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Toys Hardware

Server Based Slots of the Future 190

Posted by CmdrTaco from the no-i-said-slots-i-promise dept.
prostoalex writes "The slot machines of the future won't be dumb one-armed bandits anymore, CNet reports. New generation of slot machines, to be deployed in major Vegas casinos, will feature server-based gaming with games, new features and, most important, the odds being downloaded from a central server location, not determined by internal machine algorithm any more."
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Server Based Slots of the Future More

Server Based Slots of the Future

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  • Safe and secure! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Savantissimo ( 893682 ) * on Saturday August 13, 2005 @04:57PM (#13312755) Journal
    Some cynics here may doubt the security of the system, but I'm sure none of the gaming vendors will hide any Easter eggs in their proprietary code. After all, if one can make software work reliably for something as complicated as counting votes, surely a simple application like a few hundred different kinds of casino games should be child's play to secure.

    • Re:Safe and secure! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Tyler Eaves ( 344284 ) on Saturday August 13, 2005 @05:04PM (#13312784)
      I'm not nervous. Casinos make your average government mint look insecure by comparison.

    • Re:Safe and secure! (Score:5, Informative)

      by doormat ( 63648 ) on Saturday August 13, 2005 @05:08PM (#13312793) Homepage Journal
      The code that runs the slot machines is REQUIRED to be inspected and approved by the Nevada Gaming Board (for vegas anyways). So yes, it'll be safe and secure.
      • True. Casino software has far more inspection requirements, and is orders of magnitude more secure than any election software, for example, used in the USA.

      • Re:Safe and secure! (Score:5, Informative)

        by JohnnyLocust ( 855742 ) on Saturday August 13, 2005 @06:03PM (#13313081) Homepage
        The code that runs the slot machines is REQUIRED to be inspected and approved by the Nevada Gaming Board (for vegas anyways). So yes, it'll be safe and secure. . This hasn't stopped previous successful exploits on slot machines. http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/1998/Jan-10 -Sat-1998/news/6745681.html [reviewjournal.com] Las Vegas has a history of falling prey to the very same people they use to keep gaming secure. As with any secure system, the weakest link is always the human factor.
        • If the machines are insecure, it hurts the casinos because of tampering. If you're not committing the tampering, you will lose your money either way.
      • Hmm yeah. Because the Nevada Gaming Board is not susceptible to pay-offs like politicians and voting machine manufacturers.
        • Because the Nevada Gaming Board is not susceptible to pay-offs
           
          More likely: The cleverest programmers will go work for the casinos and get paid big bucks wile the inspectors sent around to check them will have gone through a one week training seminar while getting paid state government wages.
      • The code that runs the slot machines is REQUIRED to be inspected and approved by the Nevada Gaming Board (for vegas anyways). So yes, it'll be safe and secure.


        Ah, my favorite kind of sarcasm.... so subtle that you can't tell whether the poster was serious, or not.

      • Re:Safe and secure! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by EvilMidnightBomber ( 778018 ) on Saturday August 13, 2005 @07:26PM (#13313373) Homepage
        Ok. I've written much of the system code for one of the big three slot manufacturers' boxes and actually had to go through the NGCB (Nevada) and GLI (Jersey) submission procedures. They do in fact inspect some of the code in great detail, particularly the random number generator and the process of using it to extract the final reel positions. This (c++) code is perhaps 2-300 lines out of about 15k. There is NO way they could secure this amount of code. Any software guy with a year of experience could hack something in that would look totally innocuous. RAM based pointers in completely different modules come to mind (not that I've thought about it much :) ). The NGCB/GLI process is really just a way for them to get copies of the code and say they did *something* to make the casino ops get a fuzzy warm feeling. What really keeps the software guys in check is simple math. Go into a casino and start winning on ANYTHING consistently and you WILL eventually be caught. You can't drop a stick of gum in these places without being taped from at least 3 angles, and both the slot itself and the central system it's hooked up to keep a very long gamelog. If you're stupid enough to make the machine jackpot, now they have your name (required for tax purposes). So perhaps you could make a few loose thousand without getting noticed but wind up risking all future employability. In addition, if word of the cheat goes public, you've just damaged your employer's reputation, and they can go after your ass financially for lost credibility. I hate to bow to "the man" but some things just aren't worth it.
        • Actually, I'm more concerned about the OTHER side of the security equation. "Oh yes Mr. Inspector. This is the code, number generator, and payout schedule that's actually downloaded from the server to the RAM of each machine."

