This is wrong. Slot machines do indeed have switches inside that allow the casino to alter the payout percentages.
They can also set the denomination by changing the chips to make, for example a $1.00 machine into a $5.00 machine.
Once at a different casino the dealer and pit boss were talking about a guy who made several thousand dollars on a high limit slot machine because the slot tech put the wrong chip in for the machine’s denomination. Every time he put $100.00 in he had $1000.00 worth of credits that could be cashed immediately back out of the machine. He managed to do it a couple of times before they caught him. They said they let him keep the money because it wasn’t a malfunction per se, it was their mistake.
My point wasn’t about clandestine changing of payout tables but changes made legally. They do occur and certainly occur periodically.
The payout percentages ARE still randomly tested to ensure no tampering has occurred. While changing out the EPROM for a pseudo random number generator may take a bit time, it can definitely occur, and that’s one reason random state audits still happen.
And, there really is adjustment of payout tables going on (under proper supervision), even remotely adjusted, if perhaps still in testing (at least 5 years ago).
So, it’s not false to state that payout percentages are adjusted by the house. The payout tables might not be adjusted on an hourly basis or something like that, but they are adjusted and now the technology exists to do it quickly and remotely.
Cite? Because every journal I read on the subject says that’s just plain wrong. You can alter the amount bet (change a penny machine to a nickel machine, for example. Heck, you can do that yourself at a lot of machines) but the payoff percentages are set at the factory and require a chip change to alter, with a state inspector present.
Read the link by Great Antibob immediately above yours for one cite.
They are both right. They can change the payout percentage, and to do so they have to change a chip which is only allowed to be done in the presence of a gaming commission inspector. The remote controlled ones are in the experimental stage according to that cite and the gaming commission is considering allowing them.
They would still need to have a gaming inspector supervise (that isn’t as hard as it sounds - every big casino is crawling with them 24 hours per day) and they would still be subject to the current rules of only changing the odds on a machine after it has been out of use for 4 minutes and not allowing it to be used for 4 minutes afterwards.
Just a nitpick: there is a correction in the article that this test was run on 16 machines, rather than all 1,790 machines on the floor. That doesn’t change the fact that, in theory, all the machines on a given casino floor can be rigged this way.
I need to look up the current news, but I think the system’s been deployed. That article was 5 years ago, after all. Not backed up by anything, but my hazy recollection is that any remote changes can only be made after a machine has been sitting idle for some minimum amount of time.
The main point is that it doesn’'t allow casinos to “cheat” by switching payout percentages on people caught unaware. They still have to comply with some minimum state mandated range of payout percentages, and those still can only be altered under the supervision of a gaming official, and the machine has to be out of service for a minimum time before and after making the change.
So it can be changed within an allowable range, but not in such a way that they could trick customers into sitting down at a 99% payback machine and then switching it to 90% while they were playing - which is kind of the implication when one says “they can change the odds by remote control” during a conversation about fair play in slots.
I was involved in the gambling industry for over 40 years – casino employee and management, professional player of many games (including slots), worked surveillance, etc. – went to college for casino management and gaming law.
I assure you that the machines do have switches inside each of them that can set different pay schedules … it’s done all the time. Just ask a slot tech next time you see one opening the door of a machine.
I haven’t seen too much, if any, opposition to these statements.
But they don’t mean anything in the context of a discussion about whether or not this feature could be used unfairly by the casino to mislead customers. Is that what you are saying? That they manipulated it to cheat customers? Otherwise it seems you are just repeating a well-established point that has no bearing on the discussion.
It isn’t done ‘all the time’ by slot techs with no gaming control supervision or auditing. It is done under a hefty set of regulations that vary somewhat form state to state. In all cases, the local gaming commission has to be informed of the change and given access to audit the machine. In many cases a gaming enforcement agent has to supervise the change, and in no cases, can the change be made while someone is playing the machine under a given set of odds.
So in terms of fairness how exactly does the ability to change paytables apply?
My statement that there **are ** such switches is in response to the guy who said there are not such switches.
I in no way imply that the switches are used to cheat customers.
In Nevada those switches are indeed set all the time by slot techs at the direction of casino management. Slot managers are constantly tweaking the mix in their quest for profit. No Gaming Control Board agent is required to be present; the house percentage of all games is reported to the GCB but the casino is free to set the percentage at any rate they choose.
Note the distinction: percentages are reported to GCB but GCB does not mandate those percentages.
Chip and slot machine manufacturers must be certified by the gaming commission, gaming agents can run some tests in the field and they do on occasion show up unannounced and take a computer chip (or a deck of cards or a set of dice, etc.) for analysis … however, chips are changed by slot techs ‘all the time’ without any requirement of law enforcement supervision.
Hope this clears up some of the confusion.
Under a relatively new system, in Nevada, only pre-approved and tested chips are allowed to be changed out, so in a sense they have already been inspected by gaming enforcement. I do recall reading in a recent search at one of the cites I found that they also have to make a report to the gaming commission of the new payout settings every time they make a change, even to one machine or a whole bank. But I don’t want to go search for it again.
The main point was just that while the machine’s odds can be changed by design,(and I wasn’t aware that point alone had been disputed) that isn’t any indicator that the ‘house’ is cheating their customers by switching odds on the fly while someone is playing. I see now that I misunderstood your reason for making the statement.
I had to follow that link because at first I did a double-take. A new casino opened up in my town this week (on Monday morning) and it’s also called Rivers. Admittedly, it’s not the most original name. :dubious: It would be an honor of sorts to be one of the first people thrown out of a brand-new casino. 