Same deal here - I used to have an actuary friend whose job was to validate that the algorithms used to drive poker machines in our state met all legal requirements. Gambling machines don’t have to cheat to rake it in - they get all the money in the end anyway.
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It’s interesting because I imagine mechanical exploits are rare these days. I know top card players have exploited the imperfections on card printing but there’s probably much more edge to be gained at the human end.
In my training we were warned to subtly vary our action with each spin. An expert could stake out newbie dealers and gain edge from “section spinning”.
True that. Everything was regulated in the state where I worked. I was surprised to learn machines had to pay out so often within certain guidelines and were programmed to pay out specified ranges after specified amount of times.
I can’t remember the odds for the machines but, like virtually all gaming in a casino except maybe poker, they were crazy in favour of the house. These systems were massive revenue earners for stakeholders where I lived and I noticed the local/state governments seemed addicted to their funding, the convention centers they built, the cash flow running the local free city public transport etc.
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Famously Bill Bennett, the right wing “intellectual” and former secretary of education, preferred digital poker because he would not have to interact with people.
That isn’t a different category. Both groups are there regardless of the methodology behind the gameplay. The odds of winning Has zero impact on why they are playing.
But is it as fun?
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I once worked with a woman (fellow programmer) who said she liked casinos for the excitement. Her game of choice was video poker. I pointed out all of the potential pitfalls of playing a programmed game, but she went ahead anyway. I sat next to her and drank free cocktails or coffee, while watching her go through the same cycle. She’d lose, then win a bit - just enough to encourage her to continue - and finally lose in smaller increments until all her money was gone.
On trips with her boyfriend, they would lose so much money and take so many free drinks that it wasn’t safe to drive back. They decided to stay in really seedy motels near the casinos (which was all they could afford). Those were in areas along back roads where you could easily be killed for your car or your wallet. After telling me about those adventures, it seemed that she was just into risky behavior in general. At those motels, she was surrounded by people who were one step away from homelessness*, but it didn’t stop her from playing.
*In NJ, motels in that area were frequently used as emergency housing for people on the brink of being homeless, or those who were homeless due to natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy.
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OK, I think by him saying that roulette “went digital”, he’s not referring to simply a video game that depicts a roulette wheel (which exist, and what fun is that, anyway?)
I think he meant that, nowadays, on a conventional analog roulette wheel, there is nevertheless a digital screen that displays the winning outcome, and tallies all previous outcomes, with supplemental statistics. This will aid the players, who are looking for patterns. But it will really aid the casino who are looking for long-term data that will show if a wheel is truly random, or if it is a candidate for this medical professor.
I’m pretty skeptical of the explanation given in the article. If he won money, he certainly had a system. But it’s more than likely he’s not telling us his actual system.
Also, any time beating roulette wheels come up in this blog, this link must, by law, be posted:
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The article explicitly means both, that they monitor analog wheels stats, but that digital replacements for analog wheels are now common (something I don’t know about):
In the decades following Jarecki’s dominance, casinos invested heavily in monitoring their roulette tables for defects and building wheels less prone to bias. Today, most wheels have gone digital, run by algorithms programmed to favor the house.
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Pretty sure this is just referring to “video game”-style roulette wheel (which is obviously not a roulette wheel, just a picture of one), which is engineered to be as randomly random as possible-- which, by definition, will favor the house.
It’s a bit of a throwaway line that should have been better explained, IMO. Traditional roulette wheels are already “programed” to favor the house, by a pretty large margin, and even more so now that casino’s have upped the house edge by adding up to three “zero” spots on the wheel where the house takes everyone’s money. Also, randomness does not “by definition” favor the house. The rules of the game are what favors the house.
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I haven’t worked in games but my theory is that once it was fun. Back in single player days you used randomness to surprise the player with something, maybe, delightful from a chest. But now it’s all micro transactions and loot boxes and randomness is strange places like when you level up. It’s all now designed so the player falls just short and then feeling frustrated they use a microtransaction to close gap. But I’m sure they code plays fair. 
It’s predatory and I hope those devs don’t sleep well at night.
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If memory serves the “digital” wheels in question are still physical wheels they’re just motor driven or electronically influenced. That makes them easier to calibrate and check for compliance, and helps eliminate patterns and biases that can be exploited in either direction. As well as letting you set very specific house advantage.
House advantage seems to be what a lot of the regulations and compliance are based off of. Basically odds or payouts are skewed towards the casino, a specific percent above random. So that in the long run a specific percentage of the dollars on an individual game, or all games go to the casino. Guaranteeing profit even when chance would prevent it. Theoretically they’re shifting money around between the players, and taking a cut along the way.
