I won $10 on a penny machine when I was waiting to meet my grandparants at the Mirage the other day. I was happy because I expected to lose.

"...what gambling experts said had to be a trillion-to-one shot..."

Oh, for fark's sake. A gambling expert would give you the exact odds, not say "it had to be a trillion to one", and I'm sure this woman probably plays this particular machine all the damned time. The odds were probably more to the tune of a hundred million to one once you take her gambling frequency into account.

And while those are still some pretty long odds, consider that there are six billion people on the planet right now...

"Argyris, a self-employed single mother of two and a grandmother of three from Boulder City, was discovered face down in the river shortly afterwards amidst suspicious circumstances."

i hate her.
*knows a guy who won the megabucks several years ago*
bastards, all of them

Gig103: If you gamble expecting to win, especially when playing against the casino(not against other people, like in poker), then you have a gambling problem.

so how many millions does she need to stop gambling?

Woman pulls off trillion-to-one shot

http://skepdic.com/lawofnumbers.html

That a particular specified event or coincidence will occur is very unlikely. That some astonishing unspecified events will occur is certain. That is why remarkable coincidences are noted in hindsight, not predicted with foresight.

For example, you might be in awe of the person who won the lottery twice, thinking that the odds of anyone winning twice are astronomical. The New York Times ran a story about a woman who won the New Jersey lottery twice, calling her chances "1 in 17 trillion." However, statisticians Stephen Samuels and George McCabe of Purdue University calculated the odds of someone winning the lottery twice to be something like1 in 30 for a four month period and better than even odds over a seven year period. Why? Because players don't buy one ticket for each of two lotteries, they buy multiple tickets every week (Diaconis and Mosteller).

On the other hand, you might say that the odds of something happening are a million to one. Such odds might strike you as being so large as to rule out chance or coincidence. However, with over 6 billion people on earth, a million to one shot will occur frequently.

Well, I'd say that the first million bucks bought her 100,000,000 chances to hit it the second time around... so really it's closer to 10000:1 :)

maybe she can get some gastric and a face lift

Um, I think I too speak for many of us when I say, WTF!?!!!111oneone

// lost $50 in AC two weekends ago :(

Damnit. Some gamblers have all the luck.

Lawrence, what would you do with a million dollars?

What's going on here? Where are the statisticians calling shenanigans on this article?
The probability of this happening to the woman was simply fifty-fifty. Either she did win at the slot machine twice, or she didn't.

. . . frustrating when people can't do simple math.

How does that machine pay out? In bufflo nickels?

The luckiest I've ever gotten was at the Gold Strike in Jean, NV. Before we hit the i_

she already won a million dollars but was still playing the penny slots?

It will all be gone soon enough. She won a million dollars and was still gambling. What's the first thing I would do if I won a million dollars?

Stop gambling.

farking coont!

She won't be playing it any more when the casino torches it. (after, of course, reducing the payout percentages of the other machines.)

On a penny machine? Damn. Just damn.

lordargent:

For example, you might be in awe of the person who won the lottery twice, thinking that the odds of anyone winning twice are astronomical. The New York Times ran a story about a woman who won the New Jersey lottery twice, calling her chances "1 in 17 trillion." However, statisticians Stephen Samuels and George McCabe of Purdue University calculated the odds of someone winning the lottery twice to be something like1 in 30 for a four month period and better than even odds over a seven year period. Why? Because players don't buy one ticket for each of two lotteries, they buy multiple tickets every week (Diaconis and Mosteller).

I wouldn't fly because I was concerned about the odds of there being a bomb on my airplane. But then I thought of how incredibly unlikely it would be to have 2 bombs on one plane.

So now I always carry my own.

How does that machine pay out? In buffalo nickels?

The luckiest I've ever gotten was at the Gold Strike in Jean, NV. Before we hit the I-15 to head home, my wife used the bathroom in the casino. I had $5 in my wallet and dropped it into a $1 slot machine. When she came out, I was $360 richer.

I've also this happen to me. After winning $250 on a slot machine, some lady walked up to it and played it for literally five minutes. She ended up hitting the max payout of $3,600.

...and I was happy with $250...

People who win lotteries, jackpots and the like tend to have nothing else in their lives. That's why it's always old people or trailer bound hillbillies that win...with exceptions of course. If you win the lottery, take a good look at your life...then wrap your lips around a shotgun and do the honorable thing.

forditude: after, of course, reducing the payout percentages of the other machines.)

I have heard that stuff is heavily regulated, and audited by gaming commissions. They may annihilate the machine but I don't think they can alter odds other than as posted and set by the mfr.

