-16T17:47:03Z")
We should force very one of these people to watch the opening scene of _Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead_ by Tom Stoppard. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/22 "2002-12-16T17:48:05Z")
Or \*\*every/b] one. Your pick. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/23 "2002-12-16T17:50:26Z")
Poop. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/24 "2002-12-16T18:07:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Enola Straight \* > \*\*At Ballys Park Place, we often encounter patrons who sit at one machine for 12 hours plus: when nature calls, the patron can call security to “guard” “their” machine, until they return. > Sometimes they don’t even do that…they just piss and shit their pants! (We replace our seats quite often.) \*\* Perhaps these casinos should consider providing some Depends for their patrons. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/25 "2002-12-16T19:51:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by voguevixen \* > **Me too! I can honestly say that I’ve spent plenty of time in casinos and thankfully have NEVER seen anything like this happen.** Of course not, because knowing the next guy over has just releived himself on the floor or in a little plastic cup isn’t very condusive to the main goal of the Casino, to get you to spend your money. Casinos are highly controled environments, and you can bet that Mr. Whiz gets seen in the act by security personnel watching on at least two hidden cameras. He’s probably Casino staff hovering over him before he gets his zipper back up. As for the bells and lights and addictive gambling, I’m not talking about addictive gambling as clinical mental disorder, I’m talking about luring average people in, and making sure they stay until they’ve spent their budget. Ever wonder why slot machines still use tokens, when in this day and age, they could be tracking winnings electronically? Because casino patrons are conditioned to equate the sound of coins hitting the tray with “winner”. Most slot machines manufactured in the last few years, will even play a pre-recorded sound of a payout at random intervals when idle, to keep the slot room filled with the illusion that someone in there just hit it big. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/26 "2002-12-16T20:16:44Z")
I spoke with a woman in Vegas who said she wears Depends when she gambles. It is the pathetic truth. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/27 "2002-12-16T20:24:57Z")
They now have slot machines that issue tickets coded and printed with the amount of your “winnings” which can be cashed in or deposited into other machines as if they were bills. Most of them simulate the sound of coins rattling into the tray as they print out and dispense the ticket. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/28 "2002-12-16T20:40:28Z")
I don’t even want to think of what they’d do to stay at the Craps table. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/29 "2002-12-16T20:56:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Drachillix - who became very hooked on playing 50 hands of nickel blackjack at once in Lake Tahoe. Heh- reminds me of the time I ended up at the Tahoe casinos with some friends. I was in Tahoe for the outdoor stuff, they wanted to gamble too. Not me- my math skills are good enough to realize what a scam this is. But they had the best sports book area-- great for watching the football games. So not wanting to be a party boor, I come with them. A friend couldn’t stand the fact I was not gambling- so gave some nickles to play those machines. Meh. I will give it a whirl. So I play-- on the 4th game I win $5.00 (in nickels, of course). Now I have to keep playing to get rid of the stupid nickles. A half hour later ( I was down to like $1 in nickles finally) I hit the jackpot. $50.00 in nickles!! Woo Hoo! I cashed out and went back to the sports area and watched football. Take that Gaming Industry! I am up $50.00 on you. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/30 "2002-12-16T21:05:27Z")
Not to question your math skills, but if you didn’t win untill your 4th game, wouldn’t you be up $49.80 on the industry? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mister\_me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@mister\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mister_me)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/31 "2002-12-16T21:31:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*But the way these machines work is that there is a random number generator that is always running, and when you pull the handle it just grabs the next number that was passing by and uses it to determine the outcome. So even if someone walks up and wins on the next pull, YOU wouldn’t have, unless you just happened to pull the handle at the same microsecond as the other person did. \*\* Is that true? I wish I remember where I saw this, I think it was on TLC or Discovery, but it was a special on casinos. They interviewed employees and even equipment vendors who said that the machines ARE set up to hit every so often. I remember it as being not a random number that sets the hit but actually a timed hit that is set to hit randomly, every so-often, after or between a certain amount of ‘plays’ are made. The show even spoke of how wise players will tip casino employees for info on a ‘hot’ machine - one that hasn’t hit in a while. From what I understood, the machines were set up as to ensure a specific gross revenue from each machine. Once a machine hit that point (or between the last hit and upon reaching the desired revenue of the machine), the specific machine will randomly hit. So, in short, YES,… the longer a machine does not hit, the better the players odds are of hitting. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/32 "2002-12-16T22:11:53Z")
Given the number of gambling laws that would be broken by paying a casino employee to “tip off” a gambler, I’m going to have to conclude that, if the TV show learned that from the casino, it’s exactly the sort of claptrap the publicists like to spread around to maintain the illusion that it’s possible to come out ahead in the game. ---
**Author:** ![mister\_me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@mister\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mister_me)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/33 "2002-12-16T23:53:58Z")
I don’t doubt that one bit. ---
**Author:** ![Doctordec](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Doctordec](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctordec)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/34 "2002-12-17T00:46:57Z")
I was gaming once in Windsor when my buddy sat on a newly vacant chair at a blackjack table that had been saturated with urine by the woman that just left. The casino staff was very apologetic but he had to play with wet pants on a dry stool for a while. Fortunately, Joe is a true gamester and was able to carry on despite his discomfort. ---
