For that matter, you have no real defense against being cheated in a heavily regulated jurisdiction. The arguments that this couldn’t possibly happen are pitifully weak. “Would” the casinos do this? Yes, they would, because they have already demonstrated that they have no moral scruples, no compunctions, time and time and time again. “Could” they do this? Yes, the mighty sword of the Gaming Control Commission never actually is wielded (no casino in Nevada has ever been even reprimanded, much less shut down, for cheating). “Will” they do this? If the bottom line is suffering, YES, THEY WILL. I have been cheated–blatantly, obviously–dozens of times, and certainly, dozens more times that I did not detect. (Mostly, at table games, but sometimes at VP.)

The above notwithstanding, even with a perfectly fair/random machine, a single person’s experiences in a short time cannot be an unequivocal indication of cheating. The sad fact is that it’s quite possible to have a terrible session on a “fair” machine. However, after a while, you may start to smell smoke. The most telling indicator is when things that are bizarre even in the short term, like what happened to the NCL poster, occur. The moral is to be aware that EVERY and ANY casino in the world CAN and WILL cheat you if it thinks it can get away with it, and you should never, never relax your guard. The odds of being cheated are fairly low, but so are the odds of being mugged, but you still don’t walk down a dark alleyway if you can help it.