Steve Will Do It Gambling
2021年7月28日Register here: http://gg.gg/viv36
© Brian Lyman/Montgomery Advertiser Former Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, the chairman of the Governors Study Group on Gambling Policy, discusses the group’s final report at a press conference on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol on Dec. 18, 2020.
*Steve Will Do It Gambling Website
*Steve Will Do It Gambling
*Steve Will Do It Gambling Website
Gambling, in terms of how it all works. There’s no software to download, and viewing the available betting markets and then placing your chosen wagers is really easy to do. A typical sports betting site will have a section that lists all the different sports covered. Here’s an example of how this list might look. I’m from the Philippines, where boxer Manny Pacquiao also hails from. I don’t know Manny personally, nor do I know how to box. But I’ve followed his story and most big sports stories that happen every day, and I want to share those with you here at GamblingSites.org. More About Steve Richardson. Steve is glorifying his addiction to gambling. Yes gambling is fine when it is done by consenting adults. However, there is a reason there has been a large push to prohibit microtransactions that relate directly to gambling, because much of Nelk’s and Steves fan bases brains have not fully developed yet and cannot differentiate between having.
Legalized gambling in Alabama could bring up to $700 million into state coffers annually and create as many as 19,000 new jobs, according to a report released by a gubernatorial committee on Friday.
*The Nelk boys and Steve will do it have been trying to set me up all the time, but now the truth comes out!!!Subscribe to the channel! Click Here!https://www.
*Steve is sitting on a bench in a churchyard. He’s agreed to talk to me about his son’s gambling addiction. He’s nervous, he hasn’t done an interview before and I can feel his anxiety.
The Study Group on Gambling, formed by Gov. Kay Ivey earlier this year as legislators appeared ready to tackle the issue, did not make specific recommendations on the issue and acknowledged there could be social costs to gambling.
But former Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, the chair of the group, said at a press conference on the State Capitol steps that the group concluded the state could absorb the costs.
“Gambling will work in the state of Alabama, and we feel the advantage outweigh the disadvantages in that endeavor,” he said. “There is $600 to $700 million that start and stabilizes growth. There are new jobs created that are twice what the per capita income is on an annual basis.”
The 876-page report adds some new data to an ongoing debate over the size and scope of gambling in Alabama, and whether the state government should get involved with it.
Alabama’s constitution bans gambling, and the state is one of only five in the nation without a state lottery. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians, who operate under federal law, operate casinos in Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka. Local constitutional amendments allowed electronic bingo at dog tracks like VictoryLand in Macon County and GreeneTrack in Greene County, though the Alabama Supreme Court has narrowed the application of those amendments in recent years.
Attempts to allow a lottery or expand existing gambling in the Alabama Legislature have tripped down an endless flight of M.C. Escher stairs. Several members of the Republican supermajority have moral objections to gambling. The Poarch Band, which has sought a centralized regulatory body for state gambling, has opposed efforts to clarify the legal status of electronic bingo at the dog tracks.
Legislators from communities with dog tracks have opposed a lottery, arguing it could give the Poarch Band access to machines denied to the dog tracks (an assertion experts aren’t certain of).
Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, planned to introduce a gambling bill at the start of the 2020 session. But Ivey said she wanted to get clear data on the impact of a bill before the Legislature passed it.
“Anytime I ask people how much money the lottery would bring in, they say ‘I think about ….,’’ the governor said in February. “We’ve got to have the facts to make a decision.”
More: Gov. Kay Ivey: No tribal compact before she gets ’facts’ on gambling
Ivey said in a statement Friday that the group’s research “will be pivotal as gambling policies are being considered, debated and potentially voted on.” But the governor did not endorse any course of action.
“I continue to maintain the final say on gambling belongs to the people of our great state, and if and when I have a recommendation regarding a specific course of action, I will do so in full transparency to the people of Alabama, working hand-in-hand with the Alabama Legislature,” the statement said.
The report estimated that a lottery would bring in $200 to $300 million a year to state coffers, with tax revenue from five to seven casinos in the state bringing in $300 to $400 million. The report also estimated sports betting would bring in $10 million.
