I can't believe those people are now allowed to gamble.

Followup tag sure to ensue...

Slot machines are essentially a crack habit.

/good luck with that.

I interviewed for a company that made software for slot machines. A lot of the job consisted of creating mathematical models of gameplay that approximated the experience of Vegas slots but could be implemented in such a way that it was legally considered bingo. This made the slot machines bingo machines legal in many jurisdictions that had laws against slot machines.

It kinda reveals the hypocrisy of banning slot machines and allowing bingo. People would love to draw a big bright line between their innocent bingo and evil Vegas gambling, but it doesn't make any logical sense, so the resulting laws are pretty easy to circumvent.

Right now, all slot machines on state land are considered a form of bingo.

They're right. A slot machine is exactly like bingo. Except for everything about it.

What does that mean anyway, is bingo somehow exempt from gambling laws? Churches. What can't they be hypocritical about?

They're both essentially bets on random processes, so it's a reasonable approach to treat them the same.

One more way to launder than drug money I guess.

jjorsett: They're both essentially bets on random processes, so it's a reasonable approach to treat them the same.

So are craps and roulette.

If Florida says slot machines are just like bingo then they're just like bingo.

/I still say we trade Florida to Cuba for left handed pitching and cigars.

B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O and one armed bandit was his name-O.

Gambling is illegal in California but there are 2 racetracks and 10 "casinos" within 2 hours of my house in L.A. Something tells me "loopholes" and "euphemisms" come heavily into play in most states besides Nevada.

Can we get Bugs to do this yet?

jjorsett

Exactly. But people try very hard to hold on to their illusions.

In bingo there are a lot of people playing together, and eventually one of the players wins. That's one legal distinction that is used... I think there are others. It's easy enough to meet that criterion with slot machines, though. They're all networked, so when you pull the lever (or push the button), you get to "play" with other people who are pulling the lever at about the same time. I don't know what happens if you're the only person in that company's network who wants to play at that time.

The house always gets its cut, whether it's a house of worship or a house of sin.

Look like time to buy I.G.T stock.

I'm an engineer there. woohoo!

We have had electronic slot machines around where I live in Florida (the middle somewhere) for like, ever.

Like bingo in Rhode Island

The "slot machines" here in florida are not slot machines at all, so it's not a matter of definition. What you see on the screen is a graphical representation of your performance in the bingo game. The slot wheels, et cetera, are completely fake. They're there just to entertain you visually.

The bingo machines pay out at a much smaller margin, on average, than an actual slot machine, but that doesn't stop people from thinking they can actually win money on them.

We, the voters of Florida, approved real slot machines two years ago. Fundie GOP members have blocked implementing the will of the state's citizens since then.

How much do you want to bet that some old person will lose all of their $$ playing slots and end up sueing someone because they were taken advantage of/disenfranchised/couldn't understand the payout system (remember the ballot fiasco) or some other horseshiat?

I know that that was a terribly thin article, but Smitty is still a snide little asshat. There are NO legal slot machines currently in Florida, except possibly on the Indian reservations and on the cruise ships, that pay out cash. This is why the article described these new machines as 'Las Vegas Style.'

Dade County now allows real slot machines in the para-mutuals and racetracks now.

Slot machines have been 3 racinos in Delaware for what, 10 years, and the world didn't fall apart.

In Rhode Island, casinos are considered lotteries. And only the state can run a lottery. How screwy is that?

ClipJoint
Gambling is illegal in California but there are 2 racetracks and 10 "casinos" within 2 hours of my house in L.A. Something tells me "loopholes" and "euphemisms" come heavily into play in most states besides Nevada.

Yeah, limited gambling (indian casinos, riverboat casinos, "bingo", card rooms, etc) is legal in 35-40 states right now.

ClipJoint: Gambling is illegal in California but there are 2 racetracks and 10 "casinos" within 2 hours of my house in L.A. Something tells me "loopholes" and "euphemisms" come heavily into play in most states besides Nevada.

Exactly. Any place with Indian land has casinos. Here in Tampa, the Seminole tribe exchanged their "sacred" land (all Indian land is sacred, until it's price is met) for a nice piece right off I-4, now home to the sacred Hard Rock Casino.

Sounds like what they try to pass off as slot machines in Oklahoma. Small screen shows a bingo board and numbers that are "drawn".

Some slot machine basics

/'bingo' slots are teh suck

How about some Las Vegas style craps and roulette???

Slots are teh suck!!


/Going back to St. Louis in a week, to play in a real casino and Vegas in January.
//Weeners for me....:)

Owned by teh filter.......lol

Great, even freakin Florida gets slots.

Everyone seems to have them, but nooooooooo, my high-and-mighty home state of Maryland still doesn't have them. Oh, but the Democrats that dominate the legislature will gladly raise our taxes instead. Bastards.

n00bs-are-people-too
You asked for it

bubbaprog

Did you actually read what you were voting for? It allows Miami Dade County to vote locally on whether or not they want slot machines. I don't believe such a referendum has been run in Miami Dade County.

Personally I think it's stupid, if you want gambling hop on one of those Casino boats that I see going up and down whenever I am in Miami, or just goto one of the Indian casinos, we don't need slot machines everywhere.

Bah, put a slot machine on every street corner. Along with the lottery, it's just another way to part the stupid from their money.

So, these folks are OK using electronic bingo machines, but had trouble using electronic voting machines?

/native Floridian shakes his head ruefully
//at least it's South Florida again

I've read articles stating that much of the money and power against gambling in California (L.A.) and Florida (Miami) comes from Las Vegas casino interests.

Idea is that if casinos are fully legalized in either locale Las Vegas will lose a huge number of tourists. Las Vegas would not be "Vegas" in 25-30 years.