Ask The Slot Expert

Dear John,

I have played a lot in Nevada over the last 30 years. Mainly for the last 10 it has been video poker, single and triple play with the different games that are offered. When I play at the Southern California Indian Casinos, I along with many others seem to experience a wide swing in the take and pay out of the machines. There seems to be many more days when the take is MUCH higher and only a few when the pay will keep you going and MAYBE let you win a little. My worst days and biggest losses for the time and amount played are consistently higher in California. I get a LOT MORE seat time for the same game/wager in Nevada on a consistent basis.

Are these casinos regulated as in Nevada and New Jersey? Or can they change their EPROM chips at will, either by manually taking them out and replacing them or by mainframe computer programing?

The machines in the well-regulated states seem to be on a more even keel than the wildly swinging Indian Casinos.

Thank you,
Kirk

Dear Kirk,

I don't know exactly what regulations there are on the Native American casinos in California, but I'm very sure that they are nowhere near as regulated as the casinos in Nevada or New Jersey. In any case, you can be fairly sure that all games made by manufacturers you see in Nevada (IGT, Bally, WMS, etc.) will be fair games wherever you find them.

One thing to check is whether the machines you're playing in California have the same paytables as the ones you play in Nevada. Lower-paying paytables in California than in Nevada could account for what you have experienced. I suspect this is what is going on because you didn't mention specifically that, say, the 9/6 Jacks machines you play in Nevada seem to pay better than the ones you play in California.

Changing chips can either be done by the casino (in Nevada, provided the casino has a Manufacturer's License, most do) or by the state gaming commission with multiple witnesses or something in between. I don't know what is allowed in California. In any case, to prevent cheats from gaffing the code in the machines, chips are always replaced and never re-programmed in place.

Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
John

Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert, at slotexpert@comcast.net.

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