You, the Slot Machine and the Law
Is a discussion about you and the law regarding slot play really necessary?
Perhaps not, but in the interest of providing the most thorough treatment of the subject, a look at how some people inadvertently or otherwise get into trouble playing slots is included here.
Before detailing some actual "no-no's," let's talk first about a couple of general attitudes that people sometimes express about casinos and the activity of gambling therein. There are those who feel the casino is a place where the odds are stacked against them in a sort of dishonest way. The important element here is the mistaken idea that it is dishonesty instead of economic reality that results in a profit margin for the casinos in the games they offer. This profit margin the odds favoring the casino is as little as ½ or 1 percent on even-money bets at some table games, and, overall, is lower than many people think.
From our previous discussion about how slot machines pay off, you have seen that the profit casinos make on these games is between 5 and 15 percent. This is certainly not a rip-off, for the profit margins of most business today are almost always greater than 15 percent. Yet, a certain number of people will walk through the doors of casinos every day thinking that the place is going to try to cheat them and so they must be on their guard.
And a minority of these people will take this thinking even one step further. Not only do they think the casino is out to cheat them, they feel they have a right or obligation to themselves to try to cheat the casino first. They may cheat only in a small way, like telling a casino employee their slot machine didn't pay them all the money it should have after stuffing a handful of coins into their pocket. No big deal, right? Well, it's "no big deals" like that and a few others I can mention that can result in a loused-up visit or vacation.
First, just in case you have any doubt in your mind about the honesty of the casinos or their employees, I want to state for the record that no other business I know of spends more money or time policing itself than does the gaming industry. This means that there is no conspiracy to keep you from winning when a slot mechanic services your machine if you have a problem. If a floor supervisor tells you that you did not win when you think you should have, that supervisor is not trying to save the casino money. He or she is telling you the truth and would much prefer to see you win and have a good time.
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