An Example of a Shady Gambling Practice

I’ve written repeatedly about shady gambling practices and cheating in casinos. I’ve consistently encouraged gamblers not to cheat casinos.

But I’ve also suggested that when a casino makes a mistake in your error, it’s up to you to decide whether to correct them or not.

I don’t think that ignoring it when a casino makes a mistake in your favor qualifies as cheating.

I’m going to share an anecdote I read about in a gambling book along with my analysis of the morality and ethics related to that situation.

It’s an example of a shady gambling practice.

A Very Special Video Poker Promotion

In Bob Dancer’s Million Dollar Video Poker, he relates a couple of stories related to a specific video poker promotion at the Sahara in Las Vegas. It’s unclear when this promotion took place, but it was sometime early in Dancer’s video poker career. My guess is that it was in 1999 or 2000.

At the time, the Sahara had a promotion where you’d get paid double on a royal flush if you hit that royal flush during the first 10 minutes of the hour. They had another promotion where you’d get paid double for 4 of a kind (aces) during the first 10 minutes of the hour.

These were 2 separate promotions that were held on 2 separate days of the week. Obviously, when you double the payout for a specific hand, the strategy for playing that video poker game changes. It would be easy enough to just adjust the paytable in an online video poker strategy generator to get the correct strategy, but it would require some adjustments in playing video poker strategy.

But that’s not exactly what this post is about.

When the Royal Flush Got Hit

Dancer’s girlfriend at the time hit a royal flush on an 8/5 Bonus Poker game at 9pm. The double pay for 4 aces was in effect during that time period, not the double pay for the royal flush.

They continued to play and both hit 4 of a kind (aces) before they left the casino for the day. Here’s how the double pay worked in practice:

The machine would pay its normal amount to you in credits, but then you would activate the change light on the machine so that the floorperson could pay your bonus amount.

On this particular machine, the payout for 4 of a kind (aces) was $80, so the bonus payout would be $80. The total payout for the hand was $160, but $80 of it was on the machine. The other $80 was supposed to be paid as cash.

But on the night in question, the floorperson paid them $160 instead of $80 in cash. They also had the other $80 on the machine.

In that situation, is the right thing to do to correct the floorperson and give back the money?

I’m sure you could leave with a sense of moral superiority in this situation, but I think it’s just as correct to keep the money. After all, the casino doesn’t have your best interest at heart. And you didn’t do anything in this situation to try to cheat the casino.

The only real concern is whether the floorperson would get in trouble for the mistake. Since the money was just coming out of the casino overheard, the likelihood that the casino would fire the floorperson is minimal in this situation.

The casino made a mistake, and you benefited from it.

Great.

No harm, no foul.

Another Situation – This Time, Shadier

On a Thursday, Dancer and his girlfriend were playing and watching someone else on the same machines. This other gambler hit a royal flush 5 minutes before the hour. Keep in mind that the double payout only happened if you hit your royal flush during the first 10 minutes of each hour, so he was 5 minutes early.

The gambler could call the floorperson over right away and get his $1000 payout, but if he waited 5 minutes, he could claim that he won the jackpot during the first 10 minutes and get an extra $1000.

But the lights on top of the machine start blinking when you hit a video poker jackpot. This gambler’s solution was to put some change cups on top of the machine and hang his coat over the blinking lights. At this point, the gambler is getting onto shaky ground.

He then asked Dancer and his girlfriend if they knew what he was up to. Dancer told him yes, but that he wasn’t going to lie for him or speak up and turn him in. I think Dancer was more curious to see what happened than anything else.

A change girl did come by in a couple of minutes, and she realized that the gambler had hit the royal flush too early to get the bonus payout. He offered her $100 to lie for him and say that he hit the royal after the top of the hour.

She agreed.

At 5 minutes past the hour, he took his jacket off the top of the machine and started yelling with excitement about his win. The floorperson asked the change girl about the timing, and she lied per her agreement with the gambler.

The floorperson returned with the shift manager and explained that they had a problem with the cameras and couldn’t tell if the jackpot had hit before the top of the hour or not. They decided to pay the gambler.

The gambler slipped the $100 to the change girl. He also offered Dancer $100 for keeping quiet. Dancer says he turned down the money.

What Makes This Second Situation Shadier Than the First?

I don’t think that this anonymous gambler is a terrible person. I might make a similar decision in his situation, but I doubt it. I’m too risk averse. I’d be afraid of getting into trouble.

This situation is different because of the amount of action on the part of the gambler. Instead of passively accepting a mistake made by a floorperson, this gambler actively lied about when he hit his jackpot.

He even covered up the evidence with his coat.

AND he bribed an employee of the casino to lie on his behalf.

I’m no saint, and I don’t expect that most of my readers are, either.

But I think it’s clear that this was not an integrity move on the part of the gambler in question.

Sometimes Things Go Your Way When You’re Honest

Dancer said he went back to the casino on a Thursday and hit a royal flush while he was chatting with the shift manager. It was 8:58am, meaning he didn’t get the bonus payout.

But he did get the bonus payout.

The manager came back and explained that the casino decided that paying out the bonus for hitting the jackpot in the first 10 minutes was more trouble than it was worth, so the Sahara and decided to just make it an all-day promotion.

It was a new policy that the casino hadn’t even announced yet.

And Dancer got to benefit from it before anyone else.

Of course, this kind of promotion is worth a lot of money to a video poker pro – in this case, it increased Dancer’s expected return every hour by $12.50.

Conclusion

What should you do if you wind up in a potentially shady situation when gambling?

I still contend that if a casino makes a mistake in your favor, the best thing to do is keep your mouth shut.

But when you start to actively cheat the casino by breaking the rules and bribing people to lie on your behalf, your selling your integrity in a serious way.

The risk is great, too, because such behavior is clearly illegal.

Plant yourself in the middle of the road when you start dealing with shady gambling situations.