Originally Posted by Rob.Singer View Post
First of all, the machine I found it on had the DU option enabled--as many machines did back then and some do today. I never "asked for" it to be enabled.
Rob, I'm not taking my marching orders from anybody, and if I did, Kj would be the last person I'd listen to.

I'm getting my information from the wired article. It claims almost no casinos back then had the DU option activated. I'm quoting from the article:

"This wasn't bad news at all. It was the missing link. It explained why the bug had failed them everywhere but at the Fremont. Most casinos don't enable Double Up because it's unpopular with players. But that could easily be changed. High rollers and slot aficionados often have favorite game variants or features that aren't available by default but can be enabled by any passing slot attendant."

There had to be the perfect storm for Kane and Nester to find it. Kane happened to find it at the Fremont, which by chance had the DU option activated. When Nester flew down to visit Kane, they went from casino to casino and nothing worked that was working at the Fremont. At that time, they didn't know it was the DU option that activated it, so Nester flew back to Penn.

Then when the Freemont turned off the DU option, and Kane couldn't press the same buttons sequence to increase his jackpot, he put two and two together and figured out it was the DU option that made this play work.

And the steps he had to press to make it work were complex. Again, after reading the wired article several times, I can see why this bug went undetected for so long. You had to have the perfect storm and someone like Kane for it to all come together. It's surprising they weren't a little smarter in trying to exploit it. I guess this is what greed does to someone.