Finding a Video Poker Bug Made These Guys Rich—Then Vegas Made Them Pay [View all]

[brentspeak]

Basically, what happened here is that two gamblers discovered that a particular video poker machine used in Vegas and elsewhere contained an exploitable bug in its programming: press a certain sequence of buttons at certain intervals on these machines, and wins were guaranteed. The two gamblers didn't create the programming bug, or hack into the machines, or use any external device to beat the machines; they just knew what buttons to push and when to push them. They did nothing illegal.

And that pi$$ed off the House.

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/cheating-video-poker/

Finding a Video Poker Bug Made These Guys Rich—Then Vegas Made Them Pay
By Kevin Poulsen
10.07.14

(snip)

At 1:30 pm on October 6, 2009, a dozen state and local police converged on Andre Nestor's split-level condo on a quiet, tree-lined street in Swissvale. He was dozing on his living room couch when the banging started. “State police! Open up!” The battering ram hit the door seconds later, splintering the frame and admitting a flood of cops into the house.

Nestor says he started toward the stairs, his hands over his head, when he came face-to-face with a trooper in full riot gear. “Get on the floor!” yelled the trooper, leveling his AR-15 at Nestor's face. Nestor complied. The cop ratcheted the handcuffs on Nestor's wrists, yanked him to his feet, and marched him into the kitchen.

For the next two hours, Nestor watched helplessly, handcuffed to a kitchen chair, while the police ransacked his neat home. They flipped over his mattress, ripped insulation from his ceiling, rifled his PC. At about 4 pm, Nestor's roommate, Laverde, arrived home and was arrested on the spot as an accomplice to Nestor's crimes.

snip

The Las Vegas prosecutors charged Nestor and Kane with conspiracy and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Passed in 1986, the CFAA was enacted to punish hackers who remotely crack computers related to national defense or banking. But in the Internet age the government had been steadily testing the limits of the law in cases that didn't involve computer intrusion in the usual sense. Kane and Nestor, the government argued, exceeded their otherwise lawful access to the Game King when they knowingly exploited a bug. The casinos only authorized gamers to play by the rules of video poker. “To allow customers to access previously played hands of cards at will, would remove the element of chance and obviate the whole purpose of gambling,” assistant US attorney for the District of Nevada Michael Chu argued in a court filing. “It would certainly be contrary to the rules of poker.”

Reader comments from the article:

In other words the game can only be fixed in one direction. Its illegal to be a winner unless you own a casino, is that what I'm reading?

- Yes. The casino mafia is selling an illusion that you can get rich. If you do get rich by the use of any skills, they will make you regret it dearly.

-- Sounds like normal corporate America to me.