          "No... it is. Really."

          I'm sure the the operators can see lots of advantages in loosening up the machines on a slow Tuesday, and screwing them down on a Saturday night.

    • Re:Safe and secure! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by EEBaum ( 520514 )
      Slot machines are one of the very few computer applications that I'd trust the security of. There's too much money to be had in it, and any imperfection results in a loss of income for the casino, which translates to VERY BAD THINGS (both above and below the table) for the manufacturer. If they're lucky, they'll just lose business.

      For e-voting, there are many interests all around that will cause poor coding... malicious coders, crooked people, cushy government funding and lax oversight, and the fact th

  • Improving the experience, sure (Score:5, Insightful)

    by stefanb ( 21140 ) * on Saturday August 13, 2005 @04:59PM (#13312758) Homepage
    They won't have the ubiquitous spinning wheels of today's machines.

    Boy, when's the last time TFA's reporter has been to Las Vegas? My girlfriend and I had real trouble to find a machine that even took quarters, let alone being mechanical.

    "For instance, if on a Saturday night, they decide they'd like to change from a 94 percent pay table to a 90 percent table...right now it would take hours and hours to make that change. And now they'd be able to do that much more expeditiously."

    Ah, there we go! Just quickly change the odds behind the backs of the players so you can reek in more... and market it as "personalized" playing experience. There is no step two...

    I won't comment on the moronic reference to DoD encryption "to make it safe"...

    • With basic odds you already are going to loose. Computerized odds is just in your face criminal.

      But it takes a certain type of person to truly gamble anyway. This will just speed them to their doom.

      Wasnt there a report and a website already out there that proved the casinos already have cheating software? Honestly, I don't even care. I wouldn't have gambled before, and this certainly wont entice me...
      • But it takes a certain type of person to truly gamble anyway.
        Yeah. Generally, they answer to the name "loser." Like the guy that was bragging that he "won" $400 at the track - but if you prod a bit, it cost him $900 to win that $400. And this guy was a former accountant. Guess that's why he's no longer an accountant - his numbers don't add up.
        • Generally, they answer to the name "loser."

          Nice flamebait.

          Most of us prefer the word "enjoy entertainment". There really is no difference between spending $100 on a concert/play/sporting event, and dropping $100 in a casino for the evening, except for the fact that there's a very tiny possibility of winning more at the casino.

          Oh, and self-riteous folks like yourself who figure everyone at the casino is out spending their entire paycheque.

          Get over yourself. The vast majority of people at a casino know damn w
          • Yea, but there is a big difference between going to a concert every three or four months and dropping $100 for tickets versus spending $400 a night for 7-10 nights a month at a casino.

            There are many people at a casino that are there purely for entertainment, you can tell who they are...they look like they are having fun. Look at the other 60-75% though and they look like drones trying for the big win so they can quit working at McDonald's or whatever...
            • Did you ever seen the people who went to Phish concerts? Spending hundreds of dollars per town, while living out of a van and showering sporadically.. living in poverty just so they could hear some music. There are a few people who overdo everything. Pretending they're the norm is absurdist. Or to be more succinct: You're a fucking idiot.
              • Unfortunately, the "norm" for the casino is not all that great.

                I remember back when I was taking the "Psychology of Gambling" class back in college, and how, even if people won, they'd continue, because it wasn't the winning that was important - it was the high from the risk-taking behaviour. Of course, then there's the low from losing. So, how to get out of that low? Get another "high" from taking another risk. Sounds like another form of crack to me.

