A friend of mine, I’ll call her Sarah, recently told me of two almost identical incidents that she was involved in at two different casinos — and each casino handled the incident very differently. I think it’s instructive to examine what happened.
Sarah was playing at Harrah’s New Orleans on a (bad pay schedule) Quick Quads machine. As you probably know, Quick Quads is a 6-coin-per-line game where hands such as 66642 and 88844 get paid as 4-of-a-kinds. All of these quick quads have a traditional 3-of-a-kind with the other two cards in the hand adding up to the rank of the trips.
Sarah was dealt 77734 on a 5¢ Double Double Bonus Ten Play Quick Quads machine. That is a good hand. In this game, regular quads pay 250 credits ($12.50 on each hand for nickels — or $125 total for a $3 bet). On this hand, instead of using the buttons to hold all five cards, Sarah used the touch screen process by sliding her finger across the screen and then hitting the deal/draw button. Unfortunately, the 4 “un-held” and Sarah ended up drawing one card to 7773.
She ended up with two quads anyway — drawing a 7 for a natural quad on one hand and drawing a 4 for a quick quad on another. She also got a full house or two and the rest of the hands ended up as 3-of-a-kinds. The screen malfunction (or perhaps finger malfunction) cost her about $50.
Sarah’s boyfriend was an experienced gambler who said, “Turn on your change light. They’ll come over and give you the money.” So Sarah did. Initially, a floorperson came over, but eventually a slot tech and slot supervisor were also involved. They verified that Sarah had indeed been dealt a quick quad. They also checked out the touch screen feature on the machine and determined that everything was in fine working order.
The bottom line was that Sarah did not get paid. The slot supervisor judged that this was a “player error” rather than a “machine malfunction” and the casino had no duty to protect the player from herself. Sarah and her boyfriend argued their case strongly but got nowhere. My judgment is that saving $50 was a bad public relations move for Harrah’s New Orleans.
The second situation was almost identical, but happened at the M Casino in Las Vegas. Sarah was dealt a quick quad, used the touch screen feature, and, once again, one of the cards wasn’t held. (I’m beginning to think this is a Sarah malfunction.) This time, Sarah lost about $300 due to the machine’s (or her) malfunction. Fortunately for Sarah, the casino paid her off. They realized that no player would intentionally make any other play than to hold all five cards. Since the machines at this casino are rather tight, the management at M Casino may feel it is more important to keep the players happy rather than to save a few hundred dollars.
I asked Sarah if she learned any lesson from all this. She guessed that I wanted her to quit using the touch screen. I told her that I didn’t care if she used the touch screen or not, but that she should slow down between holding the cards and then hitting the deal/draw button. Once she’s positive that all of her selected cards are held, she should then proceed.
In the good old days, all casinos would pay players in a situation like this. Today, it’s not so universal. I wrote a column a couple of years ago explaining that some casinos will give you the benefit of the doubt once and only once. If you ask them to “make it right” because a card “un-holds,” they will do so, but they will also write your name down. Asking them in the future to correct another “un-hold” will get you nothing unless they can duplicate the error — which they almost never can.
So in a case like this, you don’t want to ask for help in correcting an inexpensive error. For example, if you are dealt and hold three kings in quarter Double Double Bonus, but only two of them stay held, you will end up being paid $1.25 (for a high pair) rather than $3.75 (for 3-of-a-kind). You can be mad at yourself if you want to, but making a stink over $2.50 is short-sighted. You want to save your “get out of jail free” card for another time when there is more at stake.
Players can also argue until they are blue in the face that casinos should always pay off in these circumstances. Go ahead, but casinos often make decisions that some or all of us don’t consider very intelligent. It’s probably healthier to accept the way things are than to cry and moan too much that things should be different. Tilting at windmills can get a book and musical written about you but it isn’t likely to make you healthy, wealthy, and wise, or a smarter gambler.