Colorado casinos - defective machines

[GrannyJ]

Thanks for the information.  First time I have read anything on the subject.  Makes you wonder about other casinos.

[rascal]

719 is exactly right. I know a guy who makes his living scalping tickets to sold-out ball games in various college towns. Sometimes he gets caught and fined. The fines are part of his business expense, in his own words. If he can make $10K on a good Saturday scalping and pays $100 or so in municipal fines for illegal scalping, what's to stop him? He even lists scalping fines on his income tax returns! Same with big casinos. Fines for ANY illegal actions need to be equal to a couple of month's profits. These fines are nothing more than chicken feed for a corporation that is doing billions. What a joke. Colorado regulators obviously are sleeping with casino interests.

[777]

Professionals or not, accidents do happen.
Do the regulations allow the license to operate to be yanked from repeat offenders?   Similar to bars losing their liquor license for serving underage drinkers.  It would not only cost them, it would prevent the fat cats from getting their bonuses and stock options.
 
That would certainly be incentive to keep things on the "up and up"!!

[Eduardo]

I think the local Colorado media coverage and publicity would hurt more than any fine.  I mean it's not a secret that they were caught.  So if they made a regular habit out of it, even if the fines were not a significant portion of their profits, it would hurt beyond measure since people would not trust those particular casinos any more.So yes the fines are seemingly small but if you think there is not incentive to make sure this doesn't happen again I think that is underestimating things.I do not see that as just a drop in the bucket for casinos that they would be willing to ignore or intentionally put in bad machines or something. This is completely different that the scalper example. These casinos will likely be very careful about the regulations in the future and less likely to let things sit for a while that they know are out of line. I am sure other Colorado casinos are taking notes and scrambling to make sure they are up to code as well.

[oej719]

Eduardo are you connected with a casino somehow? Like being an employee, owner, CEO. Or maybe connected to a game maker.

[Eduardo]

I just like to get to the bottom of every story. I have not even been to a real casino before! I cetainly see your side and agree with much of what you say.  Do I not have any good points? Edit to also add that that is just my style in these types of discussions expecially politics topics which is why I try to stay away from those   Sorry If it comes across as confrontational it is not meant that way. I sometimes like to debate just to see other sides. I would like to hear what more people have to say about this case since it is a very good topic.

[oej719]

Ok. This is 2006. These casinos had been told to remove these defective machines back in 2003. The casinos know exactly to the penny how much each machine brings in. They would also know exactly if a patron was cheating a machine and remove both the machine and the patron. When you use a slot card everything about you and your play is recorded. They know how far you drove to get there, what games you play, how you bet each play, if you won or lost, etc. etc.
If they have all this capability do you not think that they could not know of machines that cheat the patrons. And if they can know this so easy why not remove them and avoid trouble. The way most gamblers see it is that
they chose not to remove it because they can make way more than any fine cost, so it is a business decision.
It does raise questions about the regulators though. Would not be the first time that a government agency was sleeping with the enemy.
 
Bunches of big money will make people change and do things if they think they can get away with it.
 Nothing personal against you, it is just I hate going to a place that I was made to believe  was fair because of so called " GAMING REGULATIONS".
Then made to feel like a fool for thinking that it was safe.
Stealing is stealing. This is no different then someone coming into my store and shop lifting. It was done intentionally. And most penalties for shop lifting are stiffer than the gaming commision handed out here.
 

[vpguy3]

I'm with 719 on this. Right, wrong or indifferent, we are the players and it is our money that builds these places. As players we know the casino has the edge and we live and play for those occasional streaks of luck ( and skill) that keep us playing. However, no casino should knowingly increase their advantage even more than it already has because as players we would just write that off as another day where lady luck abandoned us. I still think Colorado Gaming Division and Colorado State Govt. need to be blamed as well. The division for not doing their job and the Colorado house for wanting the revenue that's created but not budgeting enough for enforcement to keep it fair for all the players. You'll never convince me that this was accidental; greed has many faces and I'm very disappointed in Colorado and the corporations involved.

[shadowman]

I'm always amazed that people will jump on anything to scream "the casino's are cheating", then, these same people show up week in and week out and still gamble. You even jump on the guy who simply points out the TRUTH. I agree with Eduardo. There is NOTHING in this article to indicate any kind of casino cheating.

[guygfil]

The way I see it, if the casinos  [in most of these cases] knew of these difects in these machines way back in2003, they would have known if they were being cheated or the gamblers were being cheated, and they were being cheated, I bet those machine would not have remained  on their casino floor at all. If there  was a chance they could loose their license, [like in some other states] this would have not happened. Guyfil.