Ask the Slot Expert: Does how much I bet affect my chances of winning?

Bilbo's in Las Vegas went out of business. The three phone numbers I found for them are not operational. How do I get a win lose statement for 2013?

Bilbo's Bar & Grill was a chain of bars in Las Vegas that closed last year. Your only hope now is to go to the county clerk's office to get the contact info for the owners unless you can find it online.

I know I'm stating the obvious, but if Bilbo's didn't have a players card, there's no way they could track your play.

And it's too late for this advice, but it's best to keep your own diary of wins and losses. This quote is from the IRS page for gambling income and losses: "It is important to keep an accurate diary or similar record of your gambling winnings and losses."

It doesn't happen often, but slot club systems sometimes miss data. I once had a problem with a machine that was not communicating with the slot club system at Treasure Island. Back then, you had to play a certain number of dollars on a machine to earn a point. I was playing one point on a number of different machines and I noticed that my point total didn't go up after playing a certain machine. A slot floorperson checked my account and, sure enough, my play on that machine was not recorded.

Have you ever heard of someone "willing" their casino comps to someone else when they die?

Do you think the casinos would honor this?

No, I've never heard of someone bequeathing their comps. In fact, every players card brochure I've seen has stated that benefits are not transferable.

That said, almost every airline frequent flyer program also claims to have non-transferable benefits, but some airlines will transfer them.

You can ask the casino if it will extend some courtesy to the heirs as a gesture of goodwill, but don't expect them to honor a bequest in a will. I'm not a lawyer, but I think it's correct to say that the comps were not the deceased's property.

I just returned from a trip to Encore and did fairly well on a number of slots. I wondered, though, whether changing the size of your bet in any way alters the appearance of winning results. For example, I was winning very regularly on a Wizard of Oz Ruby Slippers and on a slot where the bonus round consists of advancing up a level of colored sevens. In each case, I was doing very well until I increased the number of units per spin, e.g., going from 90 credits per spin to 300 per spin. I immediately stopped winning, and I'm wondering if increasing the size of my bet alters the win results.

No, altering the size of your bet has no affect whatsoever on you chances of winning. Regulations in Nevada require that the RNG be free from any outside influence, like how much you're betting.

I increase my bet when I'm doing well on a video slot. Sometimes I continue doing well after increasing my bet. Sometimes the machine goes cold after the increase.

The result of each spin is determined at random, without regard for what has happened in the past or how much was bet.