Classic “one-armed bandits” in the literal sense of the word doesn’t exist today (well, except in some museum). No levers and wheels, a button for launching and a screen. In modern slot machines digital animation emulates the rotation of the drums. Evolution from mechanical machines to complex Jetbull online slots games capable of distributing multi-million dollar jackpots, took almost 130 years. It is noteworthy that the fame for slot machines didn’t come immediately: in the early 80s they were jokingly called “sleeping beauties” of the gambling world, and already in the 90s the share in the total business from slots was almost 60%.
Not the least role in the popularisation of slot machines was played by the child of the American company YGT — progressive jackpot. The system makes it possible to combine winnings and betting of gambling machines all over the world.
The regular income of the owners of gambling machines didn’t become an obstacle in the desire to earn more money. For this reason cases with fraud in their time made a lot of noise. For the sake of justice, we note that the players also didn’t remain in debt. The rich imagination of the craftsmen knew no bounds: slot machines were opened, players used bugs and malfunctions. And yes, don’t forget that it is not profitable to steal for really rich casino. Reputation in the gambling industry is expensive.
Behind-the-scenes war between the owners and the “offended” by fortune customers has always existed. In the 40s the last century in America, a wave of five-year “temp-boys” swept. Unrelated groups of scammers learned how to win regularly on slots. According to unconfirmed reports, casino owners lost $500 million and not one “lucky beggar” was dug in the desert, or became a cripple. The secret turned out the result of someone’s observability. The know-how of “temp-boys” was in the timely pulling of the slot handle (to the exact second), then, in theory, the gaming machine could repeat the previous combination. It sounds simple, but it is difficult to do. There are no guarantees, but someone tried and became richer, causing fear of casino owners. Such way gave hope to the same searchers of easy money.
In fact, the cause of the huge losses of the casinos was the mechanics of slot machines: at the time, a set of drums on one axis, acted as a random number generator. When the handle of the slot is lowered, the spring was releasing the rotation of the axis with the drums. Simultaneously, a mechanical timer was triggered — it stopped all the drums. Someone noticed that during the first 13-15 seconds. After stopping, the timer remains off, and if you pull the handle again — the drums can turn in the locked position. It is clear that there were no guarantees, but the probability of losing was reduced to 20%. With the necessary skill and good calculation, it was possible to win big money.
All this history led to the fact that the timer was started by a separate random number generator, setting the operating range in the interval from a fraction of up to 15 seconds. The owners of the casino were able to relax, and someone was left without regular earnings.
Another loud example of the opening of slot machines is the story of the most famous slots cracker Denis Nikrash (known as Sean McAndrew). He was able to become famous more than anyone else. He was chasing by the security services of the best gambling houses in Nevada for 15 years. Nikrash was able to “earn” tens of millions of dollars (!) Nikrash started his business in the 70s, before that there were successful robberies of small jewelry stores, but as it turned out, hacking slots was more profitable .
The evil clown was again played by the mechanic. Nikrash worked so carefully that casino security services didn’t always notice such an unplanned “cleansing”. Direct connection to the RNG after the autopsy gave Denis increased “chances” to make a small fortune. Later, he connected several assistants to work. In the late 70s he got caught hacking slots for the first time, but in prison for the same reason he got only in 1986. He made parole in 1991. During the time Nikrash was in the prison, the slots have become more secure and hacking them has become much more difficult, but … Nickrish added to his capital several zeros. In 1998, during a major scam of $17 million he was surrendered by his accomplices to the Feds. The deal with the authorities shortened the prison sentence, but in all gambling houses this person after everything is in the “black lists”. But money was never recovered …
Modern slots with multi-level and serious protection – like online-casinos-australia.com are much harder to break into, but the intellectual and programmatic hacking is on the agenda.
After the above, it makes one wonder — can you win in slots by legal methods? In principle, you can, just the chances of winning will be lower than illegal, but after all, sleep is sounder.
All strategies for playing on slots are reduced to choosing the best offers from honest casinos and thoughtful bankroll management. There are also people who are sure that many popular machines in the network have their own bugs, and if the fortune doesn’t smile, maybe a mistake will smile.
To hope or not for such a crazy luck — it’s up to you.
