Re: How to generate random numbers in C


Gordon Burditt <gordonb.l11qa@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:T7ydnSMQJKBSnJzVnZ2dnUVZ_sytnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If you try to offer casino gambling games (e.g. craps, blackjack,
roulette, etc.) for real money using pseudo-random numbers, you're
going to lose.

There is no mathematical basis for this general statement, however,
there have been cases where people caught on to the sequence coming
from a poorly- or non-reseeded pseudo-random number generator
in a casino game and won hundreds of $thousands before the
casino realized their error...

My statement is more based on economics and psychology than
mathematics. If there's enough to gain, people will go to great
lengths to break your scheme,

There's a limit to greed; just because somebody offers $1trillion
to run a mile in one second doesn't mean anybody is ever going
to be able to do it, no matter how motivated they are and how
hard they try.

including stealing a machine (or
BUYING one) and taking it apart, bribing employees or ex-employees
to get source code and procedures, dedicating huge amounts of donated
CPU time under the guise of searching for aliens or a cure for
cancer, etc.

Sure, this all happens now, and has always happened. Back
when I used to consult for the electronic slot machine and lottery
equipment makers, a popular method of getting money from the
machines was to zap them with about a zillion volts, hopefully
sometimes causing the CPU to fritz out and activate the hopper
dump solenoid and dump the coins in the hopper into the "loud bowl".
Then they'd scoop up as many as they could and try to hit the
doors before security locked them (they were in most cases
already detected and being tracked by security cameras
the moment the coins dropped).

A slightly more sophisticated method involved an operation
using a small drill and a procedure not unlike othroscopic
surgery to trigger a hopper dump; in any event, they still
couldn't fake the internal sequence of microprocessor events
that had to occur and were always recorded that were evidence
of a genuine jackpot, along with those omnipresent security
cameras...

Guys who REALLY knew the machines could even have
a whole set of fake EEPROMs ready to install in seconds
after they jimmied open the door; but seriously, wouldn't
it just be easier to get a friggin' job?

A really clever crack will not take so much in winnings that the
casino realizes it immediately, but will take less but over a longer
period of time.

Oh, they'll figure it out eventually, but the problem will still
be to predict a series of pseudo-random numbers seeded from
some split-second event at pseudo-random times...this would
be tough enough under the best of circumstances, and in
a casino environment, purt near impossible, even WITH
"inside information"...

---
William Ernest Reid



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Relevant Pages

  • Re: How to generate random numbers in C
    ... roulette, etc.) for real money using pseudo-random numbers, you're ... There is no mathematical basis for this general statement, however, ... casino realized their error... ...
    (comp.lang.c)
  • Re: How to generate random numbers in C
    ... roulette, etc.) for real money using pseudo-random numbers, you're ... There is no mathematical basis for this general statement, however, ... important factor") is the "expectation" of the game. ...
    (comp.lang.c)
  • Re: How to generate random numbers in C
    ... slot machines) in a large real casino with many machines. ... complex algorithm that sent bursts of pseudo-random numbers to each ... money had come in, it would up the odds of winning so that there would ...
    (comp.lang.c)