Finding a Video Poker Bug Made These Guys Rich—Then Vegas Made Them Pay

[gotbeer]

Finding a Video Poker Bug Made These Guys Rich—Then Vegas Made Them Pay

 

 

This is just a crazy story.  

[Blarg]

 â€œI'm being arrested federally now—for winning at a slot machine!” he shouted in disbelief. “This is what they do to people! They put a machine on the floor, and if it has programming that doesn't take your money and you win on their machine, they will throw you in jail!”

 

He has a point. It is called gambling and if Las Vegas is not willing to accept the gamble that they put on the floor a machine that would make a guaranteed payout then who is to blame here? All of gambling is about the house winning and the customer losing, That is not a gamble, that is a con game. So where is the complaint when a patron puts the odds back in his favor by fault of the casino? They just pushed the buttons on the screen within the rules of the house, now the house wants to change the rules because it didn't favor them.

 

It was a business loss in a business that never suffers a loss graciously. In the old days you ended up in a shallow grave but today is the new mafia, send them to federal prison for doing what Las Vegas does every day, steal money.

[sneaky_flute]

I have no sympathy for these idiots who lose hundreds of thousand of dollars. 

[CaliAngel]

Can't believe I read that entire article.

Good stuff.

[yk9001]

In the story, those machines are called Double Up - my wife and I called them double down, and they were super fun machines.  You win a hand video poker, and you had the opportunity to double your win.  You were dealt a card face up, then had to chose one of four cards that would need to be higher.

 

They went away 10 years or so ago - and this is why. 

 

Thanks for the link.

[halobob]

Great article, thanks for the post!  Happy they didn't end up in jail.  It's bullshit that Vegas/Casinos try to throw people in jail for finding a mistake in the game.  

[Blarg]

I have no sympathy for these idiots who lose hundreds of thousand of dollars.

which, the public or the casinos?

[Ludwig Von Mises]

An interesting story.

New programs are burned onto EPROMs by the manufacturer and shipped in the mail in plastic tubes.

 

As an undergrad, I had to put the EPROM chip under an ultraviolet lamp for about 15 minutes to erase it. Archaic and annoying. The smallest programming error... another 15 minutes.

 

 

and prosecutors hit him with 698 felony counts, ranging from theft to criminal conspiracy.

 

 

Laugh. Just think up any imaginable charge and stick him with it. Such ethical conduct from prosecutors. The vast majority of people when threatened with the possibility of decades in prison from drummed up charges will cop a plea deal. Now that is some real gambling.

"97 percent of federal cases and 94 percent of state cases end in plea bargains"

That sounds like justice to me. /s

I wonder how many thousands or tens of thousands of people are sitting in prison now because they were terrorized into accepting a plea deal. Cui Bono? The prosecutors who get another notch on their political belt and the Prison Industrial complex. Not you or I who pay for their incarceration.

 

Nestor says the Meadows still has his winnings, and the IRS is chasing him for $239,861.04 in back taxes, interest, and penalties—money he doesn't have.

 

 

Ha. One mafia stole his winnings while the real mafia demands its cut too.

[gotbeer]

 

Laugh. Just think up any imaginable charge and stick him with it. Such ethical conduct from prosecutors. The vast majority of people when threatened with the possibility of decades in prison from drummed up charges will cop a plea deal. Now that is some real gambling.

"97 percent of federal cases and 94 percent of state cases end in plea bargains"

 

 

 

reminds me of this.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Samueli

 

 

 

Financial Investigation[edit]

Both the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the Department of Justice had been investigating Broadcom Corporation for backdating of stock options.^[12]

On May 15, 2008, Samueli resigned as Chairman of the Board and took of a leave of absence as Chief Technology Officer after being named in a civil complaint by the SEC.^[13]

On June 23, 2008, Samueli pleaded guilty for lying to SEC for $2.2 billion of backdating. Under the plea bargain, Samueli agreed to a sentence of five years probation, a $250,000 criminal fine, and a $12 million payment to the US Treasury.^[14][15]

During the technology boom in the 2000s, Samueli and Broadcom co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III awarded millions of stock options to attract and reward employees. Prosecutors alleged Samueli and Nicholas granted options to others, including some other top executives but not themselves, to avoid having to report $2.2 billion in compensation costs to shareholders.^[7]

Prosecutors focused on the fact that Samueli denied under oath any role in making options grants to high-ranking executives. As part of his plea agreement, Samueli admitted the statement was false, and admitting to being part of the options-granting process.^[7] However, an internal Broadcom probe laid the majority of blame on Henry Nicholas and William Ruehle.

On September 8, 2008, U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney (a fellow UCLA alumnus) rejected a plea deal that called for Samueli to receive probation, writing: "The court cannot accept a plea agreement that gives the impression that justice is for sale".^[16]

16 months later, on December 10, 2009, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney dismissed the case against Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry Samueli of a criminal charge of lying to investigators in a probe of improper accounting at the Irvine microchip designer, citing significant prosecutorial and police misconduct and attempts by the United States Government to coerce and intimidate Samueli and others into guilty pleas.^[17]

 

[Brandon]

Didn't read the whole thing but hope he wins.

 

This sounds like the same thing as Phil Ivey and his 22m baccarat winnings.......Borgata paid out and then sued him, Aviation Club withheld his winnings and he sued them.

 

The house already has edge in every game. When they win you can't sue for loses or try to get your money back. If someone finds a glitch or hiccup to even the playing field, fair play. No different than card counters.

[Blarg]

The feds dropped all charges after they refused a plea bargain but are chasing them for back taxes.

[wopphil]

What an awesome story.

[Ochocinco!]

Didn't get through all of it but wow great read lol. Hope he continues to stick it to the casinos!