Ask the Slot Expert: Slot machine malfunction headlines lack context

Headline writers have a limited number of words in which to tell what an article is about and tell it in such a way as to get the reader to read the article. Context is frequently a victim to the hype.

A recent example. An article in Forbes: Why Bad Bunny Won't Get Paid For The Super Bowl Halftime Show.

The article was first published on January 30, so denying him a payday can't be a reaction to his comments at The Grammy Awards on February 1. Why is the NFL stiffing Mr. Bunny?

You have to read down a few paragraphs to learn that no performers are paid for their halftime shows. It's sort of a barter arrangement between the NFL and the performers. THe NFL gives the performers access one of the biggest stages in the world (Sorry, AGT.) in exchange for a spectacular show.

Saying that no one is paid for the halftime show actually isn't true. The performers get the union-mandated minimum.

The headline is misleading in two ways. It implies that Bad Bunny is special in some way for not getting paid. Worse, it's not accurate. He is getting paid. Just not the millions that one might expect he would get. The headline omits a lot of context.

Headlines about casinos not paying players also leave out context.

Bally’s Atlantic City, IGT Given 30 Days to Explain Why $1.2 Million Jackpot Wasn’t Paid Headline presupposes that jackpot is legitimate while, in fact, the machine displayed an error message (Reel Tilt).

You won't believe why a casino won't pay NJ woman's $2M jackpot Same incident as above. Reel tilts occurring on slot machines isn't unbelievable.

Pennsylvania man denied $57,000 casino jackpot Maybe because he voluntarily put himself on Pennsylvania's self-exclusion list.

Casino Takes Back $330,000 Jackpot This incident took place nearly 30 years ago at Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino near Phoenix. The articles at the time described how greedy Harrah's refused to pay a kindly grandmother who wanted to use the money to help her grandkids, one who might need dialysis.

You won't believe why the casino wouldn't pay. Okay, you probably will. Machine malfunction.

I've seen the surveillance footage of this incident. It is clear that the machine is not operating properly. It inadvertently got put into Test Mode. Further, it is clear that Grandma knew that the machine was not operating properly. Every time she hit the Spin button, the machine paid out a few coins. She put her legs up on the platform on either side of the machine to try to hide what the machine was doing from the players near her. That didn't look suspicious.

Okay, you can't get all this nuance into a six-word headline. The headline, however, is just false. The casino never gave her the jackpot in the first place. This article, moreover, is filled with false statements about what actually happened -- e.g., "the reels locked on three cherries". No, they didn't. It was the jackpot combination.

Many articles about slot machine problems contain inaccuracies. Part of the problem might be that the reporters don't really understand how slot machines work and they're trying to give a simple explanation about something they don't understand to people who also don't understand how machines operate.

At work, when I had to explain why we had a problem with software or a system, my bosses would frequently say that my explanation was too complicated. I would say that if you don't know how an airplane stays in the air, you won't understand why a failure of some part or procedure caused a problem. I told what happened and why it caused a problem. I guess I could have used the phrase frequently used in slot malfunction articles: software glitch.

I found two good pages about slot machine malfunctions while researching this column. Slot Machine Malfunctions gives (Spolier Alert!) an overview of different malfunctions that can occur on a slot machine. Cases of Slot Machine Malfunctions describes what really happened when slots malfunctioned and "jackpots" weren't paid.

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Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert™, at slotexpert@slotexpert.com. Because of the volume of mail I receive, I regret that I can't reply to every question.

Copyright © John Robison. Slot Expert and Ask the Slot Expert are trademarks of John Robison.