Why casinos allow empty $100 tables

12 January 2016

By Frank Scoblete

FROM RONALD J: I have a question. When we go to a casino, and normally we find this in Vegas and not as much on the riverboat casinos in our area, we will see the five-dollar tables filled while the dealer stands with no players at a hundred-dollar table. In craps I see the five-dollar table jammed and the twenty-five table wide open no players.

Why would the casinos have dealers/stickmen/boxman standing doing nothing and have no revenue. If they changed the table minimum from the higher amount to a five-dollar table the customers/players standing waiting for an open spot would fill in and start to play.

Enjoy your magazine very much.

FRANK RESPONDS: The $100 table, even if it remains empty at times throughout the shift, will make far more money for the casino than a full $5 table. Anyway, that’s the casinos’ thinking. Those $100 players will usually bet more, sometimes far, far more, than just $100 per round. You don’t usually see too much black ($100) action on crowded $5 tables.

In these cases, money talks; five-dollar players walk.


MORTON: I find that listening to gambling writers is really a waste of my time. I go to a casino to gamble not to play it safe the way you people want me to. I go maybe once a month and not every week so you tell me why I should be cautious and not bet it up?

My wife likes to play the progressive slots in the hope that she can win a life-changing sum but I notice that you prefer people not to play those machines. Why not play them? That’s where the action is and not on those regular machines.

I like reading what you write but I don’t usually take your advice or any other gambling writer’s advice. They play it too safe for me.

FRANK RESPONDS: It’s your money and you can bet it any way that you want. I just give the best strategies to save players their money and give them the best chance to come home winners.

If you don’t mind what I would think you’re experiencing – losses, some of them large – between your wife and yourself, then, hey, again, it is your money. The casinos certainly enjoy your betting style, as it is the common one for most diehard gamblers.


BILLY: I enjoy talking at the blackjack games and I also offer up what I consider to be the best advice on how to play the hands. But some people ignore me and others tell me it is their money to bet as they see fit. Isn’t it better if people listen to me? I have been playing blackjack for decades and I know what I am doing.

FRANK RESPONDS: Caution is the best policy here. Most players do not want to be badgered by other players telling them what to do. I think you are better off keeping your opinions to yourself. I know that seems harsh but facts are facts. I get more letters from blackjack players complaining about players who are always giving unasked-for advice. Again, caution is the best policy here.

Frank Scoblete's new books are "I Am a Dice Controller: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Craps!, "Confessions of a Wayward Catholic" and "I Am a Card Counter: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Blackjack." Available at Amazon.com, on Kindle, at Barnes and Noble, and at bookstores.