                Do you REALLY think these people are having fun, any

                • You see people at the bar getting beers at 7am. So you are in a bar at 7am.
                  • You see people at the bar getting beers at 7am. So you are in a bar at 7am.
                    No, I'm walking my dogs for 2 to 3 miles every morning, and the bar happens to be on one of the streets we take. It has these things called "Windows" that let me see inside. You know, the Non-Microsoft version, the ones that don't break all by themselves.
                    • I'd think I'd want my bar windows to break themselves. Preferebly seconds before I get thrown through'em. Where I live people apparantly don't like to see the sun or something, the bars' windows are small, tinted, and usually obscured in some way so you can't really see in all that well.
                • Everything can be abused. Off the top of my head I can think of the following serious addictions: fast food drugs and alcohol shopping eating sex porn computers and internet socializing working gambling religion another person (codependancy) It's a shame that some people become compulsive shoppers, drinkers or gamblers.... but that doesn't make any of the activities wrong or even particularly dangerous.
                • Everything can be abused. Off the top of my head I can think of the following serious addictions:
                  fast food
                  drugs and alcohol
                  shopping
                  eating
                  sex
                  porn
                  computers and internet
                  socializing
                  working
                  gambling
                  religion
                  another person (codependancy)

                  It's a shame that some people become compulsive shoppers, drinkers or gamblers.... but that doesn't make any of the activities wrong or even particularly dangerous.
                • I remember back when I was taking the "Psychology of Gambling" class back in college

                  You know, instead of taking a class on something, and then using that to judge an activity, maybe try participating. If you don't like it, more power to you.

                  even if people won, they'd continue, because it wasn't the winning that was important - it was the high from the risk-taking behaviour. Of course, then there's the low from losing. So, how to get out of that low? Get another "high" from taking another risk. Sounds like

                  • Want to crusade against something that actually is a problem for most of its participants? Go visit the local bar sometime.

                    ... where you'll find people hooked on VLTs. Talk to the owner of a bar, and he or she will tell you that its a double-edged sword. They need the VLTs there, because they bring in business. No VLT, fewer customers. But at the same time. the VLTs are draining money from those same customers, and that a lot of the "players" share the same characteristics (ie - they are dependent on the

              • OK, how many Phish concerts are their in a year? Even if you include the total of people for ALL the big groupie touring bands, the number of people that attend those things is microscopic compared to just Tunica....much less AC or Vegas. The "few people" that over do casino gambling are a minority compared to the overall population, BUT if you look at the people at a typical casino you will quickly see that a sizable minority are definitely the "waiting on the next pay check to go play" variety. While a
          • Every study done shows that casinos hurt the local economy - higher policing costs, higher welfare rates (broken homes, suicide of the breadwinner, etc), more crime.

            Everyone's a loser because of casinos.

            Has nothing to do with "being self-righteous." People are addicted. Just like they're addicted to VLTs (Video Lottery Terminals). They wear Depends diapers so they can crap in their pants rather than risk losing "their" machine. They piss in their token buckets for the same reason.

            The newspapers here used

        • Like the guy that was bragging that he "won" $400 at the track - but if you prod a bit, it cost him $900 to win that $400. And this guy was a former accountant. Guess that's why he's no longer an accountant - his numbers don't add up.

          Yeah, I suppose he's found that stint at Enron wasn't such a smart carrer move after all.

      • Wasnt there a report and a website already out there that proved the casinos already have cheating software?

        http://gaming.nv.gov/ [nv.gov]

        I think that's the site you're looking for.

        Or course there is software written to cheat on gaming.. http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/1997/Sep-23 -Tue-1997/news/6110757.html [reviewjournal.com]
        People have died for admitting to programming the cheating directly into the slot machines.

        but in general, there are regulatory bodies who are in charge of making sure the casinos are obying state law as
      • But it takes a certain type of person to truly gamble anyway. This will just speed them to their doom.

        Yeah, it takes the kind of person who enjoys gambling a bit.

