30 replies to this topic

[LewisM]

This quote made me laugh so much I nearly tore my o-ring:

"By law, a machine must be capable of paying a jackpot on every spin."

In a pig's arse!!!!

Most (if not all) compensated AWPs have disclaimers stating that "due to the sequencing of the reels not all winning combinations are possible in each game"

Interesting read but poorly researched

[moneymad martian]

Newsflash! All media tells half the truth. Not uk but everywhere.

Disagree. I was in South Africa last year and with the exception of the "Sowetan", every newspaper I read during my stay gave an unbiased reflection of the facts, according to every person I spoke to, regardless of ethnicity. And that is in a country with serious issues. The UK media, worldwide, has an appalling reputation. Quite rightly.

Newsflash!!!

[Larainit]

Curious to confuse the Daily Mail with a newspaper. In my opinion its more an opinion paper written for middle class outraged of surbubia. Makes a change from their hoodie obsession pieces. Article had all hallmarks of being half researched. Avoid the tabloids if you seek truth and well reasearched articles

[ady]

If they post my reply to that article I'll eat my hat.

Come-on Ben 'spill the beans' lol

absolute shite in my opinion

£3 spent on a pint, how much is profit ?
£1 spent on a big bar of chocolate?
£30k spent on a car?
£500 wages in a week, how much has the government ripped you for this week?


get the picture? machines ae no different than any other money maker.

A very valid point nails, and to be honest One I never really considered...

I was tempted to add that some are a must in life (Beer only to relax and thats not a joke) a car tax etc.............but when I read 'chocolate' that bought it home!........

You are right....there is no difference!

[Bencrest]

With beer, I can guarantee that eventually I'll get drunk (for better or worse), and with chocolate, I can guarantee that I'll have food (albeit not a good food, and if I eat a big bar probably loads of heartburn and a headache). Also, when buying beer at pub prices, I place a huge emphasis on clientelle and atmosphere. If I can pay £2.80 in one pub - but it's crap, or £2.90 in another - but I get on well with the regulars, get a game or more of darts in, then in my opinion it's a price I'm willing to pay.


With a fruit machine I'm guaranteed nothing. They claim it's 'Amusement', and that 'Gambling *should* be fun', but take a few nights back, Indiana Jones machine when some of the extended family turned up in a local, just before leaving at 1am I put £1 in and got £25 from Golden Hold.

... two nights later, I put a £20 note in without a single board - after the old man put £15 in.

So, £20 lasted about 3 minutes. Amusement? No. Entertainment? No. Gambling satiety? No, if anything I was so pissed off that I'd gladly have thrown more money at it in a 'punish myself or recover some cash' type moment. Luckily I only had a £20 note.

Now I can reflect on it, it was a stupid move - but it still doesn't fail to amaze me where an 'Amusement' device can offer sweet f**k all in the name of amusement.

Obviously, Nails works in the industry, as have I done, and the simple answer is basically 'if you don't like it, don't play it' - but I still find it completely unacceptable to not get a feature board within £20 - but that's the way machines are, I can't personally change that, so I'll just have to go back to avoiding them.

That's not what I put in a reply to the Daily Mail though, I called them out on several parts of the article, how none of it was relevant to UK gaming law, it was entirely factually inaccurate and bordering on dangerous (how the hell can they imply that pub machines are random - that's offensively inaccurate).

They won't post my reply anyway, because I closed with

'How you can publish such inaccurate information, clearly without any relevant research, considering the information is freely available in the public domain from the Gambling Commission I do not know. Oh, wait, this is the Daily Mail. Enough said.'

I assume that last few lines put them off publishing it.

Edited by Closed Loop, 24 June 2009 - 12:47 AM.

[matrix2021]

Made me laugh that. The Birch services on the M60 near Manchester burnt down a couple of years ago due to a "transient" player shelling £200 in an MPU5 and then setting fire to it. If you don't believe me, link below....

BBC NEWS | England | Manchester | Service station arsonist jailed

Such a shame we dont know the name of the machine!

Having just got back from vegas, some of the points made in that article don't ring true. I was surprised to see a plethora of the 3-reel 'old style' machines that don't have the 140bpm music, flashing lights, and other psychological factors that attract people to machines - and theres rows upon rows of them, even in the flashy expensive casino's on the strip. Also, as already pointed out, the coins dropping to the metal tray doesn't exist because it's in the form of a ticket - to which every machine plays its 3 second 'cash out' tune irrespective of it being $7, or $250. The only indication of you winning big, is the the credits being added to your bank - which can be cut short by the player anyway.

A good article in the sense it may help curb gambling, but the distinction between UK and US is very fine.

[roderz]

Typical Mail tripe,
they are always so quick to slate gambling industry but then think it's OK to run a Bingo website !!!

Oh and if JPM spend 250K developing 1 machine I can see why their UK market has gone out the window!

[DildoDez]

Most (if not all) compensated AWPs have disclaimers stating that "due to the sequencing of the reels not all winning combinations are possible in each game"

Interesting read but poorly researched

Actually, they don't.

Club machines used to (i don't know if they still do) carry that message, alongside another stating "This machine is designed to payout the prizes listed. However a close sequence of jackpots or other large wins may reduce these payouts. These underpayments cannot be made up from any other source." Basically covering the operator against having to pay any IOUs, particularly in the days when the tubes would still pulse when empty, leaving no record of the underpayment.

But club machines aren't AWPs :-P

[Guitar]

Oh and if JPM spend 250K developing 1 machine I can see why their UK market has gone out the window!

Precisely. WTF? £250,000.

Its a box with lights in ffs and a program to make it only pay 70 - 98%

How does that cost £250,000? Its not like the money is spent on testing as emptiers still get in far too often.

[Bencrest]

Actually, they don't.

Club machines used to (i don't know if they still do) carry that message, alongside another stating "This machine is designed to payout the prizes listed. However a close sequence of jackpots or other large wins may reduce these payouts. These underpayments cannot be made up from any other source." Basically covering the operator against having to pay any IOUs, particularly in the days when the tubes would still pulse when empty, leaving no record of the underpayment.

But club machines aren't AWPs :-P

More and more machines are being fitted with 'MALFUNCTION VOIDS ALL PAY AND PLAYS' type stickers - broadly speaking this means that should the machine error, you are not entitled to any winnings or credits you may have had.

It basically leads to an uneven playing field - if the operator knows you lose a lot, and may not come back, they will probably pay, knowing you'll only spunk it anyway. If it's your first time in an arcade, and they don't believe you'll be returning, they can fob you off - as there is no mechanical record of a non-payout in reel errors, there is probably bugger all you as the player can do.