Members of the group also noted that expanded gambling could bring costs, particularly with gambling addiction and potential increases in crime. © Mickey Welsh / Advertiser Alabama Governor Kay Ivey waits in line to vote at the Cleveland Avenue YMCA in Montgomery, Ala., on Election Day Tuesday November 3, 2020.
“It is important to note, however, that while there are costs associated with gambling, the taxation of regulated gambling activities creates an opportunity to dedicate public funds to gambling treatment, prevention, or education services,” the report said.
The group also recommended the formation of a state regulatory body with the power to enforce laws on gambling, whatever they may be. Strange said they recommended an independent body, with members nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Alabama Senate.
The report laid out five options for lawmakers: do nothing; prohibit gambling but create a state body to enforce existing laws; allow a lottery only; allow a lottery and limited gambling (like sports betting) or allow full gambling. Any move to legalize gambling would require a constitutional amendment, which needs 60% of the support of both legislative chambers to pass, then must win voter approval.
Members of the group did not make recommendations on addressing the legal status of gambling at the dog tracks or how the money generated by gambling should be spent. The money generated would at most be equal to about 10% of the $7.2 billion education budget, and about a third of the $2.3 billion General Fund.
Democrats for years have pushed for a lottery to fund education. Messages seeking comment were left with House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, and Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, on Friday. Clouse’s lottery bill would have split proceeds between pre-kindergarten programs and higher education scholarships.
More: Lottery bill filed in Alabama House, but no date set for vote© Mickey Welsh / Advertiser Senator Del Marsh speaks in the Senate Chamber at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday March 31, 2020.
Strange said the Legislature would make those decisions. But he said their research suggested limiting the spending to a handful of areas.
“Some of the more successful situations have only three or four uses of those moneys,” he said. “If you try to nickel and dime to fill holes in general funds, that’s generally not successful.”
Incoming Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said in a statement Friday he would review any proposed legislation on the matter. Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, a longtime gambling proponent, plans to file a bill this year on the subject.
“I believe it is time to address this issue, and it appears the report from the Governor’s Gaming Commission supports that position,” Marsh said in a statement.
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman at 334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: ’Gambling will work’: State panel finds it could bring $700 million a year, 19K new jobs
by Steve Bourie Learn more about the author read more »
All of the stories in this book relating to slot machines and video poker are based on the assumption thatthose machines act in a random manner. This means we’re assuming that those games aren’t programmed to avoid giving a player a winning slot combination or poker hand and the opportunity existson each pull of the handle, or push of a button, for any possible winning combination to occur.
We know that there are gaming regulatory agencies that are supposed to provide the public with protection from playing on a rigged machine but how is it done? and how effective is it?
Being the nosy guy that I am, these were a couple of questions I was curious to get answered and it ended up taking me on a little bit of an adventure. Not only did it result in this storyabout the regulatory process for electronic gaming machines but it also led me to question the motives of a national news organization.Electronic Gaming Machines
In the United States, there are only four states that have their own facilities for testing electronic gaming machines.
*Montana
*Mississippi
*New Jersey
*Nevada
For the other states that offer legalized casino gambling but don’t have their own labs almost all rely on the services of Gaming Labs International - an independent testing firm based in TomsRiver, New Jersey.
It only made sense to start with the biggest state first, so in February 1997. I called the Nevada Gaming Control Board to ask for permission to visit their testing lab in Las Vegas. They toldme I needed to get permission for that from Bill Bible, the Control Board’s chairman, so I wrote him a brief letter explaining that I wanted to write a story about the lab for my book. Twelvedays later I received a reply from him stating that I was welcome to visit the lab but that some parts of it were confidential and would not be accessible to me. He only requested that I callthat department in advance to make an appointment. A few days later I called and made arrangements for a visit on March 18 at 3:00 p.m.Against All Odds - Slot Machines
Not being a computer expert - just a curious casino gambler - I wasn’t exactly sure what I should ask and about 10 days before my trip I started to ponder questions I thought might beappropriate. Then, on March 12, just six days before the scheduled visit, I was watching television when I switched channels and caught a story on the ABC News show PrimeTime Live about slotmachines. The segment was titled ’Against All Odds’ and featured their chief investigative reporter Brian Ross.
The story focused on the computer chips in slot machines and began with parts of an interview with Frank Romano who, Ross said, was banned from the industry because a company he owned with twopartners was charged with rigging its video poker machines to avoid giving out royal flush jackpots.