        Oooooh right, I forgot that all gamblers are compulsives without any ability to understand odds, or to live life on a budget. You're so much better than them, since your hobbies include "being a self-righteous idiot".

        The funny part about gambling... nobody thinks a thing about a guy who drops $100k on a boat or a car, or the guy who spends $200/wk
        • I still don't get it, though. A human "playing" a slot maching is such a sad sight to see: inserting coins and pushing buttuns like a trained monkey, and not even receiving food for his toil.

          The great humanists and educators like Lessing surely would despair at seeing a human lowering himself to such a level through his own free will.

          I truly pity those who think that slot maching gambling is fun, or a rewarding activity on par with doing sports or going to a concert. A human, as a creature of the mind, sure
        • "Yeah, it takes the kind of person who enjoys gambling a bit."

          You misphrased your sentence. You mean to say "it takes the kind of person who enjoys games of chance."

          There is a big difference. These people are not gambling because they are not risking anything. They are paying for a bit of fun.

          Gamblers are _gambling_ which means they are risking loosing something they cant afford to loose. If they coudl afford to loose it, then its not a gamble its just the price for fun.
    • Most casinos publish their payout ratio, and if they cheat, that ratio will be low and people won't play at that casino. I still think it kind of ruins the experience, but on the other hand I don't really like any kind of gambling so I don't care.
    • No kididng. I think this article was written around 1994 or so.

      If the typical Las Vegas slot player wants to switch to playing "Wheel of Fortune" after hours on a "Monopoly" box, he has to take his cup of quarters and go trolling for a different machine.

      Um. Yeah. It's been a decade since multi-game, all digital slots appeared in CANADA, and as these machines all come from Nevada, I can only assume they were in Vegas sooner.

      It's to the point now that you can pretty much sit on any machine, and play any denom
      • I never got "video poker" or blackjack or whatever. If i want to play one of those games, I want the tactile feel of the cards in my hand, the weight of the chips, the funny looking people next to me. I want to watch the dealer..um..take the cards out of the magic sort machine..and flip them to their intended targets. If i'm going to spend money on casino entertainment, I don't want it to feel like i'm playing on yahoo games.

    • Wrong (Score:3, Insightful)

      by brunes69 ( 86786 )

      Ah, there we go! Just quickly change the odds behind the backs of the players so you can reek in more... and market it as "personalized" playing experience. There is no step two...

      You can't do that, it is illegal, at least in Nevada.

      If you would rad up on the subject a bit more, you would see the point of this change is that the casino can compute far in advance the results for every pull of the slot, so that they can know the payout percentages in advance. This way, they can schedule the big jackpots, fo

      • Some of the smaller outfits with less to lose (or weaker controls over this stuff) might give it a try. But Nevada from what little I hear sounds like it has pretty effective enforcement.
    • And yet this is standard operating procedure with online casinos. The big casinos just follow suit.
  • The slot machines of the future won't be dump one-armed bandits anymore

    You meant to spell "dumpy" right? Yeah, those machines are too big.

    • Re:Dump (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Git oaf Taco's K's. It past spall cheque, dint it?

  • It's been like this for years... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by AnonDotOrg ( 902320 ) on Saturday August 13, 2005 @05:02PM (#13312775)
    Hasn't it? Harrahs black jack tables are computerized. You can see a CAT-6 cable running out of a computer under the table... They are obviously all going to one server. I'm sure it's the same with the slots there, too.
    • ... and been used as part of the plot in an Analog story ("Of Kings, Queens, and Angels" - Rajnar Vajra, Analog July/August 2005).
    • I believe that cable is sending that 'loyalty club member' card data data to some server, keeping track of how long you're gambling at that table.

      I've always wondered, though, how 'useful' those loyalty cards are. I'm not a big gambler at all - prefer the $1 blackjack (at least they used to have it at Sahara's on the far end of the Vegas strip) or video poker. Actually, I much prefer not gambling, but when in Rome, I guess. But I've looked at those 'loyalty cards' and it seems like you have to spend an

      • The value of "comps" is almost precisely equal to your rate of gambling / the house edge.

