Recovering Carnival Cruiser Sails Celebrity - 12/11 Summit Review

[alexandria]

I wonder what entity regulates and inspects the gambling devices on board since they are only available for use once in international waters.

 

Those machines can be programmed by a tech with the proper software and cable to alter the probabilities that you would find in a deck of cards to whatever is desired by the owner or operator of the machine.  For example, in a five card poker hand the probability of three of a kind is generally calculated to be about 2.1%.  That means that a card player would statistically expect to have a full house once in every fifty or so hands.  However, the machine could be programmed to alter the probability to 0.5% meaning that the video poker player would have a full house once in every two hundred hands. 

 

In jurisdictions where those machines are lawful (such as Nevada), they are highly regulated and regularly inspected to ensure a player has the same odds of winning on a video poker machine that they would have with a deck of cards.  In other jurisdictions where the machines are outlawed (or considered coin operated amusement devices with unlawful cash payouts by unscrupulous owners), the machines are often reprogrammed to reduce payout amounts and frequency and increasing profits to the machine owner/operator.

 

I'm not accusing Celebrity of wrongdoing but it bears keeping in mind...on a cruise ship a player likely doesn't have the same regulatory protection to ensure fair gaming as they have in places like Las Vegas.

[Aspire4him]

QUESTION:  Where there any special themed nights?  Formal night?  Thank you!!