Ross went on to say that the public knows little about the inner workings of machines and that PrimeTime conducted a four-month investigation into the industry that included numerous interviewswith industry officials, the reading of confidential documents and the viewing of secret videotapes of an interview with a former state gaming official who was involved in a slot cheatingscandal.
Ross said that Romano claimed he didn’t know anything about the cheating at his company and that he had persuaded a federal judge of that fact. Also, Romano had no qualms with talking about the’secrets’ of the gambling industry even though Larry Volk the person at his company who programmed the chips to avoid giving the winning hands had been murdered: Volk was shot to death at hishouse in Las Vegas shortly before he was scheduled to begin giving a testimony about how he programmed the chips to cheat.
Ross said Romano claimed the computer chips made cheating possible and that the true ’secret’ of the industry was that the chips of many machines were programmed with a ’near-miss’ featurewhich didn’t directly affect the odds of the game but did lure players into playing longer.
Romano then gave an example where a slot machine would line up two 7s on the pay line and have the third 7 settle below the pay line making people think they were close to winning. He saidthose kinds of results were programmed into the machines on purpose.
Ross said the casinos pay out up to 98% on these machines and that Romano claimed the industry came up with this idea as a way to get the dollar volume up by keeping the players at the machinesfor a longer period. Romano claimed it was ’cheating’ and that the industry was ’teasing’ the player by making them think they were close to winning.
The next scene shifted to an interview with gambling addiction authority Valerie Lorenz who, Ross said, wasn’t surprised that the industry would do such a thing.Meeting the Nevada Gaming Control Board
Next was an interview with Bill Bible, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board who said that cheaters would be caught and prosecuted. Ross commented that most of the Board’s cases involvedplayers cheating casinos and asked Bible if it also applied to casinos that cheat customers. Bible replied that it did and that his department inspects computer chips both before they’re put inthe machines and also after they’re out in actual play.
Ross then questioned how good a job the state did in examining the chips because of allegations raised in a six-hour series of supposedly ’secret’ videotapes with Ronald Harris, a former GamingControl Board employee who was involved in a slot cheating scandal. Harris was a computer expert in the gaming lab where the machines were tested and the videos were made by the attorneygeneral’s office while questioning him about his cheating activities. Harris was eventually convicted of felony cheating charges.
Parts of the ’secret’ tape are then shown with Harris claiming that the state’s gaming regulations weren’t being enforced and that the machines were ’deceptive.’
Harris: I remember reviewing one, and it was a thousand times more likely that the three 7s would line up directly above the payline than on the payline. I mean, doesn’t thatseem deceptive to anyone here?
Questioner: To make the customer feel as though they came very close to getting a jackpot and that perhaps the next one or the next one, to paraphrase the ad, the baby would beready to deliver?
Harris: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, it’s out there. It’s being done. It’s condoned by the board..
Ross commented that the attorney general’s office told PrimeTime it couldn’t prove any criminal wrongdoing based on Harris’ allegations and that they never looked at all into the alleged’deceptive’ features on slots.
The interview with Bible then continued with him confirming that Harris was a former employee who had a great deal of knowledge about the industry and that his allegations were still underreview. Bible denied that any cheating was allowed by him or the board and he pointed out that Harris just didn’t have much credibility.
In the next scene Ross said that two other former employees of the lab, without any criminal backgrounds, also believed that the machines were ’deceptive.’ He interviewed Gordon Hickman aretired employee who said that the machines were very prevalent. Ross said that in a confidential memo to the attorney general’s office Hickman claimed that he was ordered to okay machines that’display near-misses in 7s a third of the time just above the payout line.’ Ross said Hickman thought the machines were ’deceptive’ but he was ordered to approve them anyway. The machines inquestion were manufactured by International Game Technology (IGT), the world’s largest manufacturer of electronic gaming machines and a company which controls about 75% of the market.
Next was an interview with Tom Baker, president of IGT, in which he’s shown a copy of the Harris video. Baker denied that his company’s machines were ’deceptive’ in the way Harris describedthem on the tape. Ross challenged Baker by asking if his machines were ’deceptive’ and again questioned whether or not IGT was teasing customers into thinking they were close to winning whenthey played those machines. Baker replied that Harris said a lot of things, however, Harris was a convicted felon but Baker and his company were not. Ross responded by showing Baker a copy ofGordon Hickman’s confidential memo to the attorney general’s office about the same subject. Baker then denied there was any favoritism given to his company that he knew about.