        So, if the Casino's edge is 5% and you want that $300 room, you'll have to guarantee them that your time gambling will net them $300. So, if you sit around gambling for eight hours, you can probably get that comp if you throw $750 per hour across the table. However, if you spend most of the day between the pool and the buffet and maybe spend two hours at the tables, you'll have to be pushing $3k per hour at the dealer.
        • Hrm, that would explain why I don't get comped the penthouse sweet when playing my $5 at the nickel video poker. Damn.
  • Imagine what you could do with a Beowulf cluster of these!
  • I'll pass.

    Cheers

  • Official Slashdot Guide to Moderation (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 13, 2005 @05:05PM (#13312786)
    Greeting fellow /.ers! I fear for my life, so I must make this brief.

    At 0730 today, myself and fellow soldier of fortune Luke Genitals infiltrated the Geek Compound. Our mission - the "Official Slashdot Guide to Moderation." We finally procured a copy of this document from a pile of S&M oriented pornography and left to meet up with our buyer. Things went bad at the drop, we got set up, and now I am being trailed by both the Yakuza and Cmdr. Taco. If I should not make it through the night, I want you to know the truth so my life was not lost in vain.

    My friends, I have seen unspeakable things at the Geek Compound. I can never forget the horrors I witnessed...horrors that no amount of money can undo. If I live I might share some, but I must first escape my present situation. Here is an electronic copy of the stolen document. I have burned the original and ingested the ashes so please spread this around. I regret nothing and we cannot allow the truth to be censored.

    Official Slashdot Guide to Moderation
    rev. 3 5/29/00
    by Cmdr. Taco


    Introduction - Welcome sir to the fine world of being a Slashdot moderator! In this document we shall attempt to explain the ins-and-outs of moderation via the 4 key issues of what we taught you while at the Geek Compound.

    1 - Physical Changes - When we took you under our wing, you were but a boy. Now you are a fine specimen of manly wonder! To mark this right of passage we have, as you already can tell, altered your physical body. Do not be alarmed at this, rather embrace these changed to allow you to serve Slashdot better.
    • The Humor Bypass
      The humor bypass is by far the most important part of moderation. Humor, sarcasm, and wit are not good things to possess and only hinder your job as a moderator. By use of our high radiation emitting CRTs we have atrophied the humor portion of your brain. This enables you to see through the juvenile behavior exhibited in many posts to the -1, Offtopic nature they actually are.

      Remember - Humor is evil! We have freed you from the bondage of laughter forever.
    • The Castration
      Yes, you have been emasculated. While the mere thought of this would normally be disgusting, we here at Slashdot will supply you enough LSD and Xanex so you do not have to worry about this. Sex, like humor, is an evil unnatural thing. With your mind free to think not of sex, you now have more time to serve Slashdot.

      And lets be honest here...you didn't really have a girlfriend regardless of what you told your friends. Embrace your asexual nature and let us frolic in the meadows as eunuchs, together!
    • The Branding
      Take a good look at your chest now. Does the "property of /." branded across your scant, underdeveloped chest not look good? I thought so.

      By displaying this brand to a clerk, you are eligible for 10% discounts at the following stores: K-Mart, Phil's Discount Liquor and Methamphetamine, and Slutty Sally's Steakhouse. Clothes, entertainment, and food - all bases seem to be covered ;)

    2 - Crack - Smoking crack is an integral part of moderation. We will provide you with an unlimited supply of crack rocks, pipes, and lighters. We find that smoking crack enables you to mark posts in the more PC and friendlier image Slashdot needs to present. While you may be opposed to drug use, you must smoke crack to moderate.

    As you might have seen on your visit to the Geek Compound, we have a large room devoted to crack manufacturing. Our well-trained Malaysian slaves convert raw cocaine into crack just for you! Do not worry about the addictive properties of cocaine as will provide you with more LSD and Xanex if crack addiction troubles you.

