Career
He is also an adjunct professor of actuarial science and mathematics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He became interested in the mathematics of gambling at a young age, specifically after reading John Scarne"s Guide to Casino Gambling. Today Shackleford is best known for his websites, The Wizard of Odds and The Wizard of Vegas, which contain analyses and strategies for hundreds of casino games.
He received a great deal of attention in 2002 shortly after moving to Las Vegas when he published a paper where he released rankings of slot machine payout percentages, widely considered secretive or unavailable, to show which Las Vegas casinos set their nickel machines with the best and worst payouts.
The Time Out Las Vegas referred to the survey as groundbreaking. This paper was referenced by Palms Casino Resort to advertise their competitive payouts.
The Wizard sites were sold on September 19, 2014 for $2.35 million. Purchased by the LatestCasinoBonuses.com Affiliate Network.
Shackleford also analyzes new games for game developers and casinos.
His most notable clients include Hilton, Realtime Gaming, Playtech, and Shuffle Master. He is the author of Gambling 102: The Best Strategies for All Casino Games (Huntington Press, 2005). Previously, he was an Adjunct Professor of Casino Mathematics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a contributing editor to Casino Player magazine.
Michael Shackleford has been known to bring media attention to unfair gambling practices, such as case #2008-7136L before the state Gaming Control Board, against the Stratosphere Casino for failing to pay a sportsbet.
Another example is his detailed investigation into allegations of cheating by Absolute Poker after they were brought to his attention by an anonymous source September 24, 2007. Shackleford is periodically consulted on gambling issues outside of Nevada.
In 2010 Pittsburgh Live requested a consult on whether the gaming companies in Pennsylvania would tighten their blackjack rules. Before changing careers, Shackleford worked as a claims adjuster and later as an actuary for the United States Social Security Administration from 1992 until 2000.
His main responsibility there was estimating short-term costs and benefits of Social Security law changes.
But, he was best known for researching the most popular baby names for each year since 1880. The results of this research have been published in many books, newspapers, and magazines, and the Social Security Administration now officially publishes a new list every year of the previous year"s most popular names, along with all the previous years" names. Shackleford"s interest in a broader variety of mathematics topics is shown by his collection of recreational math puzzles and problems.