At that point Ross pointedly asked if IGT programs its machines with a “near-miss’ feature. Baker answered by saying his company’s machines were programmed in accordance with the law. Ross thenasked if the law allowed the “near-miss’ feature. Baker said he personally didn’t know, but if his company was doing it then the law allowed it.
A voice-over from Ross then commented that gambling industry critics have concerns about the regulations that are in place and the scene shifted back to gambling addiction expert Valerie Lorenzwho said the casino industry makes the laws in Nevada and she questioned if any other business would be allowed to get away with deceiving the public in such a manner.
The next scene shifted back to Bill Bible with Ross questioning him as to whether or not he thought the public was treated fairly when playing gaming machines in Las Vegas. Bible replied thathe had no doubt the public was indeed treated fairly.
The final scene went back to Romano who said that the machines were designed to entertain the public as well as to take their money. Ross then asked if a casino customer is better off going tothe machines or to one of the table games. Romano replied that they’d be better off going home and that ended the report.
It didn’t take long for the effects of PrimeTime Live’s broadcast to be felt. The very next day U.S. Representative Frank Wolf (R-Va.), a longtime opponent of legalized gambling, requested animmediate investigation by two federal agencies. ’I have asked the FBI to investigate claims of illegality and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate illegal trade practices,’ Wolf said.
The segment also became a subject of discussion that same day in the Manitoba Parliament when Gary Doer, an opposition party leader, called for a government investigation into the matterbecause a Winnipeg casino used slot machines manufactured by IGT. ’If the computer machines are programmed in the United States to have this kind of near-miss operation to entice people,particularly addicted people, to keep going, I want that stopped here in Manitoba,’ said Doer.
The show also sparked a call in the Nevada legislature for its own investigation, but with a slightly different twist: they wanted to know who leaked the attorney general’s confidential RonaldHarris videotapes to ABC News. ’That entire piece is hinging on the unsubstantiated allegations of
https://diarynote-jp.indered.space
© Brian Lyman/Montgomery Advertiser Former Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, the chairman of the Governors Study Group on Gambling Policy, discusses the group’s final report at a press conference on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol on Dec. 18, 2020.
*Steve Will Do It Gambling Website
*Steve Will Do It Gambling
*Steve Will Do It Gambling Website
Gambling, in terms of how it all works. There’s no software to download, and viewing the available betting markets and then placing your chosen wagers is really easy to do. A typical sports betting site will have a section that lists all the different sports covered. Here’s an example of how this list might look. I’m from the Philippines, where boxer Manny Pacquiao also hails from. I don’t know Manny personally, nor do I know how to box. But I’ve followed his story and most big sports stories that happen every day, and I want to share those with you here at GamblingSites.org. More About Steve Richardson. Steve is glorifying his addiction to gambling. Yes gambling is fine when it is done by consenting adults. However, there is a reason there has been a large push to prohibit microtransactions that relate directly to gambling, because much of Nelk’s and Steves fan bases brains have not fully developed yet and cannot differentiate between having.
Legalized gambling in Alabama could bring up to $700 million into state coffers annually and create as many as 19,000 new jobs, according to a report released by a gubernatorial committee on Friday.
*The Nelk boys and Steve will do it have been trying to set me up all the time, but now the truth comes out!!!Subscribe to the channel! Click Here!https://www.
*Steve is sitting on a bench in a churchyard. He’s agreed to talk to me about his son’s gambling addiction. He’s nervous, he hasn’t done an interview before and I can feel his anxiety.
The Study Group on Gambling, formed by Gov. Kay Ivey earlier this year as legislators appeared ready to tackle the issue, did not make specific recommendations on the issue and acknowledged there could be social costs to gambling.
But former Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, the chair of the group, said at a press conference on the State Capitol steps that the group concluded the state could absorb the costs.
“Gambling will work in the state of Alabama, and we feel the advantage outweigh the disadvantages in that endeavor,” he said. “There is $600 to $700 million that start and stabilizes growth. There are new jobs created that are twice what the per capita income is on an annual basis.”