    Please note - This is not freebase! Freebase is dangerous to produce if ethyl ether is used. This is rock cocaine, aka

  • How secure? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by m50d ( 797211 ) on Saturday August 13, 2005 @05:06PM (#13312788) Homepage Journal
    Could you plug your own cable in and pretend to be the server? Not that I want to face casino security, but it's an interesting scenario.
    • I'm guessing there won't be an external port on any of the machines with a label "insert server spoof machine interface cable here" so you would probably have to take apart the machine to access some kind of internal port, assuming it has any ports at all.

      Unfortunately casino security would probably find attempting to dismantle the machine a rather suspect activity.

    • Re:How secure? (Score:5, Funny)

      by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Saturday August 13, 2005 @05:57PM (#13313041)
      Could you plug your own cable in and pretend to be the server?
      Brilliant! You could win Internet blackjack the same way! Slight problem: since you're now playing your own, isolated game, you have to pay off your winnings, to yourself. Fun!
      • I can see the next Vegas problem now:

        undercover geeks find a game they like, disconnected it from the network and enjoy hours of free gaming.

        I'd be down for some of that.
      • AIUI the server isn't handling the money, just telling the machine what the payoff should be. So you pretend to be the server and tell the machine to raise the payout rate to 150%, then just keep playing it.
    • Don't need to jack into their network... just sneak over to the set of Alias and steal one of those devices that can read the contents of a hard drive just by being in close proximity to it. It should be able to overwrite the drive, as well, so you can simply cache the old contents of the drive, upload your own system image, and then when you've won enough, put the cached old image back online, and they'll never notice.

      Is it just me, or does anyone else hate how stupid that show is?
      • I stopped watching after the first ten minutes of episode 4. The previous 3 episodes had all ended with the characters in extreme peril. 2,3,4 all began with the characters safely back at home or home base. They either ignored the previous cliffhangers or made comments to the extent of, "Boy I'm sure glad I got of that okay"

        And that's when I realized: It was a spy show about a woman, for women. Or at least, for people who don't care about the details of the action packed fight, rather the intricate mane
  • Hi, What about automatic day-trading in FX derivatives or equities with the collected monies of (say) each 100 players? In the short term this really would be pretty random, with the broker acting as "house" and guaranteed an income... Rgds Damon
  • I occasionaly think about Quake 3 played for money.
    The missing ingredient here is the cheat proofing.

    If Vegas Inc develops the cheat-proof Quake 3 derivitive, then Vegas Inc conquers the world.

    Lot more fun to watch GTV than poker.
    • Cheat-proofing ain't the big problem. It's skill-balancing. Mostly if two given players go head-to-head, they'll figure out within a minute which one is better. After that, why bother? The weaker player might as well ask the stronger "want some of my money"? and be done with it.
  • But I never really cared for the video slots.

    There's something about a real reel reeling that sends me reeling...

    Brett

    --"You keep using that word...I do not think it means what you think it means."
  • So now, instead of trying to take a peek at/modify the machine guts, they try to peek at the communication, or just get a bunch of zombie computers to pwned! the servers. And aren't most of the scams with gambling machines inside jobs? Please, tell me how consolidating the working of a large group of slots into ONE MACHINE is going to increase the security? Just tell a bunch of your friends that row X of slots are going to be winning for 5 minutes starting at a certain time. Keep payouts small, but positiv
    • Well, for one thing, it's a single point for security updates and monitoring. If the slots are basically dumb terminals, the software load can be re-installed regularly to help minimize the window of opportunity for injected code. If it's a normal client/server deal, then there can still be scans for software tampering. Given this is /. and that SuperSAS is an open gaming protocol [supersas.org], I think that the "many eyes" security concept they're using is very practical. We know the casinos will be more than willin
  • Server based slut machines.. My fault
  • What would be cool is if you had a first person shooter. The top 5 people with the most kills would win the pot?
  • I could have sworn I watched a show about this 2 years ago. Saying all the machines in this chain were controlled centrally from a warroom looking place, as well as the odds.
  • I bet some geek figures out a certain pattern in which you can play that causes a buffer overflow (or something) thus resulting in the payout. :P
    • I bet some geek figures out a certain pattern in which you can play that causes a buffer overflow (or something) thus resulting in the payout. :P


      I bet a few days after that a few other geeks from the software development house mysteriously dissappear...

