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Gaming Guru
More on slot machine malfunctions12 December 2010
I'm sorry if I ruffled your feathers. I know you were just giving the disclaimer a colorful name. The point I was trying to make was that the media never presents a balanced report in denied jackpot stories. In some of the cases, the machines are obviously malfunctioning. Yet the conclusion of the story is always some sort of statement that implies that the casino routinely denies payouts by inventing machine malfunctions ("Be careful the next time your machine lands on the jackpot. The casino just may not pay you what you won.") To answer your question, first, let's make sure we're on the same page. The only way a jackpot could be displayed but not reported is if the RNG did not choose a jackpot, but for some reason the display displayed a jackpot. So I take "not reported" to mean that the RNG did not choose a jackpot. The opposite case is a jackpot reported but not displayed. In other words, a jackpot chosen by the RNG but not displayed. Because the RNG rules, the machine will do everything it should do for that jackpot -- credit the credit meter, lock up for a W-2G, report the jackpot to the progressive controller, report it to the slot accounting system. Players would have indications that they won. Is it possible for this to happen? Sure. Humans wrote the software running the slot machines and every once in a while some strange set of circumstances occur that causes the machines to operate in incorrect ways. Has it ever happened? I don't know for sure. I've never heard of it happening. But then I don't think I would. It's not newsworthy for newscasts that have little time for positive stories. And as far as the casino industry is concerned, unless this is a chronic problem, it's just a routine glitch and the machine will be placed back in service if it passes all of self-tests. Finally, I think the casino would be within its rights to deny this jackpot based on the machine malfunction disclaimer. 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. This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net. Recent Articles
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