Slashdot Mirror
Net Vegas
Makarand writes "Vegas has to have the best of tech to keep the plotters away.
Popular Science has an online
article
on how networks are playing an important role in Las Vegas. Welcome to Net Vegas
where slot machines are networked and surveillance grids monitor everything that goes on. Net Vegas
proves to be the best and the harshest test pad for new tech. Net Vegas will eventually
move out of the city and into your homes using the web."
I have a friend that works on these things at a casino in my area (indian res, not vegas) and I guess it is basically a net admin position. He works on slot machines and stuff over there, they use some Linux, NT, and Novel? We discussed it a bit, I was pretty surprised that slot machines where that techy now.
:P
:P
One of the senior projects at the college nearby also involved computerising the casino. They developed some sort of tracking system involving PDA's for dealers...not exactly sure because I didn't see it - only heard about it. I guess they already had it sold a few times before even finishing
Yep, where people throw money away other people can pick it up
NR
Interesting article about the technology used to watch and catch potential thieves of the casinos... but how closely are the gaming comissions watching the casinos to ensure we're not getting ripped off? With the millions of dollars passing through, the old "fraction of a penny" trick seems like it's a possibility, unless the casinos are watched very closely...
Quoting the article: None more so than Ronald Dale Harris, whose job as a software engineer for the state Gaming Control Board was to write slot machine anti-cheating software. Harris surreptitiously coded a hidden software switch--tripped by inserting coins in a predetermined sequence--that would trigger cash jackpots. After retooling more than 30 machines, Harris and accomplices made the rounds, walking away with hundreds of thousands of dollars. Harris was caught when one of his confederates implicated him after being busted in Atlantic City for rigging a Keno game. In 1998, Harris was sentenced to seven years. (Emphasis mine.)
the para-mutual betting system is secure too. This is a load of SHIT, considering the Paramutual betting system for horse racing was just cracked for 3 million, at the breeders cup. I'd say it will be some time before this is common, or the casinos will just have to eat the losses, and there will be FOR SURE...How will the go after say some guy in China that hacks the system ?
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Everywhere you go -- from Walmart, to Disneyland, to stadiums, to McDonalds, even to some carwashes -- everything is monitored and networked.
All cash registers in almost every supermarket, as well as any store (blockbuster, petsmart, etc) that cards you, is tracking everything you do through a network, and is usually accompanied by an impressive array of security cameras to boot.
It's not just risky gambling operations run by the mob -- it's your friendly neighborhood megastore that implements all the technology, too.
[ot]I saw an episode of Nova quite a while ago where they profiled a computer sysem that was capable of designing and building a body for itself, given certain goals of the body, and access to a machine that would create the body from plastic [/ot]
Would it be possible to create a system capable of designing and implementing a gambling system more secure than curent systems? As pointed out in the article, an employee of the slot machine manufacturer altered machines for payout.. this wouldnt happen if a secure computer system were to design the slot machine, in the vein of the aforementioned computer system capable of building itself a body. The computer designed slot machine would be able to design in booby traps to prevent tampering, and design in maintenance systems to maintain the system. I realize that this would be prohibitively expensive, but ultimately, wouldnt that be the only way to have a truly secure slot/gambling machine??
Just my $.02
I'm a little tea pot.
The article says "No single slot could pay out $4 million. Not physically, and not practically. Even in constant use, it would be impossible for any single machine to collect sufficient incoming wagers to make such mammoth paydays happen."
That's incorrect. A slot machine does not have to collect $4 million to have a potential payout of $4 million. A slot machine could be set to pay out huge sums for extremely unlikely combinations, combinations so unlikely that the machine would most likely NEVER pay it out during its X years in service. The network deal is compelling only because it allows pools, not because it makes huge payouts possible.
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
Hacking Roulette, was doable back in the 1960s. These guys from MIT built the world's first wearable computer, and were able to predict where the ball was going to land.
I used to be work on the communications software for slot machine, and although every machine in the building is wired together via fiber optic cable (fiber optics aren't as suseptable to a lot of the noise generated in the casino, such as neon, among other reasons), it's important to realized that there isn't a whole lot data on the line that's really a security risk.
Every machine has generates it's own random numbers and determines if it hits the jackpot by itself. The methods to do that are faily secure, but since there are a lot of variable to pick from, such as the number of milliseconds between user buttonpresses, randomness is not much of a problem. The command to win the jackpot does not come over the network.
