Software glitch saw Aussie casino give away millions in cash | Hacker News Reader

Software glitch saw Aussie casino give away millions in cash

theregister.com

14 pointsdefrost9 comments

> Known abusers of the TICO machines have been charged, and one of those set to face the courts is accused of association with a criminal group.

I hate this aspect of state sponsored gambling

Its not just the "house" that always wins by probabilities, its backed by the state's courts. wtf is that.

It's the rich stealing from the poor, a tale older than history.

A cynic might posit that glitches that only leak a few million here and there provide plausible deniability and cover for any larger amounts that might drift on the house books:

    In 2021 a joint report by the Sydney Morning Herald the Age, and the television program 60 Minutes, found that Star management had been warned that it's anti-money laundering controls were inadequate and that between 2014 and 2021 Star had attempted to recruit high rollers who were allegedly linked to criminal or foreign-influence activities.

~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Entertainment_Group

amusing

anti-money laundering controls are a waste of time when it relies on a complete ringfence globally between the cash economy and electronic one that a single link can undermine

foreign criminal groups can get financed and terrorism isn’t expensive enough to warrant this effort, as thats ostensibly the purpose of AML controls

once again for whoever needs to hear this: the only reason people aren’t flying planes into buildings is because they don't want to

What’s the relationship between money laundry and high rollers linked to criminal

Can a single gambler launder enough for a criminal organization and do that by bags of cash ?

I kinda get poker, blackjack, etc. as there's at least a human element to it.

But slots...oh boy. They're predetermined and if it goes off script, you don't actually win, sorry. In that case, I think the gamification of it should be outlawed altogether as misleading consumers. How many people would use slots if it were just putting a dollar in the slot, then a screen saying 'lose' and that's that? Because that's exactly what's happening behind the scenes.

> How many people would use slots if it were just putting a dollar in the slot, then a screen saying 'lose' and that's that?

You’ll be surprised by the concept of “risk-free play”:

https://www.lpm.org/news/2024-03-08/gas-station-gambling-is-...

The state is very much in on the whole enterprise. The Star casino pay 35% tax on their takings, and pokie machine taxes can be as high as 51% in NSW.

It wasn't an issue with gambling or probabilities. It was an issue with machines that took receipts saying "you've won $x" and paid out $x.

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