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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2017)
14 MAY 1, 2017 S moke S ignals Oregon offers Vegas-style gaming video poker machine. “On a tab machine, they (the casino) can have it win or lottery games and pull they can have it lose tab player terminals. whenever they want According to the to,” says LoRiggio in Washington Gambling a telephone interview Commission, each play- from Las Vegas. “On er terminal in a casino a tab machine they has to be connected to can make the edge a central computer sys- anything they want. tem that distributes pre- They can have a 15 determined outcomes. percent edge or an 18 “Most players are un- percent edge if they aware how Washington want to.” casino player terminal By edge, LoRiggio games operate,” says is talking about the the sign posted at Spirit amount of money a Mountain Casino. “The casino keeps on av- games look the same, erage from a player. but in truth they are He said if the edge is not. The slot vendors 14 percent, then the have worked hard to house keeps $14 from make the Scratch Ticket every $100 that goes Lottery/Pull Tab Players Photo by Michelle Alaimo in the casino. If the Terminals (Washington) look just like their Classic These informational signs are on display at Spirit Mountain Casino. They point out the differences between edge is 3 percent then the house keeps $3 for Vegas slot machine (Ore- Spirit Mountain Casino and gaming in Oregon vs. gaming in Washington state’s 28 Tribal casinos. every $100. gon) counterparts.” According to gaming expert Jerry offered in Oregon, are the result of players Las Vegas-style slot ma- Spirit Mountain Casino Market- Stickman of Casino City Times, a random number generator while chines and Washington Tribes ing Director Shawna Ridgebear the edge can be determined for outcomes on slot machines offered extend video “scratch” ticket ter- says guests that she and Dillon Las Vegas-style slot machines by north of the Columbia River are the minals to their guests via compacts have talked to on the casino floor comparing the odds of the hand and result of a pattern from an electron- with the state. are surprised when they learn the its corresponding payoff. The sum ic bingo game. Oregon is home to nine Tribal differences in how the slot ma- result is subtracted from 100 and In essence, Oregon gamers are casinos and there are 28 Tribal chines operate. you know the house edge. playing against the house and casinos in Washington, including “As we have been putting the Stickman says this cannot be in Washington they are playing the new Cowlitz venue. Washing- signage out on the casino floor done with video terminals because against other players who are also ton Tribes have compacts with we are getting the same response the odds of completing the game playing that particular game. Each the state that allow them to have back from our guests that are quite are not random because they are spin of the wheel on a Washington table games as well as electronic honestly shocked when they hear determined by a central server. casino video slot machine is a sep- “scratch” ticket games, which use the difference,” Ridgebear says. Steve Bourie, author of the “Amer- arate bingo drawing along with the a finite number of tickets with a “The most common immediate ican Casino Guide,” says a random other players playing that particu- predetermined number of winning response is, ‘Is that true?’ It seems number generator is a computer lar game at that time. and losing pulls. so shocking. We will stop and talk chip that stops instantly when a The classes of games offered at By compact, video “scratch” ticket to guests who are seeing this infor- player pushes the “spin” button and Tribal casinos are defined in the terminals have a high limit bet of mation for the first time and they displays the result of that “spin” on Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of $20. Washington Tribes are not are shocked.” the reel in front of them. 1988. required to release outcome in- The difference is important since “This means when you see the Odds for a Las Vegas-style video formation on their video terminal slot machines traditionally supply reel spinning the actual results poker game are determined on a 52- machines. casinos with a majority of their have already been determined by card deck. The odds for a Washing- The differences get technical, but revenue. the RNG,” Bourie says. “Reels don’t ton casino video poker game come they do affect the gaming experi- even have to spin in reality to show from patterns on a bingo card. ence for casino customers. Oregon offers you what you have won or lost.” Player strategy and skill do not Final outcomes on Las Ve- Vegas-style gaming Bourie says game manufacturers exist for Washington casino ma- gas-style slot machines, which are Tribal casinos in Oregon offer install the chip and it controls the chines as the outcomes are pre- percentage of how much a particu- determined by the pattern of the lar machine pays out in winnings. bingo game and nothing a player The range varies from a low of does influences the result. about 85 percent to a high of about Take video poker for example. 98 percent. The higher the denom- Professional gambler Dom LoRig- ination of the machine, the higher gio owns Golden Touch in Las percentage it is set to pay back. Vegas and teaches gaming sem- Bourie says penny machines are inars there and in Atlantic City, usually set in the range of 87 per- Memphis and Shreveport, La. He cent to 90 percent and that $25 slot is considered one of the best pro- machines will pay back at a 95- to fessional gamblers, ranked eighth 98-percent rate. best ever by Listverse. When asked if his option were LoRiggio, who is from New York to drive 40 minutes southwest of City and has been a professional his home to play Las Vegas-style gambler for more than 40 years, machines or 15 minutes north to says there really is a difference in play the other machines, LoRiggio the machines and players know it. responded quickly. LoRiggio says video poker ma- “I’m going to go to the (Vegas-style chines are highly regulated and in machines),” LoRiggio says. “Why? Nevada they have to produce by Because I’m a knowledgeable play- law a royal flush at least once every er. Anybody with some knowledge 42,000 spins. Vegas-style machines is going to want to play where the can hit back-to-back “royals” – al- casino has the lowest edge against beit very rarely – because they are the player. I’m going to drive more coming from a random number gen- than 40 miles. I’ll drive an hour erator. A player cannot hit back-to- and a half to a game that has better back jackpots on a predetermined edge for me.” Ad created by George Valdez outcome from a Washington casino CASINOS continued from front page