But on June 2 and 3, a number of Lumiere’s machines had spit out far more money than they’d consumed, despite not awarding any major jackpots, an aberration known in industry parlance as a negative hold. The government-approved software that powers such machines gives the house a fixed mathematical edge, so that casinos can be certain of how much they’ll earn over the long haul-say, 7.129 cents for every dollar played. Louis noticed that several of their slot machines had-just for a couple of days-gone haywire.
In early June 2014, accountants at the Lumiere Place Casino in St.
