Video poker glitches?

I was recently playing video poker at a downtown casino. I was dealt 4 to a straight and my replacement card was a 5 (which was not what I needed). A couple hands later the same thing happened, again replaced with a 5 of spades. No problem right? This peeked my concern. It happened a 3rd time and a 4th time. All 5's. I will say that they were all black 5's (pretty sure spades but can't prove it). I stopped playing and looked for an attendent. It was 5:30 am so not many people around. Finally I asked a server to get someone which they did.

I spoke with them and they shut down the machine. The Tech's arrived about an hour later. They played the machine to see if they could replicate it,but could not. They left the machine on and that was that.

I stand by everything I stated above as fact. I think it actually was more like 5 or 6 times but factually I stand at 4. Not sure what to do from here. I know I won't play the machine ever again. Do you think they should pull it??

Let's do the math. You had 47 possible draws, so the chances of drawing a black 5 were 1 in 23.5. (Assuming that you hadn't discarded a black 5.) The chances of four consecutive 1 in 23.5 occurrences are about 300,000 to one (I'm being lazy with the math here). For comparison purposes, the chance of being dealt a royal is a skosh more than 700,000 to 1.;That's happened to me five times.

So, unlikely? Yes. Impossible? Far from it.

You didn't say which game you were playing, or whether you were getting the same "4 to a straight" cards each time, which would, IMHO, be quite unusual if so.  As in each time the 4 were 6,7,8, and 9. 

Were deuces involved?

If your "4 to a straight" were not the same each time, and NOT in consecutive deals, even with each time getting a black 5 (spades or clubs), that might not indicate machine malfunctions, though it could.  You did right to call someone to look at it.

Did you play the machine during the hour waiting for a tech to arrive? If so, how did it do during that hour?

Were these by any chance 'old' VP machines?  NTTAWWT. 

I saw a woman getting a hand pay for a heart royal, and she was asked, as is often done, to "play it off"--and she was dealt another heart royal. Everyone EXCEPT the slot tech thought it must have been a malfunction (including the casino suit, who should have known better)--at the suit's urging, he ran a simple diagnostic. She was then duly paid a second $1000.

That was a 2.8 million to one occurrence, but a far cry from impossible.

I was playing Bonus poker I believe, if not it was Double Double. So no dueces involved.

No I stopped playing when the light went off in my head that said this was strange.

I wake up early since I live on the east coast, so this was at 5 am.  I had been playing for around 30 minutes when I noticed what was going on.

I talked to the slot attendant and he was trying to get it to replicate the possible error, but could not.

Cool thanks for the answer. I would rather it be that then a defective machine. I was very careful how I approached it with the casino. I love to play there so I wanted them to know I was concerned, but not accusitory.

wow! Great story. Wish THAT would happen to me!