10-07-2001, 11:16 AM
Yesterday I was watching one of those "crime-type" programs on the A&E channel. The theme was high profile crimes that had occurred in Las Vegas. One of the crime stories was about the murder of the American Coin Co. slot and video poker programmer. American Coin was a slot machine vendor whose profits skyrocketed with the introduction of video poker in the early 80's. Eventually they got into the manufacturing of the poker machines and even bought up many of the bars and restaurants which had their machines. However, their jackpot payoffs appeared to be "too tight", but no one at the Nevada Gaming Commission could figure out how it was being done. Eventually, American Coin's programmer had a rush of conscience and went to the control board and explained what they had been doing to "tighten up" the machines from paying out too many jackpots. American Coin was fined $1M, and the company folded. The programmer was killed in what looked to be a hit orchestrated by the owners of American Coin, now living in another state.
I thought this brought up some interesting parallels to what people have been saying about Paradise. Even though Paradise is making a ton, so were the makers of American Coin. That didn't stop them from cheating. Furthermore, the Nevada Gaming Commission could not figure out what American Coin was doing to control the payouts, even though they had the chip going into the American Coin Machines. People complained that the games were "too tight" but no one could figure exactly how the poker machinese were being rigged until the programmer came forth. In the case of Paradise, a lot of people have complained about the game "not feeling right", even though they can't pinpoint what's going wrong. the flops being published by Paradise. Even though the flops appear random, it's hard to draw a complete picture without knowing what the whole cards are as well. I don't know if it's possible to still achieve a random board if you manipulate the hole cards.
Or maybe I'm off base on this. There might be some details of the American Coin case that either I left out or were left out in the TV program. Maybe one of our Vegas insiders could help us here:)
PS I am NOT accusing Paradise of cheating. I am just saying there seem to be some interesting parallels. I am also saying that more money is ALWAYS a motive to cheat in the gambling world, even if you are already making good coin (pun intended).
I thought this brought up some interesting parallels to what people have been saying about Paradise. Even though Paradise is making a ton, so were the makers of American Coin. That didn't stop them from cheating. Furthermore, the Nevada Gaming Commission could not figure out what American Coin was doing to control the payouts, even though they had the chip going into the American Coin Machines. People complained that the games were "too tight" but no one could figure exactly how the poker machinese were being rigged until the programmer came forth. In the case of Paradise, a lot of people have complained about the game "not feeling right", even though they can't pinpoint what's going wrong. the flops being published by Paradise. Even though the flops appear random, it's hard to draw a complete picture without knowing what the whole cards are as well. I don't know if it's possible to still achieve a random board if you manipulate the hole cards.
Or maybe I'm off base on this. There might be some details of the American Coin case that either I left out or were left out in the TV program. Maybe one of our Vegas insiders could help us here:)
PS I am NOT accusing Paradise of cheating. I am just saying there seem to be some interesting parallels. I am also saying that more money is ALWAYS a motive to cheat in the gambling world, even if you are already making good coin (pun intended).