Chapter 13

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In Huaguo, gambling is very popular, with almost every small town having a mahjong parlor. These mahjong parlors are semi-legal entertainment venues, and the police generally don't interfere. If you win money, it's due to your skill and good luck, so what can others say?

However, the gambling Chen Mo mentioned isn't going to the town's mahjong parlor to play mahjong, but rather going to the town's arcade to play gambling machines.

These days, almost all arcades have gambling machines. You can buy game tokens from the owner and use them to gamble on the machines. If you win, the owner will buy back the tokens at the same price you paid, allowing you to make money.

This is a relatively subtle approach. Many arcades use one-yuan coins as game tokens, and the stakes can be very high. It's not uncommon for some people to lose several hundred to a thousand yuan in a day.

Of course, if you have good luck, you can win a lot of money, but such opportunities are rare—however, for Chen Mo, the chances of winning are quite high.

The reason Chen Mo thought of this method to make money is that he had played gambling machines before. It was back when he was in the first year of junior high school. Like many of his peers, Chen Mo became obsessed with playing arcade games. At first, he played games like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" or "The King of Fighters '97." Later, because playing games was expensive, his pocket money wasn't enough, so he turned his attention to the gambling machines at the back of the arcade.

Chen Mo observed for a few days and figured out the pattern of the gambling machines. After just a few failures, Chen Mo won over 500 yuan in one go!

This was a big deal, and the news spread throughout the town. Eventually, even his teacher found out. Worried that the top student would go astray, the teacher had a heart-to-heart talk with him. After that, Chen Mo never entered an arcade again.

At that time, Chen Mo made a promise to his teacher that he wouldn't play arcade games or gamble until he graduated from junior high school. Now that Chen Mo has graduated, the promise is no longer binding. If he hadn't forgotten about this for so long, he might have thought of using this method to make money earlier.

After making up his mind, Chen Mo immediately set out with the money. He had already returned the capital he borrowed from his mother. The television and the extracted silver haven't been sold yet, so he only had a little over a hundred yuan. He brought all his pocket money, which was less than 200 yuan.

This amount was enough as capital. Since selling the television would take time, Chen Mo decided to take advantage of this period to make some quick money. If he could earn enough to buy a computer, that would be even better.

When Chen Mo arrived at the arcade, it was packed with people.

It was summer vacation, and many students had nothing to do after school. Playing arcade games was a great way to pass the time, so it wasn't surprising that the place was crowded.

Chen Mo entered the arcade and went straight to the small room where the gambling machines were. It was even more crowded here, with smoke filling the air. Many people were just watching others gamble, getting their fix.

Chen Mo's arrival went unnoticed. He stood quietly to the side, carefully observing the gambling machines.

Actually, Chen Mo already knew how the gambling machines worked. These machines are designed to cheat, with the win rate pre-set on the motherboard. For example, a machine set to a 10:1 win rate means it will win 10 yuan before giving out 1 yuan as a reward.

Of course, most gambling machines don't have such a high win rate. Most are set around 10:3, otherwise, if you win a lot but get very little in return, who would play? Do they think others are suckers to be exploited?

Gambling is all about mindset. Those who lose money want to recoup their losses and are reluctant to leave. Giving them a taste of success now and then gives them hope, making them continue to invest. If it's too harsh, they'll lose hope and stop playing after a few tries, and you won't make as much money.

What Chen Mo needed to do was observe and figure out the pattern of the machine's payouts after it wins. Only then could he strike with precision. Otherwise, the hundred or so yuan he had wouldn't even be enough to feed the machine.

After ten minutes, the machine Chen Mo was observing had a big payout, spitting out over 300 yuan in coins. Chen Mo knew this was the machine's payout cycle. For a long time afterward, the machine would likely not pay out again and would continue to win until it accumulated enough money to trigger another payout.

Chen Mo focused, silently recording the amount of money the machine won after the payout. He waited for over half an hour, and the machine paid out again, this time spitting out over 200 yuan. This was also a big payout, but compared to the money players had put in, it was a small amount. Chen Mo clearly recorded that the machine had won 933 yuan in the past half hour.

Chen Mo thought to himself: The payout ratio of this machine is around 10:3.5, which is standard. However, I need to observe one more cycle to be sure before I act.

After another forty minutes, the machine paid out again, this time spitting out over 350 yuan in coins. Chen Mo also recorded the amount of money the machine won in the past forty minutes—1,020 yuan.

This time, Chen Mo frowned. The machine didn't seem to have a fixed pattern. It didn't pay out after winning exactly 1,000 yuan but fluctuated around that amount. If the fluctuation range exceeded the amount of money he had, he might lose a significant amount of money.

Chen Mo decided to be cautious and continued to observe.

For the entire morning, Chen Mo observed. When the gamblers went out for lunch, he sat down in front of the machine with a smile.

Through observation, Chen Mo found that the machine's fluctuation range was within 170 yuan. This means that when the machine wins 1,000 yuan, it will pay out 200 to 300 yuan if the amount won is within 85 yuan above or below 1,000 yuan.

The previous player had put in 950 yuan, and the machine hadn't paid out yet. According to the highest fluctuation of 1,085 yuan minus 950 yuan, Chen Mo only needed to put in 135 yuan for the machine to definitely pay out!

Of course, this is the maximum amount. If Chen Mo had good luck, he might only need to put in one yuan for the machine to pay out.

Chen Mo took out a dozen one-yuan coins from his pocket and took a deep breath, saying, "I hope I have good luck and can make some more money."

Chen Mo's luck was indeed good. When he put in the sixth coin, the machine played a pleasant tune, and the slot at the bottom started to ring with the sound of coins!

The "clinking" sound lasted for a long time before stopping. Chen Mo watched the machine with excitement as it paid out, and when it finally stopped, he smiled and said, "Not bad, I think I got over 300 yuan!"

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