  • ..., I only smoke and drink when I'm playing casino games... ...now wireless, at a bathroom near you.
  • That would be possible, he said, because SBG systems could broadcast data via secure Wi-Fi networks anywhere on a casino property.
    Secure Wi-Fi?
    We all know WEP is pretty much worthless and WPA has proven to be crackable. What encryption are they planning to use that'll be secure?

  • Not new! (Score:3, Informative)

    by netik ( 141046 ) on Saturday August 13, 2005 @05:46PM (#13312972) Homepage
    I don't see how this is anything new.

    Odyssey makes machines that do this already (boot from a central server, and play the games the server hands to it) and the majority of slot machines that exist on the casino floor already have ethernet and share the odds distribution between them.

    This keeps odds at 1:600, or whatever they need to be instead of NSlotmachines:600.

  • Nothing new (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rhvarona ( 710818 ) on Saturday August 13, 2005 @05:48PM (#13312977)
    This is old news...

    I have implemented one of these systems. Many of the newer slot machines have been getting results from a central database for at least a decade. The results typically are generated from a few days to a few weeks in advance, which lets the casino confirm the payout percentages before making the gameset go live.

    The way to look at it though is that the Casino does not care if you win big. In fact, the casino likes big jackpots, the bigger the better, because they more than make up for in the the extra attention they get. More attention = More players = More dollars played

    They win a certain percent of every dollar played. The more dollars that get played the more they win.

    • Right. It's called "remotely determined gaming". Often this is done for regulatory reasons. A slot machine is considered "class 3 gaming", while a lottery terminal is considered "class 2 gaming", and is allowed in more places. So there's a trend towards packaging up remote lottery terminals to look and act like slot machines. You're actually playing against the other players active at the moment, not against the house.

      Bally has a line of Class 2 games. [ballygaming.com]. They look like slots. But they're remotely dete

  • ...are to be found in the basement of the Excalibur Hotel and Casino.

    You have arcade games, Skeeball, and IIRC, bowling. One of the biggest arcades I've been to. If you're dragged to Vegas here's a chance to have some fun and escape the smoke and shouldn't-be-wearing-bikinis waitresses.
  • Server Based Sluts of the Future.

    Oh well, maybe in 10 more years then.

  • I wonder if they'd get suspicious if I brought in my laptop while playing?
  • I love a good game of Dance-Dance-Slot-Machine!
  • This is really old news. The U.S Army in Korea has had this in their game rooms for quite some time (since 2002, I believe). All of the machines have a smart card reader. You rent the card for a $1 deposit and then put your money into the machine. They're all networked and there is a central kiosk that's basically an ATM that you insert the card into to collect your winnings and the $1 deposit return (it keeps the card). Unfortunately, the payout ratio is something like 60%, which pales in comparison to the
  • I've seen that the usual slashdot crowd is a little lax on history. Here are a few tidbits that I know:

    1. Gaming accounting systems started around 1978. It was a Bally that started it, I believe. Running on a PDP11 in the back room. Keeping meter, drop and win percentage histories as required by gaming control.

    2. Slot machines have been hooked up since that time using plain serial lines. Most use a form of encryption for the amounts and ticket validation ids.

    3. This server based gaming thing isn't new but i
  • In 1999 & 2000 I worked for Multimedia Games, which makes slots (and video bingo, poker, keno, etc.) mostly for Indian casinos. I helped develop their client/server based system that basically did the same things described in this article. The news is more that this kind of thing is being deployed in places like Vegas and Atlantic City now, not just in the smaller markets.

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I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

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