**Author:** ![racosun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc79bd/32.png) [@racosun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racosun)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/35 "2002-12-17T00:52:11Z")
Tipping _will_ get you better odds at a casino. Take it from me, I’ve worked nearly every casino job you can think of. Now that I don’t work there anymore, I go in and ask a buddy which machine he thinks is ready to go. He gives me the “tip” and I give him a tip if it works to my advantage. Someone once tipped me off to a machine that paid me $2500, and I gave him $200 for his advice. At a card table (especially Black Jack, if they are not using a card shuffling machine), you can tip the dealer heavy and he’ll try to “loosen” up the deck for you, or in other words: dump the table. A good dealer can really bring in the tips, which are usually divided amongst all the other card dealers. ---
**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/36 "2002-12-17T02:18:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Now that I don’t work there anymore, I go in and ask a buddy which machine he thinks is ready to go. He gives me the “tip” and I give him a tip if it works to my advantage. Someone once tipped me off to a machine that paid me $2500, and I gave him $200 for his advice. Not to be offensive, bu this is a load of crap. There is no way that anyone in the casino knows when a slot machine is about to pay off, unless the machine is rigged, in which case I’m sure the gaming commission would be most interested. The reason your “friend” gives you tips is because he knows you’ll pay him if they pan out, and he doesn’t owe you anything if they don’t. Either that, or he’s as ignorant of the workings of slot machines as you are and thinks that he really has a gift for predicting winning machines. > [@](#): > > At a card table (especially Black Jack, if they are not using a card shuffling machine), you can tip the dealer heavy and he’ll try to “loosen” up the deck for you, or in other words: dump the table. A good dealer can really bring in the tips, which are usually divided amongst all the other card dealers. I have no idea what it means to “loosen” the deck or “dump the table,” but again, I assure you that casinos monitor dealers very closely and anyone who is acting unethically in either way will immediately be out of a job. ---
**Author:** ![martin\_ibn\_martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@martin\_ibn\_martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/martin_ibn_martin)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/37 "2002-12-17T03:38:06Z")
And people think religious folks are strange… ---
**Author:** ![martin\_ibn\_martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@martin\_ibn\_martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/martin_ibn_martin)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/38 "2002-12-17T03:39:11Z")
And they ask why gambling is haraam… ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/39 "2002-12-17T04:32:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Not to be offensive, bu this is a load of crap. There is no way that anyone in the casino knows when a slot machine is about to pay off, unless the machine is rigged, in which case I’m sure the gaming commission would be most interested. The reason your “friend” gives you tips is because he knows you’ll pay him if they pan out, and he doesn’t owe you anything if they don’t. Either that, or he’s as ignorant of the workings of slot machines as you are and thinks that he really has a gift for predicting winning machines. - - Ehhhhh, at the St. Louis casinos, it _is_ true. And probably elsewhere, at least as far as the slots are concerned. - I worked at a gas station and used to see pit bosses from two different casinos on their way home every couple days. The manager of the gas station told me one day that the machines weren’t random, and I asked both of them, and they said it’s true: the machines are all electronic and networked, and they pay out the percentages they’re set to pay out, and every day only one machine is set to allow someone to hit the jackpot, and it usually does get hit that day, and if not–the casino leaves it “up” until somebody wins it, and sets another machine “up” the next day as scheduled, because they have budgeted how many jackpots to pay out to maintain the claimed payout rates of the machines, which they have to do (I don’t know about anywhere else, but where I am casinos are _required_ to maintain the slot machine payout rates they advertise). The “down” odds might be 1:100,000,000, where the “up” odds might be 1:10,000, until somebody wins, and then the machine automatically goes back “down” until it’s set up again. (It’s traditionally considered “sporting” to leave open a tiny tiny chance of a jackpot, but it’s very rare for anyone to hit a down machine) And the machines don’t set themselves “up”, casino managers do that. So at least some of the employees do know. - And of course, employees aren’t supposed to tell anybody for any reason, but sometimes they do: my boss told me this story about a boat he went to on the southern Mississippi where they took his wife’s mother to the casino for her 100th birthday. Guess who won the slot jackpot that day? ~ …I’d be surprised if you could get away with pissing on the floor, though: the casinos here got cameras discretely placed _everywhere_. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930/40 "2002-12-17T05:02:10Z")
> [@](#): > > From what I understood, the machines were set up as to ensure a specific gross revenue from each machine. Once a machine hit that point (or between the last hit and upon reaching the desired revenue of the machine), the specific machine will randomly hit. > > So, in short, YES,… the longer a machine does not hit, the better the players odds are of hitting. This is incorrect. Same with all of you who are saying that employees know when machines are about to hit, and all that. Slot machines just do not work that way. If they did, they would be quickly overrun by profesionally slot players who would ‘scout’ machines and then take them over the minute the expectation went positive. There would be teams of them. There aren’t. The probability distribution of a slot machine is strictly controlled by the government. The algorithm is inspected and certified, and burned onto EPROMS that are installed in the machine and sealed. They’re quite serious about it. There are a million myths running around about gambling, and a majority of them involve slot machines. The only time you’ll find a machine with a non-random payout is one which is defective or improperly programmed. Some people have made money by spotting machines with flaws in their logic that could be exploited. Perhaps some of you are confusing random payouts with ‘progressive’ slots, in which the payout itself gets larger if it hasn’t been hit for a while. And in this case, there ARE teams of professionals that go around spotting progressive slots that, through statistical variance have gone a very long time without paying off, such that the jackpot is big enough to skew the odds in favor of the player. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casinos-and-urine-soaked-carpets/142930.md?page=3)