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Ask the Slot Expert: The effect of playing with a player's card

7 March 2012

Dear John,

Thanks for your column. Love the info. I am one who will try anything I can to trigger my machine. In fact, I really did think it was "just luck", when I first started playing and winning, over 25 years ago. Playing in Vegas, Laughlin, Tunica, New Mexico & La.

But, the more I play the more I BELIEVE, the more frequent you go to the same place the less you get in wins or perks... no matter, what "LEVEL" card you play.

The casino closest to me, does control and does allow the same few to win everything. Most of the past 6 months my card is almost totally CUT OFF....YET I play enough to maintain a top card 3 and 4 times over what I need. I also keep my husbands card in the Second level. So, I know out of a casino full of machines ... there is no way I can always pick the losers for me or him. So "my test" started.

Test: Keep playing "my way"... but... use friends cards who win ... or "no card".... Lately the test results SHOW:..without a doubt.. IF ... I don't want to come home broke... I USE SOMEONE ELSE'S CARD OR "NO" card, in the same machines and IT HITS. I keep alternating the cards and as soon as my card goes in the machine goes dead..again... so I take it out and UP IT GOES... or I take it out and put in friends or daughter or relative card and its in the money again.

For a while, it got so obvious that everyone said: WHY ENTER A DRAWING... WE KNOW WHO WILL WIN. (same man won 2 motorhomes in one month.... and other things ..at all other drawings... Same woman won truck/boat/trailer... and the SAME 2 men won top and runner up diamonds... and win highest cash prizes and tore up any machine the got on. You would not believe how many payouts one guy and his wife get. Oh and by the way, They are the card beneath mine, which means if they played as much as I do they would be top card like me.

After my email, calling attention to how obvious the same names drawn all the time, THEY Made a new rule and now only SAY the town they are from. hehe...STILL OBVIOUS, when the same friends have the vouchers to brag to you about.

Anyway, when a casino "BLOCKS MY CARD"... (and they do)... I PLAY ANY CARD that wins for me. I play several days a week at the closest casino I have been a top card holder and I help keep my husbands card to second level for meals...for a long time.

Yet, even close to the end of a session, I see people with less than 5000 tier pts. have $45 to $60 bucks (Freeplay) on their card ... I get $15.00 a week and my husband gets $5.00 a week. $20.00 bucks a week combined for close to 1,000,000 pts combined play a session.... WOW. Wonder who set that up?

ANYWAY, I now figure ...let someone have a free meal or more towards a free room... on me...when if I can win using their card...I'm dead to the casino...here... SO ...I pull out all my cards and sure enough ... my same machines... WHICH I HAVE POURED MY MONEY IN FOR HOURS WILL HIT & "MY MACHINES" lets me go home "less than"... totally broke.

I EVEN have a dead friends card and "it" still hits for me at times. He gave me the card and his password years ago and said HERE PLAY MINE anytime you want ...then I can go eat with ya'll and if you hit over $500.00 we can split the money... When I can't go play. He had even given me play money to play for him and give him his wins over $100. Well, it worked for a long time and we got to split a few times. I figure if you have a persons blessing to play on their card then it should be like me placing a bet on a horse for a friend ... or going in half on a horse.

I'm sure a casino thinks of that as cheating but, IF... if they can totally turn off a card, like they have obviously done mine....then I see nothing wrong with playing the cards they haven't turned off yet.

If you will come follow me around a few days and watch me I can prove my theory. Bring a note pad too so you can take notes of how much free play the lowest cards get compared to highest card players with combined pts around 1,000,000 or more per session.

It is also very obvious when they have "Oriental day" ... Mexican Day... Black Day. cause "IF" you can speak their language... YOU DON"T WIN... but ...ethnic groups play by you ...and "they"all hit big. Very obvious if you have played the whole bank for 3 hours winning very little and the bus rolls in and the bank fills up and 3 out of 9 machines pay off to the group of the day. EVERYWHERE YOU walk in the building you can tell by the jabber that a bank had hit for 3 to 5 ... and none of us regulars can make a hit.

I guess maybe going so often ... KNOWING so many of the regulars to compare stories with... gives a gamer and INSIDE TRACK on what is happening and yet... WE keep going... hehehhe... anyway... thanks for any info you can return to me about all this...

Keep plugging,
Jo H

Dear Jo H:

Thanks for the kind words about my column.

Let me address some of the things you mentioned in your letter. First, you believe that the more frequently you go to a casino, the less you get in some benefits. The purpose of mailed offers is to get you to come back. If you're already coming back regularly, your mailed offers may not be as good as someone's who does not visit as frequently. That person needs a better incentive to come back.

It is absolutely, positively illegal for the casino to use how frequently you visit or any other piece of information to affect the results on a machine. Absolutely, positively, categorically illegal.

Your test was a good start, but it didn't go far enough. Slot machines are so volatile that you can't prove anything from just a few spins. A better test would be to play 1,000 or more spins with your card in, with someone else's card in and with no card in. Track the number of hits you get under each scenario. You should have roughly the same number of hits regardless of whose card is in the machine.

As for drawings, I have seen that some casinos seem to have a regular group of people who win most of the drawings. When I asked around, I found out that these people take advantage of every way there is to get an entry in the drawing. They tended to win the drawings because they had a large number of entries. The drawing must be fair and the casino could be fined or face losing its license if it rigged the drawing.

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. Because of the volume of mail I receive, I regret that I can't reply to every question.

John Robison

John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots
John Robison
John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots