What is an eight-liner establishment, why is it illegal, and is this a Texas thing?
My cat’s breath smells like cat food.
Joe
An eight-liner is an electronic gaming machine that is similar to, but not a slot machine – where the name comes from, I don’t know. They’re legal in Texas because the law there distinguishes between paying off in merchandise (or in credit for stores) and paying off in cash. Also, they’re not totally random; the payoff is partly determined by decisions made by the player. Businesses which provide cash prizes are breaking the law.
[Moderator note]
wheresgeorge04, let’s refrain from completely pointless responses in GQ. That’s not even a joke, only a non sequitur.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
They are legal in Texas, but only when they are strictly played “for amusement” (i.e., no cash payoff). Some eight liner parlors skirt the “amusement” line and get shut down by the cops.
The way I hear it, you win some little knick-knack like a novelty pen, go around back, and some guy just happens to be there who offers to “buy” that pen from you for a couple of hundred bucks.
Wow - that’s pretty much an exact copy of the Japanese way to get around anti-gaming laws.
For Pachinko, no?
Yeah, I thought the same.
Georgia has Video Slot machines that are for merchandise only. Some stores have big signs that say Not for cash, for fun only, etc. I’ve never sat down to one, but I know that something is up, because Atlanta is still trying for a Video Lottery Terminal casino through the State Lottery, but a “real” casino is far far from happening here. Every now and then, gas stations that pay off in cash get busted. Obviously, if you are going to play for fun, just spend 20 bucks, and getthis
Alabama and North Carolina both have casinos that seem to be custom built to monopolize on the one exact gaming mechanic they were able to wrestle out of the laws, How these states arrived at getting casinos is an exercise in human determination.
NC has an Indian reservation, that amounts to “slot machine” gaming through traditional slots, ““skill based”” slots, and other card and table games that omit cards for video cards [read slot machine.] – All with No Alcohol. The joint smokes like a chimney, however.
Alabama allows you to play bingo, through a computer that marks your cards for you, in games that take place in a [literal] second. Do a bit of bean counting look at the math this way or another, and you get odds that approximate ““Real”” slot machine odds. Mark the cards for the player, then queue up a video of slot machine reels landing on a paying combination show that to the player, but pay off on the bingo win.
I have never heard of eight liner, but I would guess that it is more of the same as AL and NC do … they scrutinize the law for what they can do, and reverse engineer the game to work on a B+ level compared to Vegas. [And the money they get from Georgians making day trips doesn’t hurt either. I can personally attest to this.]
If I recall correctly, there are slot machines that have various paylines that are activated depending upon how much you put into the machine. One coin gets the standard payline, two coins get two, etc. An eight-liner, therefore, gives you 8 paylines if you put in enough coins.
I was wondering this, but something is making me think that it something else. I don’t see a machine being legal or not, based on payline availability or not.
But, if you ever find the machines that claim 50 paylines, there is a reason why no one is at that carousel. They are too good to be true. To say nothing about the amount you have to put in before you can pay for the 50th line.
I always wondered what was up at a Texaco station on Edisto Island in South Carolina. 20+ years ago, my parents took me there on vacation. To the island, not the Texaco. Anyway, I loved video games and the only one there was none that I had ever seen before. It was labeled “FOR AMUSEMENT ONLY” and my parents told me that it wasn’t for kids. We went in that Texaco many times and often there was an adult playing there repeatedly.
I was old enough to pick up that it was a gambling device… we were from NJ, after all. But I didn’t understand how/if it paid out.
Those are a fun little time waster if you only play a penny a line. You end up doing a lot of math. ie. You paid 50 cents, and won 15 cents on line 5 and 20 cents on line 23, and cherry that covers lines 4, 12, 33, and 44 for 8 more cents.
The post about cats breath may not have qualified as a joke but it was so funny i cant stop laughing…i guess because it was unexpected,for what its worth moderator ty for leaving it there ,that made my day
It took you five years to get it, eh?
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Welcome to the SDMB, Russellyoungblood.
While we do allow old threads to be bumped here, we ask that you only do so when there is something new or significant to contribute to the discussion. Since nothing of significance has been added here, I am going to close this.
Thread closed.