Frank Legato
Frank Legato is a slot machine expert. In fact, the first page of his book mentions that he's a slot machine expert. I'm not sure exactly how one becomes an expert on the subject, but I don't have any reason to doubt that Frank Legato is exactly the slot machine expert that he says he is. I didn't find any factual errors in his book about slots anyway, although there is certainly more than enough ill-conceived humor. Some of it was funny, but the author's tongue is planted so firmly in his cheek that sometimes it's hard to find the actual meat of the book.
Actually, it's pretty clear how Legato got to become a slot expert:
He has edited and written for Casino Player and Strictly Slots
magazines. Both magazines are good and worth reading, so those are good
enough credentials for me. It's also clear that he doesn't just write
about slot machines; he also likes to
play slot machines.
The Book
How to Win Millions Playing Slot Machines! ...or Lose Trying is a tongue in cheek, humorous look at slot machine gambling. Unlike other gambling authors, Frank Legato doesn't shill silly systems (like those in John Patrick's dreadful book John Patrick's Slots), and he doesn't talk down or otherwise seem to think that slot machine players are some kind of unintelligent lower life form (which was the impression I was left with after reading Andrew Brisman's American Mensa Guide to Casino Gambling).
What Frank Legato does in How to Win Millions Playing Slot Machines! ...or Lose Trying is present facts about slot machines throughout history in a comical manner. Sometimes his humor is very effective, while sometimes it falls flat. Many times, there is just too much of a "Look at me! I'm writing funny stuff!" vibe going on. It's uncomfortable, especially when the humor fails, like watching a bad standup comedian.
The Useful Stuff
The book begins with the obligatory history of slot machines article, which was good, but was laced with so many jokes that it was possibly twice as long as it needed to be. It still made for interesting reading. The 2nd chapter is almost a continuation of the history of slot machines chapter, but it also includes explanations of how a modern slot machine with a random number generator works. Again, good stuff, but lots of extraneous jokes, some of which are good, and some of which fall flat.
The useful stuff starts happening in the chapter titled "Frequently High-Hitting Payback Percentage". It's a chapter about understanding what kind of slot machine you're playing, and about understanding what your goals for playing the slot machine are. Once you understand those two things, you can have a better (better=more fun) slot machine playing experience.
More useful stuff can be found in the chapters about slot machine systems and slot machine playing etiquette. Frank Legato explains again why slot machine systems don't work, and he explains how to enjoy the slot machines without interfering with the other players' enjoyment.
The Funny Stuff
I've probably been a little harder on Legato's use of humor in this book than I should have been. This book really does succeed in being funny, and it doesn't pretend to be a scholarly or authoritative text on the subject of slots. His chapter "Theme This" was not only the funniest chapter in the book, it was also my favorite. Oddly enough, I don't think that most of his in-jest slot machine theme ideas were too far-fetched, and you never know, we might see some of the silly games he's created in his mind show up in a casino at some point.
Here's an excerpt from that chapter to give you an idea of what Legato's humor is like when he gets it right:
"Dances with Wolves. This game has a bonus round in which the player has to guess just how much of a laboriously long movie Kevin Costner is capable of making, and how many hours will pass before you rip up the screen. If the player makes all the right selections and the movie reaches four hours, he goes into a second-level bonus - 'Waterworld.' That round takes about three hours to finish."
Good, funny stuff, that.
The Rest of the Book
The final half of How to Win Millions Playing Slot Machines! ...or Lose Trying consists of "tales from the road". These are tongue-in-cheek travel guides to varying cities in the USA where you can play slot machines. There are chapters about Las Vegas, Atlantic City, the North, the South, and the Midwest. Again, he's trying to hard to be funny in these chapters, but all in all, not a bad read.
Recommendation
If you know absolutely nothing about slot machines, this won't be a bad introduction to the subject. Especially if you've played some slot machine games in Vegas and didn't understand exactly what was going on. The book will also help you figure out what your slot machine playing goals are and which machines are most likely to help you achieve those goals. Finally, the sections on slot machine myths and slot machine systems should be required reading for anyone interested in gambling on vacation more than once every decade or so. The information in those chapter is accurate and important, and it's presented in an entertaining fashion.
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