The 876-page report adds some new data to an ongoing debate over the size and scope of gambling in Alabama, and whether the state government should get involved with it.
Alabama’s constitution bans gambling, and the state is one of only five in the nation without a state lottery. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians, who operate under federal law, operate casinos in Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka. Local constitutional amendments allowed electronic bingo at dog tracks like VictoryLand in Macon County and GreeneTrack in Greene County, though the Alabama Supreme Court has narrowed the application of those amendments in recent years.
Attempts to allow a lottery or expand existing gambling in the Alabama Legislature have tripped down an endless flight of M.C. Escher stairs. Several members of the Republican supermajority have moral objections to gambling. The Poarch Band, which has sought a centralized regulatory body for state gambling, has opposed efforts to clarify the legal status of electronic bingo at the dog tracks.
Legislators from communities with dog tracks have opposed a lottery, arguing it could give the Poarch Band access to machines denied to the dog tracks (an assertion experts aren’t certain of).
Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, planned to introduce a gambling bill at the start of the 2020 session. But Ivey said she wanted to get clear data on the impact of a bill before the Legislature passed it.
“Anytime I ask people how much money the lottery would bring in, they say ‘I think about ….,’’ the governor said in February. “We’ve got to have the facts to make a decision.”
More: Gov. Kay Ivey: No tribal compact before she gets ’facts’ on gambling
Ivey said in a statement Friday that the group’s research “will be pivotal as gambling policies are being considered, debated and potentially voted on.” But the governor did not endorse any course of action.
“I continue to maintain the final say on gambling belongs to the people of our great state, and if and when I have a recommendation regarding a specific course of action, I will do so in full transparency to the people of Alabama, working hand-in-hand with the Alabama Legislature,” the statement said.
The report estimated that a lottery would bring in $200 to $300 million a year to state coffers, with tax revenue from five to seven casinos in the state bringing in $300 to $400 million. The report also estimated sports betting would bring in $10 million.
Members of the group also noted that expanded gambling could bring costs, particularly with gambling addiction and potential increases in crime. © Mickey Welsh / Advertiser Alabama Governor Kay Ivey waits in line to vote at the Cleveland Avenue YMCA in Montgomery, Ala., on Election Day Tuesday November 3, 2020.
“It is important to note, however, that while there are costs associated with gambling, the taxation of regulated gambling activities creates an opportunity to dedicate public funds to gambling treatment, prevention, or education services,” the report said.
The group also recommended the formation of a state regulatory body with the power to enforce laws on gambling, whatever they may be. Strange said they recommended an independent body, with members nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Alabama Senate.
The report laid out five options for lawmakers: do nothing; prohibit gambling but create a state body to enforce existing laws; allow a lottery only; allow a lottery and limited gambling (like sports betting) or allow full gambling. Any move to legalize gambling would require a constitutional amendment, which needs 60% of the support of both legislative chambers to pass, then must win voter approval.
Members of the group did not make recommendations on addressing the legal status of gambling at the dog tracks or how the money generated by gambling should be spent. The money generated would at most be equal to about 10% of the $7.2 billion education budget, and about a third of the $2.3 billion General Fund.
Democrats for years have pushed for a lottery to fund education. Messages seeking comment were left with House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, and Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, on Friday. Clouse’s lottery bill would have split proceeds between pre-kindergarten programs and higher education scholarships.
More: Lottery bill filed in Alabama House, but no date set for vote© Mickey Welsh / Advertiser Senator Del Marsh speaks in the Senate Chamber at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday March 31, 2020.
Strange said the Legislature would make those decisions. But he said their research suggested limiting the spending to a handful of areas.
“Some of the more successful situations have only three or four uses of those moneys,” he said. “If you try to nickel and dime to fill holes in general funds, that’s generally not successful.”
Incoming Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said in a statement Friday he would review any proposed legislation on the matter. Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, a longtime gambling proponent, plans to file a bill this year on the subject.
“I believe it is time to address this issue, and it appears the report from the Governor’s Gaming Commission supports that position,” Marsh said in a statement.
