The 10 don'ts in the casino

14 July 2018

By John Marchel

Some of the best experts about gambling can be found here at Casino City Times – Gaming Gurus. Name a game and you can find a couple of experts who will tell you all about it. Got a question? You will find an answer here. Some will walk you through a game step by step, others will give you a simple positive answer to your question. This site and these listed gurus have been around a very long time and had more experience and have seen and done more gaming than any one else in the business.

In addition, it offers the latest industry news and even a newsletter. If you gamble only once a year on the Super Bowl or you are a regular visitor to the cardroom or casino, then this is the site for you.

Excellent information, tips and know-how is presented daily by those who write the columns, but this article is designed to tell you what NOT to do. It’s just a list of common-sense actions about gambling that any player can use. The fact is a far greater percentage of casino profits come from players who lack money management skills than from the mathematical edge the casino holds over the player. Read them and add them to your “book” of knowledge when it comes to gaming.

• Don't play any casino game or make any bet you know little about. Whether it’s online, at the track or in a casino, you need to know the game rules and how the game is played. Otherwise you are just giving away your bankroll.

• Don't waste your time on games or wagers where the casino has a built-in advantage of more than 2%. That includes roulette (-5.6%), Caribbean stud poker (-5.26%), slots (-8 to -25%) and many other “new” games the house offers like War (-2.9%) and four card poker (-3.4%).

• Don't be superstitious. Knowledge is the real key to winning, regardless of your game.

• Don't be afraid to ask questions of the dealer, floor man or pit boss. They appear to be helpful. What they want is for you to become a steady customer.

• Don't bet over your head. A good basic rule should be: bet only what you can really afford to lose.

• Don't play with scared money. There are overhead funds, like food, hotel room, and shows to see, that can’t be used for gaming and should be set aside.

• Don't borrow money from friends to finance your gambling or try to recoup your losses.

• Don't press your bets if you are on a losing streak. Press went winning, pull back when losing.

• Don't drink too much and gamble at the same time. Ask yourself this question; Why do casinos give drinks away for free? It doesn’t take too many drinks to forget that the little green chip is worth $25. Enjoy a cocktail, just don’t overdo it while gambling.

• Don't be a greedy player: Be satisfied with a small win, take the chips and leave. Depending how long your visit is, a small win before dinner is nice. There will be another session after dinner, or another one tomorrow. Any win is always a positive one.


BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW

• The name “Casino” was originally a public hall for music and dancing; however, by the second half of the 19th century, the term meant essentially a collection of gaming or gambling rooms.

• Gambling became such an obsession for some ancient Romans, and such a social problem in general, that the government was forced to restrict it. The Republic restricted gambling to the weeklong festivities surrounding the Saturnalia feast (the modern Christmas & New Year’s holidays).

• The Massachusetts Puritans passed America’s first law against gambling in 1638.

• Macau, a small island off of China’s Hong Kong, has had legalized gambling since the 1850s. Today it is the No. 1 location for gambling in all of Asia.

• In the 1800s, it was said that the degree of prosperity of a town in the Old West was in direct proportion to the number of high-rolling gamblers on hand at a given time.

• Public gaming had been made illegal in France in 1857. However, its southern neighbor, Monte Carlo, was so successful with its casino, it became just too much to ignore and in 1907 the government made gambling legal and casinos sprang up all around the French coast.

• Out of the 120 casinos in the UK, London’s 23 casinos account for 70% of the entire country’s gambling revenue.

• The first book ever published in America that mentioned the word “gambling” in its title was "An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling." Written by Jonathan Green and published in 1843.

• It is a fact that slot machine manufactures perform more player research than any other segment of the gambling industry.

• In the 1880s, when Nevada was still a territory, federal law decreed that if a district attorney convicted any citizen of gambling, the attorney would get a $100 bounty.