Shiat, disregard my Boobies. I fcuked up and hit "add comment" when I was writing it...

Wow... those are worse odds than those of successfully navigating an asteroid field.

Terry Pratchett Surrenders.

Heh. PWN3D by the filter!

/b00biez = Weeners
//probably won't work again!

If something's a million-to-one odds to win once. It is a million-to-one odds the next time as well.

The odds of her winning the second time were exactly the odds of winning the first time. Suppose you flip
a coin and it comes up heads three times in a row. The odds of the fourth time being heads is still one in two, the coin has no memory. That's far different than the odds of getting four heads in a row. That being said, gambling is a tax on the math impaired.

StomachMonkey and Fourdoorlovemonkey have summed it up nicely. If you're fortunate enough to hit the jackpot, why bother stepping into a casino ever again?
While I like to take in a card game from time to time, I liken most of the people who play slots to lab rats eagerly awaiting their small payouts. Depressing.

If I won a million dollars, I'd be up to my ass in whores and cocaine.

keg_monkey:

I have heard that stuff is heavily regulated, and audited by gaming commissions. They may annihilate the machine but I don't think they can alter odds other than as posted and set by the mfr.

They have room to alter the individual machines but the overall payout percentage setting is monitored. So the higher payout machines, are, of course, located in the corner back around behind the bar under that light that went out. Regulation is also questionable in a couple places, those places being outside Nevada and inside Nevada.

And to win it twice it's 1,000,000 * 1,000,000 odds.. Therefore a trillion.

Of course it's a lot higher than 1,000,000:1 the first time, but she also played a lot more than once.. And that's why they can't give you exact odds.

And she only needed to put in 3 million to win!

She should have used her luck on Powerball. what a waste.

keg_monkey:

I have heard that stuff is heavily regulated, and audited by gaming commissions. They may annihilate the machine but I don't think they can alter odds other than as posted and set by the mfr.

Yeah, I was just slightly joking about them altering the odds, but IIRC, I remember reading that the odds are calculated over the life of the machine. For example, if a slot machine promises 98% payback, then that doesn't mean that it gives out 98% of it's intake every day. It means that over the life of the machine (measured in the tens of millions of pulls), the machine will achieve 98% payback. However, this does give latitude as to how the casino can tamper with the odds so that it can be more generous on some days and more stingy on others. Someone who knows please correct me if I'm wrong.

feepness:

I wouldn't fly because I was concerned about the odds of there being a bomb on my airplane. But then I thought of how incredibly unlikely it would be to have 2 bombs on one plane.

So now I always carry my own.

An explosive bomb, or a Gigli DVD?

I don't see why anybody plays scratch tickets (which have really abysmal odds) but gambling in the casino doesn't bug me. You pick an amount you wish to lose, lose that money, then call it a day. When you work it out for time vs money spent, it usually comes in around watching a movie. Sometimes you win. When I double my money I lose.

Oh, and as far as bragging, I won $200 bux once on my last 10 dollars that I was quickly spending gambling illegally (I was only 19) in the Vegas airport. I totally came out ahead because I was only down $40. Nearly missed my plane however.

My friend won a 'jackpot' once.
We were downtown, screwing around, and we wnet to a gas station to grab some cheap lunch. We walked outside, and he tripped and dropped his hamburger. He piccked it up.
It had fallen on top of fifty $100 bills.
The police said the cash was legit. He didn't share any money with me.
/bastard...

"Four chicks at the same time, man."

Been to the local casino twice in the last year - both times to meet people for dinner. Most recently, I got up $100 in about 5 minutes and cashed out and treated my friends to dinner.

Time before that, as soon as I got there, my buddy went to the bathroom so I plunked $20 in a quarter slot machine - 5 pulls later I won $150. Immediately cashed out and went across the border to Canada for some - ahem - adult entertainment. Figured if I was going to lost my money, I was going to do it with a smile on my face.

Bottom line - Steve Wynn isn't building billion dollar casinos every other year because those casinos LOSE money.

Keen Machine

So if I buy a lottery ticket, I have 50/50 chance because I can either win or lose? Seems like a lot more people would be buying those little one dollar tickets.

/lottery & gambling = tax on those who can't do math
//KM - pay up.

2005-05-10 12:28:54 PM FluffyKerfuffle [TotalFark] Oh, for fark's sake. A gambling expert would give you the exact odds, not say "it had to be a trillion to one"

I doubt it. Even gambling experts aren't privy to the exact odds of hitting jackpot. Unless you work for the company that makes them, you're going to have to estimate.