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman at 334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: ’Gambling will work’: State panel finds it could bring $700 million a year, 19K new jobs
by Steve Bourie Learn more about the author read more »
All of the stories in this book relating to slot machines and video poker are based on the assumption thatthose machines act in a random manner. This means we’re assuming that those games aren’t programmed to avoid giving a player a winning slot combination or poker hand and the opportunity existson each pull of the handle, or push of a button, for any possible winning combination to occur.
We know that there are gaming regulatory agencies that are supposed to provide the public with protection from playing on a rigged machine but how is it done? and how effective is it?
Being the nosy guy that I am, these were a couple of questions I was curious to get answered and it ended up taking me on a little bit of an adventure. Not only did it result in this storyabout the regulatory process for electronic gaming machines but it also led me to question the motives of a national news organization.Electronic Gaming Machines
In the United States, there are only four states that have their own facilities for testing electronic gaming machines.
*Montana
*Mississippi
*New Jersey
*Nevada
For the other states that offer legalized casino gambling but don’t have their own labs almost all rely on the services of Gaming Labs International - an independent testing firm based in TomsRiver, New Jersey.
It only made sense to start with the biggest state first, so in February 1997. I called the Nevada Gaming Control Board to ask for permission to visit their testing lab in Las Vegas. They toldme I needed to get permission for that from Bill Bible, the Control Board’s chairman, so I wrote him a brief letter explaining that I wanted to write a story about the lab for my book. Twelvedays later I received a reply from him stating that I was welcome to visit the lab but that some parts of it were confidential and would not be accessible to me. He only requested that I callthat department in advance to make an appointment. A few days later I called and made arrangements for a visit on March 18 at 3:00 p.m.Against All Odds - Slot Machines
Not being a computer expert - just a curious casino gambler - I wasn’t exactly sure what I should ask and about 10 days before my trip I started to ponder questions I thought might beappropriate. Then, on March 12, just six days before the scheduled visit, I was watching television when I switched channels and caught a story on the ABC News show PrimeTime Live about slotmachines. The segment was titled ’Against All Odds’ and featured their chief investigative reporter Brian Ross.
The story focused on the computer chips in slot machines and began with parts of an interview with Frank Romano who, Ross said, was banned from the industry because a company he owned with twopartners was charged with rigging its video poker machines to avoid giving out royal flush jackpots.
Ross went on to say that the public knows little about the inner workings of machines and that PrimeTime conducted a four-month investigation into the industry that included numerous interviewswith industry officials, the reading of confidential documents and the viewing of secret videotapes of an interview with a former state gaming official who was involved in a slot cheatingscandal.
Ross said that Romano claimed he didn’t know anything about the cheating at his company and that he had persuaded a federal judge of that fact. Also, Romano had no qualms with talking about the’secrets’ of the gambling industry even though Larry Volk the person at his company who programmed the chips to avoid giving the winning hands had been murdered: Volk was shot to death at hishouse in Las Vegas shortly before he was scheduled to begin giving a testimony about how he programmed the chips to cheat.
Ross said Romano claimed the computer chips made cheating possible and that the true ’secret’ of the industry was that the chips of many machines were programmed with a ’near-miss’ featurewhich didn’t directly affect the odds of the game but did lure players into playing longer.
Romano then gave an example where a slot machine would line up two 7s on the pay line and have the third 7 settle below the pay line making people think they were close to winning. He saidthose kinds of results were programmed into the machines on purpose.
Ross said the casinos pay out up to 98% on these machines and that Romano claimed the industry came up with this idea as a way to get the dollar volume up by keeping the players at the machinesfor a longer period. Romano claimed it was ’cheating’ and that the industry was ’teasing’ the player by making them think they were close to winning.
The next scene shifted to an interview with gambling addiction authority Valerie Lorenz who, Ross said, wasn’t surprised that the industry would do such a thing.Meeting the Nevada Gaming Control Board
Next was an interview with Bill Bible, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board who said that cheaters would be caught and prosecuted. Ross commented that most of the Board’s cases involvedplayers cheating casinos and asked Bible if it also applied to casinos that cheat customers. Bible replied that it did and that his department inspects computer chips both before they’re put inthe machines and also after they’re out in actual play.
Ross then questioned how good a job the state did in examining the chips because of allegations raised in a six-hour series of supposedly ’secret’ videotapes with Ronald Harris, a former GamingControl Board employee who was involved in a slot cheating scandal. Harris was a computer expert in the gaming lab where the machines were tested and the videos were made by the attorneygeneral’s office while questioning him about his cheating activities. Harris was eventually convicted of felony cheating charges.
