Posted on 12/13/2011 10:32:40 AM PST by AngelesCrestHighway
It wouldn’t matter whether it was at the gambling mecca of Vegas, or, as in the case of Behar Merlaku, at a little-known casino in the tiny Austrian town of Bregenz – if the bells and lights on the slot machine I’m on start ringing and flashing, telling me I’ve won $57 million, then of course I’ll be planning my retirement. But when Swiss national Merlaku went to claim his jackpot, owners of the casino simply said there’d been a “software error” and that the 26-year-old was therefore not entitled to the big money prize. Instead they offered him $100 and a free meal, which, hardly surprisingly, he rejected. Admittedly, it appeared that the top prize was for a five-slot match, whereas Merlaku had only managed to match four-slots, but with the machine’s screen and accompanying racket telling him he’d won, why wouldn’t he believe it?
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“We’re sorry sir, there’s obviously been a software error. No one was supposed to win!”
5 of 5 wins the big payout, 4 of 5 wins $100. Black letter law.
It doesn’t say “if the machine yells you won it means you won.”
I don’t know about the laws there but the laws here would be with the casino.
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Not so fast ... Who’s to say the “software glitch” was that the win was announced? I would argue that the software glitch was in that the wrong item was displayed and that I truly had 5 of 5 ...
"It's not a bug. It's a feature"
Programed to glitch and show a impossible jackpot whenever a genuine high payout rolls up.
>>Not so fast ... Who’s to say the “software glitch” was that the win was announced? I would argue that the software glitch was in that the wrong item was displayed and that I truly had 5 of 5 ...<<<
Then you might as well line up every single person who has used the machine since installation since the same “glitch” could incorrectly report ALL its results.
Your argument might be where they go, but it doesn’t have much of a chance. The machine showed 4 matches, the payoff is for 4 matches.
>>Not so fast ... Who’s to say the “software glitch” was that the win was announced? I would argue that the software glitch was in that the wrong item was displayed and that I truly had 5 of 5 ...<<<
Then you might as well line up every single person who has used the machine since installation since the same “glitch” could incorrectly report ALL its results.
Your argument might be where they go, but it doesn’t have much of a chance. The machine showed 4 matches, the payoff is for 4 matches.
Of course. The mechanical reels just stop where the computer tells them to. The odds of certain combinations hitting are much more complicated than simply each symbol’s appearance on a wheel.
There have been malfunctions reported before where the reel stopped at the wrong space, making it look like a jackpot.
Thousands of machines making thousands of calculations and movements per day, per casino. Things will happen.
Your argument might be where they go, but it doesn’t have much of a chance. The machine showed 4 matches, the payoff is for 4 matches.
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I’d bet that since the odds chips installed by the manufacturer (lets just say it’s IGT) and customized by the casino (they set the win %) work off an algorythm to meet the percent win number that in the computer code in the “odds chip” what actually appears on the display is just a byproduct of a second chip that is told how many matches to display based on what the master odds chip tells it to display... I could easily get a jury to buy that the win announcement takes priority. Unless the casino took a dump of working real/virtual storage on the slot machine they have no defense...
Assuming your series of “ifs” could be linked, you have no law to hang your hat on. Contract law is pretty clear — the payoff is based on matches not “intended matches.” (And I don’t buy the win happens first, then the matching item is moved into position — and you would never get that in, even in the EU, since the overall code is a big time Trade Secret).
But in court, you never know. Especially EU courts.
Payoffs should be based on where the reels stop. If the wheels stopped "at the wrong place," indicating a jackpot, it should be paid. People don't stick coins in the machine to bet on where the wheels should stop according to some computer, they bet on where the wheels do stop.
IRT the original story, the machine indicated four out of five. I side with the casino if $100 is the proper payoff for that outcome.
I won there too.....boy that casino is really in the middle of nowhere...LOL
Unless you are driving the 10 from Phoenix to LA
;)
NOT a series of “if’s” ,, the odds chip is the same in all machines , are customized by the particular casino and not all machines pay off at the same odds or rate, the display is seperate and customized for each machine with different images ... the “win” sirens/bells/whistles are triggered by the odds chip signaling the computer system in the casino of the win ,, these slots are all networked...
In the US if this “malfunction” was alleged by the casino the casino board would confiscate the odds chip out of the machine before it was allowed back in play for a determination. I suppose it could have some kind of non-volatile memory in addition to the code on eeprom to store maybe the last 100 or 500 or 100 plays ...
I know of two “error” jackpots in an Indian casino near me and have seen dozens of these reports over the last few years... It certainly seems suspicious... and smells of grand theft.
P.S. The coding is NOT a “big time trade secret” ,,you want it? Just buy a machine and dump the eeprom... or write to the Nevada gaming comission , they will probably send you the .bin file to peruse .. it’s a standardized chip with the only allowed modifications being the actual odds payout table ,, the standards are published ...
Well, it doesn’t work that way. The “reels” are spun in the computer. The random number generator determines the payout. The display of the winning combination is a secondary thing.
I believe you.
But it givs new meaning to the word “rigged.”
It works both ways. Say you were on a video slot machine and you hit a winning combination in the random number generator, but then the video screen failed. You would still be a winner, even if none of the “reels” were showed to you.
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