John McKenna

Professional Summary

I'm an independent researcher with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and five years of experience modeling casino promotional economics. I build analytical tools that quantify promotional value, model player decision-making, and analyze multi-platform optimization strategies. This work provides insight into how sophisticated players assess promotional structures and where design choices create unintended cost exposure. I'm currently analyzing high-purity electronic gases at Linde Electronics, applying rigorous statistical validation to high-stakes manufacturing processes. I'm also a FanDuel VIP customer with firsthand understanding of player engagement and reward transparency challenges.

Technical Skills

Analytical Projects

Casino Promotional Value Analyzer

• Built analytical engine that calculates exact expected value of casino promotional offers by modeling hedged bet positioning across platforms.
• Developed iterative solver handling deposit bonuses and loss rebates, calculating optimal bet sizing that produces deterministic outcomes.
• Key Insight: Demonstrated that wagering requirements can be satisfied with zero actual gambling risk through structural understanding of game mechanics and cross-platform hedging.

Baccarat Shoe Time Analysis

• Conducted statistical hypothesis testing to analyze whether betting window duration in live dealer baccarat correlates with outcome patterns or bonus bet success rates.
• Built data collection framework extracting timing data from live sessions, performed correlation analysis and significance testing across multiple variables.
• Key Insight: Failed to reject the null hypothesis, but the methodology demonstrated rigorous experimental design and hypothesis validation—more valuable than a spurious correlation would have been.

Risk-Adjusted Betting Model

• Developed sequential betting methodology that uses bonus value to reshape gambling risk profiles, establishing zero-downside floor (break-even worst case) while preserving exponential upside from win streaks.
• Built calculation engine that determines maximum "safe" bet sizes at each decision point where losses still result in break-even after completing wagering requirements through mini-hedging.
• Key Insight: Demonstrates that bonuses create optionality allowing sophisticated players to structure positions with significantly higher expected value than face-value bonus amounts, revealing unintended cost exposure for operators.

Additional analytical projects available at johnmckenna.info

Professional Experience

• Lead analyst for octafluorocyclobutane (C4F8) product line serving semiconductor manufacturing clients.
• Identified a five-year systematic error in lab standard preparation through rigorous investigation, implementing a new validation protocol that eliminated the variance.
• Execute statistical process control (SPC) on high-purity electronic gases, identifying and resolving quality issues before products reach customers.

Education

• Relevant Coursework: Statistics for Engineers, Design of Experiments (DOE), Process Control, Computational Modeling.
• Certification: Engineer-in-Training (EIT) – Passed Fundamentals of Engineering exam demonstrating analytical rigor.