Parts of the ’secret’ tape are then shown with Harris claiming that the state’s gaming regulations weren’t being enforced and that the machines were ’deceptive.’
Harris: I remember reviewing one, and it was a thousand times more likely that the three 7s would line up directly above the payline than on the payline. I mean, doesn’t thatseem deceptive to anyone here?
Questioner: To make the customer feel as though they came very close to getting a jackpot and that perhaps the next one or the next one, to paraphrase the ad, the baby would beready to deliver?
Harris: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, it’s out there. It’s being done. It’s condoned by the board..
Ross commented that the attorney general’s office told PrimeTime it couldn’t prove any criminal wrongdoing based on Harris’ allegations and that they never looked at all into the alleged’deceptive’ features on slots.
The interview with Bible then continued with him confirming that Harris was a former employee who had a great deal of knowledge about the industry and that his allegations were still underreview. Bible denied that any cheating was allowed by him or the board and he pointed out that Harris just didn’t have much credibility.
In the next scene Ross said that two other former employees of the lab, without any criminal backgrounds, also believed that the machines were ’deceptive.’ He interviewed Gordon Hickman aretired employee who said that the machines were very prevalent. Ross said that in a confidential memo to the attorney general’s office Hickman claimed that he was ordered to okay machines that’display near-misses in 7s a third of the time just above the payout line.’ Ross said Hickman thought the machines were ’deceptive’ but he was ordered to approve them anyway. The machines inquestion were manufactured by International Game Technology (IGT), the world’s largest manufacturer of electronic gaming machines and a company which controls about 75% of the market.
Next was an interview with Tom Baker, president of IGT, in which he’s shown a copy of the Harris video. Baker denied that his company’s machines were ’deceptive’ in the way Harris describedthem on the tape. Ross challenged Baker by asking if his machines were ’deceptive’ and again questioned whether or not IGT was teasing customers into thinking they were close to winning whenthey played those machines. Baker replied that Harris said a lot of things, however, Harris was a convicted felon but Baker and his company were not. Ross responded by showing Baker a copy ofGordon Hickman’s confidential memo to the attorney general’s office about the same subject. Baker then denied there was any favoritism given to his company that he knew about.
At that point Ross pointedly asked if IGT programs its machines with a “near-miss’ feature. Baker answered by saying his company’s machines were programmed in accordance with the law. Ross thenasked if the law allowed the “near-miss’ feature. Baker said he personally didn’t know, but if his company was doing it then the law allowed it.
A voice-over from Ross then commented that gambling industry critics have concerns about the regulations that are in place and the scene shifted back to gambling addiction expert Valerie Lorenzwho said the casino industry makes the laws in Nevada and she questioned if any other business would be allowed to get away with deceiving the public in such a manner.
The next scene shifted back to Bill Bible with Ross questioning him as to whether or not he thought the public was treated fairly when playing gaming machines in Las Vegas. Bible replied thathe had no doubt the public was indeed treated fairly.
The final scene went back to Romano who said that the machines were designed to entertain the public as well as to take their money. Ross then asked if a casino customer is better off going tothe machines or to one of the table games. Romano replied that they’d be better off going home and that ended the report.
It didn’t take long for the effects of PrimeTime Live’s broadcast to be felt. The very next day U.S. Representative Frank Wolf (R-Va.), a longtime opponent of legalized gambling, requested animmediate investigation by two federal agencies. ’I have asked the FBI to investigate claims of illegality and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate illegal trade practices,’ Wolf said.
The segment also became a subject of discussion that same day in the Manitoba Parliament when Gary Doer, an opposition party leader, called for a government investigation into the matterbecause a Winnipeg casino used slot machines manufactured by IGT. ’If the computer machines are programmed in the United States to have this kind of near-miss operation to entice people,particularly addicted people, to keep going, I want that stopped here in Manitoba,’ said Doer.
The show also sparked a call in the Nevada legislature for its own investigation, but with a slightly different twist: they wanted to know who leaked the attorney general’s confidential RonaldHarris videotapes to ABC News. ’That entire piece is hinging on the unsubstantiated allegations of
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