Automatic Monkey said:
Maybe, maybe not. The Sands in PA has Shufflemaster BJ machines that are similar to the ones you lost all your money on, except that they shuffle after each round, so counting has no effect. Up to 5 players play against the same dealer hand, so assuming the cards are coming out of a shoe the normal way the actions of each player will affect the outcome of the hand for all, just in a way that cannot be predetermined.
The only way to prevent one player's play from affecting the game for others is to randomly predetermine the sequence of cards each player (including the dealer) will receive. The machine allows one split and has a 7-card Charlie rule, so the most cards a player can receive is 14. Thus the software can be programmed such that player 1 will receive cards 1-14, player 2 will receive cards 15-28, and so on. This would require the shoe to be shuffled after every round, so I suspect this is how these machines operate. As long as the shuffle is random and the set of cards each player will receive is determined randomly, it is an honest blackjack game.
The only way to prevent one player's play from affecting the game for others is to randomly predetermine the sequence of cards each player (including the dealer) will receive. The machine allows one split and has a 7-card Charlie rule, so the most cards a player can receive is 14. Thus the software can be programmed such that player 1 will receive cards 1-14, player 2 will receive cards 15-28, and so on. This would require the shoe to be shuffled after every round, so I suspect this is how these machines operate. As long as the shuffle is random and the set of cards each player will receive is determined randomly, it is an honest blackjack game.