Nobody would have predicted the development of the machines at the outset of the twenty-first century, or that the machines would occasionally be proven incorrect. Despite the fact that the majority of slot machines are reliable and are examined on a regular basis, several fatal slot machine mishaps have occurred. Here are a few of the most notable.
Rigging Slot Machines
Rigging slot machines has a lengthy history, almost as long as slot machines themselves. Anti-tampering methods, too, have evolved.
Bally Systems, a casino management business, began using IBM computer systems to monitor everything that transpired on the slot machine system, including pay-outs, plays, and efforts to tamper with it, according to the July 1984 issue of PC Mag. (Old-fashioned ‘one-armed bandit’ machines were more prone to malfunction, according to the same article.)
You may also look at a patent named “Anti-cheating device for a gaming machine” (filed October 2001) that appears to prevent the “insertion of cheating devices through the coin slot,” according to Google Patents.
It turns out that patrons aren’t the only ones that try to avoid the machines: Crown Resorts in Australia was accused of tampering with their own machines and allowing violence on their property in 2017, but the charges were soon refuted.
Katrina Bookman’s Lucky Leprechaun
Katrina Bookman sat down at a Sphinx slot machine at Resorts World Casino in Queens, New York in 2016 and couldn’t believe her luck when the slot machine claimed a jackpot payout of 542, 9 million – dammit!
Cash That Has Been Captured
In 2016, visitors to the slot machine floor at MotorCity Casino in Detroit discovered that they couldn’t get their money out of the casino’s inner workings. The casino swiftly apologised for the error, blaming it on a technological malfunction. According to a WoodTV post, the issue was fixed for gamblers who had been waiting for several hours.
Artificial Intelligence
According to the Seattle Times, a software error in 2005 caused Oregon Lottery video poker machines to cash out winnings to players automatically – yes, that’s a lot like going into a bank and naming pretty much any amount of money to pull out of the machine regardless of your balance…or your cards… Though we’re guessing no one was permitted to retain the money, the error was promptly corrected.
