It looks like the
glory days of walking into a casino, hacking a slot machine, and leaving a
wealthy individual is over, as not only are "software glitches" leading to
rewards being revoked, but now you'll have
devious dutiful system administrators watching (and potentially controlling, you never know) everything that happens to your machine. PureDepth, Inc. has inked a deal with International Game Technology to provide a "realistic digital video display" to add a new level of control to vanilla slot machines. On the nifty side, programmers can change the typical cherries and numbers to baseball bats, for instance, if they know the Red Sox are taking a field trip to their casino, but on the disappointing end, you can now rest assured that folks behind the scenes now have complete control over "cost, payout, and nearly every other aspect of the game." Darn, looks like we're stuck with
ATM-jacking from here on out, eh?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TheClashRocker @ Mar 18th 2007 8:10PM
"I just got three cherries in a row. and one of them turned into a baseball bat! I got screwed." What's next? Diebold election machines casting 30,000 votes in a row for Bush--Oh, wait. that happened already.
Alexander @ Mar 18th 2007 9:21PM
Actually, payouts are not determined by the casino or anybody at the casino. All modern slot machines are linked up to essentially a super-secure network (think token ring on steroids wrapped in PGP encryption) which goes out over a dedicated line to the Gaming Commission who then determines when video slots pay out.
So, this changes nothing as regards to payout and amount paid out. At least it shouldn't. The Nevada Gaming Commission takes this stuff very seriously... At least I hope.
Heatsink @ Mar 18th 2007 9:23PM
"Darn, looks like we're stuck with ATM-jacking from here on out, eh?"
I'm not so sure. If programmers can change aspects of the machine, like cash payout, I'm sure hackers will eventually find a way too. There's always another way!
rod @ Mar 18th 2007 9:38PM
You mean, like, it's difficult to win free money? That there really isn't a way to get rich quickly without doing something better than everyone?
Wow. What a concept.
But seriously, gambling is a tax on stupid people who don't know how statistics and probability work.
And no, anecdotal evidence is not relevant.
mikey @ Mar 18th 2007 10:21PM
amen sir!!!! well said.
SHoe @ Mar 19th 2007 1:40AM
I'm still trying to figure out what the heck Engadget is on about with this? The deal is for "realistic digital video displays" (whatever that means...). But as for the rest, Alexander is completely correct. Pretty much most of the casion machines already in use by the major casinos are all networked to a central, secure servers (or cluster of servers) that perform / enforce all of the game logic, random number generation, etc, etc.
This is how it works NOW. Note that it is extremely regulated and the Nevada Game Comssion (as well as its international counterpart whose name i forget) have insane requirements for this kind of thing; they have inspectors to randomly check that the machines meet the requirements. Does this mean that they can't be cheated? Of course not - there is ALWAYS a way. But with todays casino kiosks (thats what they are really)conatining zero game rules, logic, or numbers generation, and with numerous physical and software protections to guard against tinkering, it is as close to impossible as can reasonably be afforded.
We WISH our voting machines were this accurate and this secure. Our government needs to pony up a bit more cash and not let the lowest bidder (or any bidder) set the requirements. They should look to the NGC for an understanding of the level of security, redundancy, and QA standards on which to base their requirements. Sheer government hack-job laziness and Diebold is taking advantage of it.
And yes - gambling IS a tax on stupid people.
Travis Owens @ Mar 20th 2007 5:34PM
The software can never allow somebody to remotely control payout or win ratios. Every state has a gaming commission and they MUST receive the source code to digital gaming systems in order to validate it's fairness.
While the win ratio is configurable outside the source code, any changing of this value would be fully illegal, even Native American casinos have to answer to a gaming commission.