You Must Pay the Piper II

15 August 2023

By Frank Scoblete

Now, I do not want to discourage people who enjoy playing casino games, be these games machines or table games, to stop it right now and become pure hearted and spiritually cleansed. No. After all, I write for magazines and Internet sites that are casino and gambling oriented. I’ve written 33 books on gambling, thousands of articles and a handful of television shows and videos.

Obviously, I enjoy the challenge of it all.

If you enjoy playing the casino games or the lotteries, then play them. Just play them intelligently. There is no law that states you must play games stupidly.

So here is my list of the key elements of playing games where the house or lottery has the inevitable edge. These rules can soften the inevitable blow of long-term losses.

• Slot play should only be on machines that are not mega-jackpot progressives. Mega-progressives have the highest edges in the casino. They are not worth playing since a handful of the millions of players actually win such big amounts.

• Stick to slot machines that are stand-alone and non-progressive. My guesstimate is that these machines have the highest returns to the players.

• Make sure that you have a separate bank account where you keep your gambling money. This is the 401G, with the “G” standing for gambling. Only use this account to play the games. You can add wins to the account and you can also put in deposits in the account. But that account is for gambling use only. It is not your child’s college fund.

• If you play video poker, play the machines with less than a two-percent edge over the player. Learn the absolutely correct play of your hands to maximize your winning potential. I recommend reading Jerry “Stickman’s” column on this site.

• All casino card games have optimal strategies. Learn the ones for the games you wish to play. Table games have edges that can go from very low to extraordinarily large. A basic strategy player at blackjack can face about a half-percent edge. There are some excellent bets at craps – but also some horrible ones too.

• Make the lowest house edge bets at the lottery – which is just about no bets on these games at all. Remember that old trope: “You have to be in it to win it!” Silly advertisement. The real advertisement for lottery players is “you have to be in it to lose it.” Forget the scratch-off tickets. The edges on these make slot machines seem generous.

The fact of the matter is that we players will pay the piper. That’s the true way of it all. The games are created by the casinos and by the states to take our money. Indeed, even casino games and lottery tickets sold by religious organizations have steep house edges too. Don’t bother playing these games. Just give a donation you can afford.

Surely, everything has a cost. Bad things have costs; good things have costs. The piper is always looking to get paid. That’s a good thing of which to be aware.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Frank Scoblete’s web site is www.frankscoblete.com. Frank’s books are available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries and bookstores.