So things arent rigged rigged. Nothing is designed to ensure that all players always lose. Or every player loses exactly 20% or whatever. Its still “fair” in that every player has an equal chance of winning or losing. And the casino still has a chance to lose. Randomly in each given interaction. Regulations seem to set both minimum and maximum house advantage, as well as chances and payouts that are randomly distributed. It’s basically designed to remove the chance that a Casino can’t make a profit in the long run. Over the course of the year 20 cents (or whatever it is) of every dollar that walks onto the gaming floor stays there. With the loses that make that happen distributed randomly.
House advantage varies a lot by game, some of them for skill based games are rather low. Roulette’s has always been high. Digitally controlling the wheel allows it to be higher but also lets you dynamically shift the odds to ensure compliance. If a given wheel hasn’t paid out frequently enough in a given time span the advantage will shift to the players , making sure it enough players win to be right with the law.
Which is the same thing that slot machines and video poker and black jack do. It also allows for those feedback loop, addiction fostering payout patterns that slots use. Which casinos like because slots are apparently their most profitable machines. With among the highest house advantages, and those controlled payouts designed to keep you locked to a single machine as long as possible.
I’ve seen casinos advertise physical roulette wheels. Especially at Indian casinos. Apparently Indian casinos have lower overall house advantages. Due to lower overhead and less control by state gaming boards. So they can afford to payout more often in the interest of attracting customers vs Vegas or Atlantic City.
But for the most part if you see a physical roulette wheel its apparently electronic. Rather than something where odds are based on weight, spin and distribution of numbers.
I know that is true of mechanical wheel slot machines, but I hadn’t heard that of roulette wheels. I have to say that I feel that a device that looks analog but is actually digitally triggered by separate odds seems fraudulent, though I know the Nevada gaming board disagrees with me, at least in terms of mechanical reel slots, where a RNG spits out a result and the mechanical reels are then stopped in accordance with the result, not the other way around. Sigh. There’s a reason I don’t gamble.
Have you ever lived in Vegas? Have you ever worked in a casino? Let me tell you, people think that they have a decent chance of winning - whether through “luck”, “superstition”, or “system”. People all seriously believe these things not fully understanding that such beliefs are pointless because of the fact that the computer knows if they will win or lose before they have even acted. Of course, there are plenty of other categories you missed in your oversimplification. There are also the professionals who make a living at it (including via the electronically controlled games) and those who want a chance at wining but don’t understand the psychological triggers stacked against them, and a slew of others.
Seriously, not everyone is either addicted to gambling or just planning on blowing some money.
The “Smart” gamblers go in with the knowledge that they are likely handing their money over to the casino for a night’s diversion and comped drinks…but they are a serious minority. Those with gambling addictions? Also a minority (although a highly visible one as they self-destruct).
Oh I did not realize only casino workers or those that reside in the Vegas zip code are considered knowledgable on such matters. Awesome. Thank you for providing some amazing qualification requirements.
Oh wait? Do you live in Otumwa, Iowa? Have you ever worked on a cod fish steam tramp? No? Oh well…only those people get to define what is acceptable qualifications and requirements to accept or dismiss people’s knowledge or opinions. Sorry, them’s the rules.
MY OVERSIMPLIFICATION is about not labeling people as STUPID just because they find spending $20 on slot machine fun or because they are addicts who need help. Because ya know…when someone is just having some fun doing whatever they deem as fun and it doesn’t harm another soul I don’t think they need the above asshole labeling them as stupid. Nor should said above asshole get to call those with a known disease who need help and treatment STUPID because they have a disease.
I don’t give a fuck about the details of why EVERYONE does or doesn’t gamble. I care when some fucking asshole starts labeling people in a derogatory manner because they feel like showing off how much of an asshole they are.
(at the time this was recorded, the NSW government were justifying the proliferation of poker machines on the basis that the tax revenue was needed to improve the public transport system; hence the “trains run on time” lyric)
When I go to the slots, mostly with my mom, I head for the ones that still have handles. The handle slows play down, so my $20 (or $50 if I’m in a wild mood) goes lasts longer. I only play the simple 3-wheel machines; the 5-wheelers with all the milti-line wins confuse me. Somehow this makes me think the machines are fairer.
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And it’s the only exercise I get.
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I’ve always wondered how the software in the machines is confirmed to be fair. Not just using a fair random function and accurate payout tables, but stuff like “cheat codes” that the owner can invoke to run with a smaller payout? Short of large sampling of actual play, can the machine really be confirmed to be fair?
On power up, machine runs fair. After the “games commission inspector” leaves, owner presses a sequence of buttons and the machine runs unfairly.
At least with physical machines, the bingo balls can be measured and weighed, the slot machine reels can be checked for balance, etc. But once it’s digital there’s lots of ways to cheat.
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And as we’re talking about electronic gambling , I have to recommend this book as well:
It’s a mostly great book that goes into detail about how electronic gambling machines have been designed to be absolutely compliant with all relevant laws, and yet as addicting and misleading as possible.
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