Edited by author 06-07-2003 09:32 PM
dalke: No, the article claims that the machine has decided ahead of time whether you will win or lose, and that your choice is thus irrelevant. Although the article focuses on the case where you lose, it does not actually say that the machine always decides that you will lose.

It could very well be true that it decides your fate before offering you the choice, but it doesn't seem like "cheating" to me in any real sense. Whether it decides before or after you press the button is mathematically irrelevant, as long as it's being done randomly. If put a pair of dice in a black box and offer to give you $100 if they come up double six, what does it matter whether I roll before or after you place your bet, as long as you can't see the dice (and, of course, assuming they're fair)?