I’m a video poker player and occasionally I go to Indian casinos, but only if they have Class III machines. I know that non-Indian casinos in Vegas have rules about how a video poker machine must work — the deals must be random and the game cannot make it harder to get good hands. My question is, do Indian casinos operate the same way with regard to video poker? Are Class II video poker machines in Indian casinos set up the same as they are in Vegas? Can or are they allowed to “fix” the machines to pay out less?
This is a complicated subject, which originates with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act way back in 1988. Class II gambling revolves entirely around bingo: Rather than results based on a random number generator as in "regular" Class III slots and video poker, Class II machines are determined by an electronic bingo game running in the background.
It’s not important, for the purposes of this answer, to know the technology invented by gaming-machine manufacturers to comply with the bingo requirement. What is important is that Class II video poker machines are no different than slot machines -- to wit, the outcome of the deal is determined before the draw. It comes from the results of the background bingo game. Therefore, no strategy is involved. If you make a mistake with the draw, the machine corrects you.
Gambling writer Henry Tamburin, Ph.D., interviewed a senior product manager for IGT and learned the following.
“In a Class II terminal using a video poker interface, playing skill is futile, because the result of your hand is predetermined by the pattern of the winning bingo game. Therefore, deciding what cards to hold prior to hitting the draw button does nothing to improve your chances of winning.
“Let’s say the result of the bingo pattern is a prize of 4000 credits, which translates to a typical royal flush in video poker. However, on the draw, if you decide (knowingly or unknowingly) to hold all the cards instead of going for the royal flush, fear not. A genie will appear on the IGT entertaining display and change the 9 of spades to a 10 of clubs, giving you a royal flush hand and corresponding 4000-coin payout. (The latter payout was determined as the winning outcome of the bingo game.)
"You’ll know if the video poker machine you are about to play is a Class II machine if you see a display of a bingo card on your video poker machine."
Henry’s conclusion: “Class II video poker machines are bingo games that give players an entertaining display of video poker that they can relate to. There is no skill involved in playing them and the return on the game is unknown to players.”
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King of the Bovines
Sep-18-2018
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