Video poker machines are a con
Friday, September 26th, 2008
Look at them, video poker machines lined up at the entrance to any casino, or lurking in the corner of social clubs where the local gambling ordinances permit them. They are there to take the hard-earned dollars from suckers. They play to the greed, the get-rich-quick in the poor saps who can’t resist them. . . I pity these people. . . Every day they give all their money to machines, every day they return again. There’s only one thing you can say about these people. They have worked out the one important feature of the machines. The House has an edge. No matter where you go in the casino world, whether its to some swanky place or online, the paytables are set in a way that gives the House a mathematical advantage. There will be times when players have a hot streak and it will seem like all the jackpots are falling. The casino operators are going to win in the long term without having to cheat. There’s no way they will spoil a sure thing by risking detection as a fraud by regulators. Then those streaks will go cold. That’s just the way statistics work their way to the one mathematical certainty. The House will win in the end. So let’s put those sore losers right. There’s no need for the House to rig the machines.
