Thanks. I kind of recall a story about a machine malfunction in Nevada where the reels showed a jackpot but the computer disagreed and the law sided with the computer. Obviously this produces one angry player.

The reels on an eltro-mechanical were actually random, like a reel slot machine. Supposed to be random, based on the same game as the original, where the number of symbols and reels, could in theory, predict the outcomes.

The ones with stepper motors, that the reels spin and are stopped, by the machine, which I suspect was the one you're talking about, or electronic screen, are actually meaningless. They only display the outcome that the computer has decided.

In other words, it wouldn't be as much fun if the player hit a button and the screen said, "you win nothing" or "you win 50¢", instead it teases us with icons, and if you need three, it will often show two. If it's some feature that someone needs three on reels 1-3-5, it will often show 1 and 3 and then a long spin, before 5 is a near miss.

But still, it's only a display.

Somehow I'd think the old machines actually were more reliable for players, because a computer can decide what it wants. I know the RNG is running and running and it's the same thing, but somehow, it doesn't feel like the same thing? At least on an old reel machine, what you saw, was physically happening. If you just missed, it was real.

Did I mention the ruling where years ago, machines were programmed, if someone played less than Max. coins, and that was needed for the jackpot, $3 for example. The machine would come up with the Jackpot that wasn't, more often, when someone played 1 or 2 coins. They finally ruled against that. Except for the payouts, the machines, IN NEVADA, are supposed to be random and have no relationship to the number of coins played or amount bet.

I can't say that for tribal casinos or bars and other places, in other states.

I assume the question was Las Vegas, but I'll tack on one more. A smaller tribal casino in WI was caught pulling 10s from the deck to move the odds more in the favor of the casino. But since the fox is watching the hen house, in many of the Indian gaming compacts, nothing happens. Reportedly some casinos have machines set lower than the agreement states for odds. And they pay the fines. But doing the math, they make more than it costs, so the machines stay at odds below the agreement percentages.

Potawatomi Hotel & Casino peak revenue was $110.0M in 2022, which is not as spectacular as Nevada, New Jersey or New York, but still, pretty good.