Every day I get email from “experts” that want to sell me their system describing how I too can beat the slots. Some even suggest that I could easily make $1,000 per day. Well, I would love to make $1,000 per day playing the slots, but they are all scams to sell you worthless information. Sure, you “could” easily make $1,000 per day, but … you won’t, and these con men know you won’t, they are avoiding false advertising prosecution by using the word “could.” These advertisements are no more credible than if I were to advertise a book for $79.99 that claimed:

“You could win a million dollars tomorrow in the next lottery drawing, buy my book for $79.99 to find out how.”

I could fill the book with all kinds of really interesting and worthless information, telling you how to pick six numbers on a lotto card, and fulfill my promise, but do you think my book or my system will make you win? No, but with or without my book, you “could” easily win.

I have taught both probability and statistics in a university. I promise you that both are working against you in a big way every time you play the slots. Las Vegas itself is a testament to losers. They didn’t build those huge casinos so people could stop in for their $1,000 per day handout.

Because I wanted to see what these slot machine books were all about, I gave a few of the “system experts” the benefit of the doubt and challenged them to send me their system for a free trial in exchange for two things, my testimonial if it worked, and half of my first two days of winnings if it worked. Doesn’t that sound reasonable? If it worked, I would write a supportive testimonial for them to use on their website, and if I really made $1,000 per day for two days, I would pay them $1,000 for their system. To me it seemed more than reasonable, they were only asking $29.99 for their system and if it was legitimate and really worked I was willing to pay them $1,000 for it. I guess they were not only con men, they were not really gamblers either. In fact, only one of them even bothered to respond to my challenge and he told me that his system was just too valuable to waste his time on a doubter. Reading between the lines, this means, he had too many suckers lined up to buy his scam to risk me exposing him.

I think what these systems rely heavily on is that gamblers, particularly problem gamblers, believe there must be something out there that will give them an edge. They will buy these “systems” with the

hopes that the con man offering it was once in their position and made some kind of discovery that has been eluding them. The reality is that the con men have only discovered a human weakness and they are preying upon it.

Today’s slot machines are built strictly on probability theory and the statistics dictate that in the long-run the casino will win. Sure, you can win, but if you play long enough, you will certainly lose. If there

were any kind of system that assured you of coming out ahead playing the slots, then both the statistics and the probability theory supporting the entire premise would be skewed in favor of the gambler and the casinos would be shutting down.

The slot machines are really nothing but computers playing a cycle of probabilities. If you win it is because you happened to play when the machine happened to hit one of the probabilities that results in a payout. These are always fewer in number than the probability that results in you losing.

The next time you are in a casino take a look around. Each and every slot machine in the casino costs the casino several thousand dollars. Most casinos cost many millions of dollars to build, and some employ hundreds of people just to keep them going. Take a look at the ceiling and count the cameras, then multiply this number by a couple thousand dollars to see how much the casino invested in security. Look at the beautiful tiled floors, the lush carpets, the dining facilities, etc., then ask yourself if you really believe some low-life con man really has a system that would assure you of taking $1,000 per day from this place. Take it one step further and ask yourself why he would sell it to you for $29.99 when he could sign contracts with other people to work for him with a non-disclosure agreement and no compete clause. They could be his employees applying his “system” for $300 per day pay while turning over the other $700 per day to him. Why is he making his “system” available to you for $29.99? Because he can’t make any money consistently playing the slots and he needs you to buy his “system” for the seed money to support his habit.

If you like playing the slot machines and do not mind losing a little money for the sake of the entertainment value, great. If you want to play the slots for the occasional thrill of winning and are willing to lose in the long-run, great. I personally find scouting for books and looking up their value online to be a lot like playing the slots, but when I look up a loser it doesn’t cost me anything but the few seconds it takes to look it up and I am always pleasantly surprised when my cell phone tells me that I have found a winner.

Michael E. Mould is the author of “Online Bookselling: A Practical Guide with Detailed Explanations and Insightful Tips,” [Paperback ISBN 1427600708, CD-ROM ISBN 1599714876] and developer of “Bookkeeping for Booksellers,” [CD ISBN 1427600694] a 19 sheet linked and tabbed Excel Workbook designed to assist online booksellers with the calculation of their in-state retail sales tax obligations and the preparation of their Schedule C tax forms. “Bookkeeping for Booksellers” also provides 55 integrated graphs to visually show an online bookseller just how their business is performing.

If you would like to learn more about online bookselling, please visit =>http://www.online-bookselling.com

or send Mike an email at =>mike@online-bookselling.com