27Feb
Except for blackjack which has odds that change continuously as the cards are dealt out, casino games are designed with a fixed mathematical edge in favor of the house. For example, in roulette the wheel has 38 numbers, 1 through 36, plus 0 and 00. To demonstrate the simplest example, the player can place a bet on any one of those 38 numbers and a winning bet will bring a payoff of 35-1 which means the player gets his original bet back, plus thirty five times the bet in winnings.
If there were no 0 or 00 that would correspond exactly to the odds of winning, but with those numbers added in the true odds are 37-1 and by paying at less than the true odds, the house builds a 5.26 percent advantage in roulette. This doesn’t mean it’s hopeless for the player and that the house will win every time though, because obviously if there were no winners there would eventually be no customers. In the long run the percentage will hold up and the casino will make a profit, but in the short term results can vary widely from the norm. The house advantage in casino games is narrow enough to produce a lot of winners every day.
10Feb
Casino gambling is best taken as a form of entertainment. Yes, you can win money, a lot of it sometimes, but it’s important to go in and know how much you want to spend and not go beyond that. For some people it’s a good idea to take a certain amount of cash and leave the credit and debit cards at home. It can be way too tempting to go one of the ATMs and pull out another twenty, or hundred or five hundred dollars! Casinos are far too easy to spend money in and even the strong willed will have a hard time admitting defeat if they have access to more money. You can budget until the cows come home, but once you step foot in a casino it can be too easy to lose all rationality and just “go nuts.”
The flashy lights and loud people having fun don’t help either, the added excitement just makes you want to be more involved. If you’ve been playing one slot machine all night you may not want to stop putting money into it because you think it’s “due” to pay off soon. You can always come up with an excuse to spend a little more money, and then a little more and a little more, which is why it is a good idea to only bring a pre-determined amount of money with you.
