I’ve been properly chastised. :eek:
practices counting
Well, of course it’s possible to get lucky and actually win some cash at a casino. My first post was merely trying to say that on a grand scale, nobody at a casino makes money except the casino.
The second a machine started paying off something over what it’s supposed to pay off - that is, the sum carefully designed to keep you winning enough to keep you in your chair pumping money into it - the casino would know that something was off, and that machine would be turned off until it was fixed.
Of course people win at casinos. But with the amount of technology invested in watching people & machines, there’s very little room for exploitable loopholes. Go to a casino, have fun, and don’t spend more than you can afford. If you get lucky, it’s just that - you got lucky.
Oh, and you know that little player’s club card? If I were you, I’d throw it away, or at the very least, not give 'em real information about yourself. I’ve seen what those things track, and I’ve seen how it’s used. Run away from them.
Quite logical… but the first thing I learned about gambling: NEVER drink in a casino.
When I first gambled, I was 19 years old, brother was 22, and he took good advantage of all the free drinks in the casino. You can guess what happened to his $500. :smack:
Not rich enough to get one, but will heed your advice.
This is the essential point. Gambling isn’t a way to make money, but it can be entertainment. The mystery is why so many people find it entertaining to give their money to folks who already have millions/billions.
er… they’re free. They practically force 'em on you when you walk into the casinos. They really, really, REALLY want you to have one because then they can track every single move you make while you’re in the casino.
If you’re allowed to disclose this information, how do they use the data that they collect? Why should you care of they collect this data if it’s not going to affect how you’re going to play? This is interesting…
Haj
D’oh. 
Double thanks for the advice, then. (Been to LV before, but I was underage…)
Look at the machines carefully. There is one trick I have found and exploited twice, but neither occurance was in my control to set up.
Most machine payouts as printed on the graphics(insert on the top) are pretty standard broken out by the number of coins bet.
mixed bars, 5 times coins bet
single bars 10 times coins bet
double bars 20 times coins bet
triple bars 30 times coins bet
sevens, 80-100 times coins bet
etc.
But on higher denomination machines the numbers are often printed in terms of dollars won to look more impressive.
And with the machines that are changeable denominations, a simple slot tech error can work to your benifit.
I was doing the slots one day and noticed a machine in the dollar section. It’s graphics were printed
Mixed bars $25 two coins $50
Singles bars $50 two coins $100
…
sevens $500 two coins $1000
which is really high. It took me a second to realize that they had graphics for a five dollar machine, and guts for a 1 dollar machine. A quick test proved that the machine guts were normal, when 1 dollar coin bet hit mixed bars and gave out 5 single dollar coins(when the graphic advertises $25). I figured I didn’t want to waste the situation for 20 bucks, so I played for an hour or so until I got sevens on two coins for $1000 dollars. And of course the machine gave me 100 single dollar coins. So I played dumb and called over the slot manager and said the machine ripped me off for $900. A quick discussion with his boss and they immediatly knew what had happened, but they realized were bound by what they advertised and gave me the $900 bucks without even calling the gaming commision dudes. (of course I had lost about $250 in the hour waiting for my scam to fruit, but still came out $650 ahead for an hours work. :))
Since then I always look around for a repeat and found one again once and pulled around $3000
Con artist overlord wolfman, I am humbled that you have decided to impart some of your wisdom to this lowly servant. bows to the knees, face-down, and waves arms at him That is genius. 
A casino I worked for had these big glass doors at the entrance. One year for the holidays management had one of those guys who sponge paint on glass decorate the doors. He had Santa cavorting after getting a royal flush on a poker machine. The painting showed the machine as a quarter machine and the payout $4,000. It looked real nice, but the real payout for a royal flush on a non-progressive quarter poker machine is $1,000. After a couple weeks, somebody hit a royal on a quarter machine and demanded his $4,000. After some back and forth he demanded Gaming be called (every player’s right) and when they showed up, they sided with the player – first time I’d seen them do so. The numbers were scraped off the painting, and next year, they told the guy, “Just holly leaves and a tree, or something like that.”
DD
I can discuss it in broad terms.
Player’s club cards are scanned at every table and machine you sit down at. They track how much money you spend and how much you win, as well as your playing habits. They also have certain demographics about you - your age, sex, etc. that you give them when you sign up for the player’s club card.
They use this information in a variety of ways. In a broad sense, it allows the casinos to fine-tune their games - for instance, if the 5 cent slots aren’t being used much, they can replace them with 25 cent slots (or whatever makes more cash.)
On the more insidious side, they analyze player habits and figure out how they can get you to play more. If they notice that, say, the over-65 female crowd tends to play mostly between the hours of 2 and 4:30, BUT the over-65s who have dinner tend to play a bit later, they’ll send out a coupon good for a free buffet, only good after 6:00. And believe me, these things work - chances are these people will use the free coupon, and they ain’t gonna go listen to the band until 6:00.
They also use them to track individual players. If you dropped a good bit of cash last time you were in the Casino, chances are a casino host will find you within a few minutes of you entering the casino next time. You’ll be targetted for promotions and free drinks, anything, really, to get you to stay at the casino.
The ability to track players on the individual level really does allow casinos to pull as much cash out of you as they possibly can. They have people who come up with marketing campaigns for a living, and by-and-large they work. You might think that the coupon you receive in the mail doesn’t change your playing habits, but chances are that it does. It’s not a random coupon for something you don’t care for - it’s something carefully targetted at you, giving you something that you’ve proven you like, all with the idea that it keeps you in the casino. In essence, it’s the free crack that turns you from a casual pot smoker into a full-term junkie.