Washington State Slots Theory: XVP

[MHS2]

Bill Coleman wrote: "I shouldn't even bother with your slam, but I will this
once. I'm not
sure about NJ, but Nevada, Miss and other jurisdictions farm out some
of their testing to independent labs that are also used by Native
casinos. I believe there are 3 of them.

I don't make statements of facts that I am unsure of without
qualifying them. I have done considerable research for an article
requested by Strictly Slots.

A couple of points: audits are done by independent auditors.
Regulations are set by independent groups within a tribe and are
overseen by the Federal Government. Also, the manufacturers only sell
machines with certain paytables."

Not intending to offend, but where are those audits available to customers
and the general public?

"Your
ignorance shows when you say that "Virtually all Indian casinos are
distant from what might be called
competition, and that remoteness enables to set up whatever arrangements
they want--all without telling the consumers what is going on.". This
is true in some cases and significantly false in others."

Large-scale Indian casinos do not compete in close proximity to major
gambling centers like Las Vegas, Atlantic and Tunica, Miss. Perhaps you
could list some of the exceptions that do tell consumers what is going on.

[brucem]

Let's try this again. Washington State is a Class III state. Most,
possibly all, machines have an internal RNG. Even if the RNG is

based

upon scratch-off tickets this is transparent to the player and has

no

discernable effect on the outcome. Paybacks are similar to other
Class III casinos, i.e. should be in the range of 85% - 99%

depending

on the operator.

It has some rather unusual aspects, however. Each Native casino
operates like a state lottery, each machine is a VLT although this
makes NO difference in practice.

The thing that DOES make a difference is Video Poker. The element

of

skill has been eliminated, your draws make NO difference to the
outcome. The way to see this is to read the Help file on the

machine.

It will tell you that the final hand can be magically changed at
times. IGT uses a "Genie", another manufacturer (I am told) uses a
"match" number. Video Poker in Washington State (and New York
racinos) is random and fair. But it is more like a slot machine
rather than a skill game.

In either a Class II or a Class III state a machine like

Lobstermania

has the results selected randomly. In Class III a number is

selected

for each of the 5 virtual reels and they stop there. Winning
combinations, if any, are then added up and awarded. In Class II
(and, probably, Class III based upon scratch-off tickets) the final
award is known first (the Bingo result or the scratch-off result).
The machine then displays a combination of reels that represents

that

result. It is still random, it is still fair, it is just different.

This explanation, to me, makes a lot of sense. First of all the VP
is just as you described. I cannot bring myself to play VP in
a Washington casino. The enjoyment for me is knowing which
cards to hold or discard, and the pay schedule, and neither of these
counts in Washington.

As for Lobstermania, that sounds right too. There are 5 virtual
reels, arranged in 5 columns, with 3 rows. So the RNG is selecting 3
symbols from about 12 choices, for each of the 5 columns. But wins
are determined horizontally, in 15 patterns. This yields a huge
number of different winning combinations. Something similar to this
probably happens when a "Lucky Larry" combination occurs (you need
to play to know what this means). As for the return, who knows, but
my experience so far suggests it is well above the minimum of 75% set
by the state. There are so many indian casinos in the general
Seattle area I think competition forces them to offer a fairly high
return. I played this game in Las Vegas and didn't seem to win as
often. Lobstermania is an IGT game.

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--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Bill Coleman <vphobby2@c...> wrote: