Scobbette in his "Victory at Video Poker" printed the IL regs (I am from
IL) and the law is every bit as stringent as NV. What worries me is that
the political situation in IL is a joke and for all practical purposes the
IL gaming board did not exist for about nine months (Just back in business
in the last month or so) and the "tenth" license in IL has been tied up in
litigation for the last five years when the state could desparately use the
dough! I was once actually asked by a state auditor (not part of the gaming
board) how they could test for compliance! I do not have the needed
programming knowledge so I told him I did not know but I asked him why the
gaming board would not have such people.
[Original Message]
From: Ron McGowan <eltonron@ix.netcom.com>
To: <vpFREE@yahoogroups.com>
Date: 6/6/2005 2:46:11 PM
Subject: [vpFREE] St. Louis Shennanigans, or Just the Way Things Are?Is anyone familiar enough with the regulations of the Missouri Gaming
Commission to respond to the following?I have noted over an extended period of time while playing Bonus Deuces
Wild
at the Ameristar Casino that there seems to be a tremendous and consistent
disparity from VP machine to machine that goes far beyond the natural ebb
and flow of standard pay cycles (even for a game as volatile as this one).For example, for several weeks running, I have tried a little experiment
involving one machine as a constant against a series of other machines. I
particularly noted a consistent pattern on this one machine over an
extended
period of giving 2 Deuces on the deal and, when holding only the 2 Deuces,
having it the overwhelming majority of the time pay no more than even
money
for a 3-of-a-kind or a straight draw.
So both the large percentage of time this combination was dealt (larger by
far than any other machine I've even encountered in all the years I've
played, including using the WinPoker software), along with the extremely
small percentage of time 2 held Deuces resulted in anything other than
3-of-a-kind, leads me to believe that the chip in this particular machine
is
unique is some way. My question is as follows:
"Does anyone have specific knowledge of Ameristar (or other St. Louis area
casinos) altering the chips in the machines to guarantee lesser
percentages
on certain machines over others? And if so, do the rules of the Missouri
Gaming Commission specifically include a prohibition against the casino
owner altering the chips in any fashion, or is this standard custom and
practice in the Midwest area? (I've recently moved from Los Angeles, so
I'm
not yet familiar with the rules and regulations regarding gaming in
Missouri)."According to what I've seen thus-far from the commission's Code of
Gambling
Regulations, it says "Electronic gaming devices shall (K) not
automatically
alter pay tables or any function of the electronic gaming device based on
internal computation of the hold percentage." That of course doesn't
reference "manual" alterations of any function, but only references
"Automatic" ones, which seems to me to indicate that machines are not
restricted from manual alteration of any kind.Under section 2(F) it also states: "Electronic gaming devices shall have
a
random selection process that must not produce detectable patterns of game
elements or detectable dependency upon any previous game outcome, the
amount
wagered, or upon the style or method of play." I believe there is a
detectable pattern within at least this one machine at Ameristar and
likely
others as well, since inevitably every long streak of losing hands
contains
an extraordinarily large percentage of 2 dealt deuces resulting in nothing
more than a 3-of-a-kind for the final outcome.I played this one machine and over the course of just 10 minutes of play,
I
was dealt 2 deuces 13 times, 9 of which resulted in 3-of-a-kind, 2 of
which
wound up in an even-pay straight and none of which resulted in anything
over
a full house (only 3-to-one). Having repeated that 10-minute process over
and over throughout and extended period with virtually identical results
leads me to suspect some sort of tampering on the part of Ameristar with
the
RNG.
As a side note, I was playing alongside someone the other night who,
during
our conversation, told me she had previously worked at Ameristar and that
they routinely changed the chips in the Video Poker machines to alter the
percentages of hands dealt. Of course I have no way of verifying the
veracity of her claim, nor her previous employment status, but her comment
definitely reinforced my suspicions based upon my own observations.So if anyone could at least enlighten me on the specific rules governing
VP
machines in the Midwest in terms of whether-or-not they allow the casinos
to
alter chips at random or alter the machines in any other way other than
what
ยทยทยท
is visibly displayed on the payout scale, I'd appreciate it. I'd also
appreciate hearing whether anyone else has had a similar experience with
Ameristar or other St. Louis area casinos and, if so, whether they would
recommend that a complaint be filed with the State Gaming Commission.Sorry for the lengthy post, but I wanted to give as much in the way of
specific information as possible in order to obtain a clear response to my
questions. Thanks in advance for your input.Ron
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