All that's really on the network are things like coins in/coins out, number of plays, and a lot of accounting data. This data goes to the casino for their own accounting, and also goes into a box which then computes how much to increment the progressive jackpot. If an individual machine says "I won the big one!", then everything is shut down, the individual machine is checked to make sure the software hasn't been tampered or any other security measure broken, then the winner is paid (sort of). The command "to win" doesn't come from the network, so security is not a problem from the network.
On some lottery setup, an administrator can send a command to shut a particular machine down, but on the whole, the machines are pretty autonomous. Casinos are considered pretty secure environments anyway.
I always thought this was pretty interesting when I've explained it to others, so I thought I'd repeat it here.
There is so much more to this than just networking some casion cameras, etc.
The taxi companies have been paying telco insiders for taps into payphones, as an example. This lets them intercept customer calls, and swoop down before the competition can land the fare.
You have to go there and hang out for a while before you can really appreciate the amount of technology involved and how it's being used. The types of games being played behind the scene dwarf the action at the tables. Boggles the imagination, actually.... Not sure I want this stuff coming home with me.
Big gambling is run by big listed corporations and guys called Steve and Lee, not Tony and Vitti.
There are very few mob owned casinos left. There might be some vestigal ties (through debt-collection, prostitution, etc) with the majority but the influence of organised crime (violent, inefficient) has been replaced by the influence of the organised market ('family orientated', efficient).
Besides it screaming to be a bad idea because you know people would abuse it, but that normally doesn't stop the marketing people.
No, the main problem is that you're only liable for $50 on your credit card if the card is lost. What's to stop somebody from running up $2000 on a machine, then claiming to "lose" the card. They'd be personally liable for only $50, and the casino would have a chargeback for the rest. Not a good business plan.
There was a pilot program a while back (there might be others now), that used an ATM like card where you can put money on a card, then withdraw it at the individual machines. It was scary to look at the reports and see some guy at a machine withdraw $10k from his card, then 20 minutes later, withdraw another $10k, over and over again.
The casino wins in roulette if you put money down on the table and it has a reasonable chance of gettting it.
There are two ways displays work. First, it attracts casual gambling by those who might be walking by, see the displayed trend, and put money down because they feel "lucky" betting for/against the trend. Supermarkets call this an impulse buy.
Second, if you have a roulette player there who MIGHT bet trends, he/she will risk more money during trends even though that is completely illogical. Again, the concept of "luck."
The 0 and 00 do make the core of the money for the casino. And it makes even more if there is more money on the table when a "trend" stops. There is a 1/29 chance for a big win for the casino, and a smaller win if the trends stops against the way the majority of the players bet. The casinos lose
if trends last a long period of time (ie. anything that is highly improbable).
"I may be Love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."
Here are the only ways to make money, long-term, on gambling:
Or purchase one. The Crystal Bay Club Casino in Crystal Bay, NV (up on the North shore of Lake Tahoe) is currently bankrupt and for sale. The hearing on the sale is reportedly scheduled for November 21 at the Reno Bankrupcy Court.
There was no real reason for the casino to go to pot, judging from the neighboring casinos who are doing just fine. Indeed, the reported increase in gross revenue -- in spite of 9/11 -- at the neighboring Tahoe Biltmore, Nugget, and Cal-Neva casinos suggest that there is a hefty share of revenue to be made. A total investment of about US$7-8 million should get you a going concern. The place has a current gaming license (the buyer would have to qualify to obtain an operator's license from the Nevada Gaming Board), two restaurants, two bars (liquor licenses would need to be renewed), over 100 slot machines, 10-12 black-jack tables, a roulette table, a craps table, and parking for 500 cars.
In its heyday, the CBC sported more than 260 slot machines, about half of them the networked progressive machines featured in the SlashDot story today. The new owner will be able to get them back, and enjoy the house cut of the play on them.
If this seriously interests you, call the Bankruptcy Trustee at (775) 329-1528 during normal government office hours (closed for Veteren's Day) for more information, including a listing of the components of the estate and times to tour and perform your due diligence inspections.
Disclaimer: The information in this post is based on published reports, Web-gleaned information, and court hearing transcripts, and is not guaranteed to be accurate. You are encouraged to get information directly from the Trustee before making a bid on the Crystal Bay Club Casino. The AC making this post has no financial attachment to the casino.