Gambling 101

Most first time gamblers risk their gambling on slots. While they are the easiest to figure out, they are not the best bets. You have to watch to see that you do not have to play maximum coins in order to get the full pay. For small gamblers look for slots that do not have huge jackpot payouts. You have more chances then for smaller wins.

All gambling books recommend deciding ahead of time how much money you are willing to put at risk and setting stop limits. Divide the money up by the days you are there and then quit if you lose that portion. If you win, don't keep gambling until you lose all that budgeted money. If you hit big, cash out and quit. In the long run you cannot win money on slots. But in the short run, a jackpot can make you a big winner if you quit while you still have some of it left. It is not the casino's money. Once you have won it, it is your money.

Not all slots are the same but it is impossible to tell which pay better or worse. Slots downtown or off the strip are generally better payers.

Table games have better odds than slots. Unlike slots most table games require some study of strategy and practice before you go to Vegas. However, Craps and Roulette are two that require no learned strategy. Craps provides the best mathematical bet in the casino; roulette offers the worst odds of any table games.

CRAPS

While a craps table and the speed of the game is intimidating to new gamblers, it need not be. The easiest bet is actually the best bet to make. The complicated bets have higher house advantages. A pass line bet will give the casino $1.41 to $0.18 (per hundred dollars wagered) depending on how much money you use for free odds. Compare that to slots that take more like $8.00 per hundred dollars wagered. Or compare to the State lottery that takes $50 on every hundred wagered.

http://wizardofodds.com/craps

ROULETTE

Roulette takes $5.26 on every hundred dollars wagered. It was very popular in Europe, and the game was played with different rules. Our own Saratoga Canfield added another number in favor of the house; he added the double zero and called it the American wheel. He called it the police number because that rake was used to bribe Saratoga policemen. There is one $5 roulette single zero wheel at the Stratosphere. Playing without the double zero makes the casino rake $2.70 per hundred dollars wagered.
http://wizardofodds.com/roulette

The worst casino bet is Keno. There the casino advantage is $25 per hundred dollars wagered or less. If you must play this game, the Orleans has the better odds, but the game is a complete rip off even if it is 100% better than a state lottery and equal to horse rate betting.

http://wizardofodds.com/keno

Video poker can be a good bet but you have to learn a strategy and each game is different. you also have to learn to read the pay tables so you can recognize a full pay machine from a short pay machine. At the Orleans the Double Bonus 10/7 machines (They pay 10 for full house and 7 for flush) are some of the best in Vegas. With perfect strategy they actually give the player a small advantage. But that strategy is counter intuitive and requires hours of practice.

SMARTEST BETS

The smartest Vegas tourists watch other people gamble and see the free attractions.

But there are a few ways to get a huge edge on the casino if you are a first time visitor. These are lost leader attractions. Some casinos offer $10 of free play. Others honor matchplay coupons. With a matchplay coupon you make a $5 bet and the coupon is worth another $5 if you win. You have a huge advantage for that one bet only. Finally, there are coupons sometimes for free money for first time gamblers. My friend Jill took one $10 free money deal and gambled on penny slots all afternoon. When she quit she could cash out for $6. That was her profit. That was all she gambled all week so she left a $6 winner.

TAXES

All gambling winnings are supposed to be reported as income. No person giving you tax advice would tell you otherwise. That would be illegal. There two ways the government collects these taxes. On small winnings they depend on your honesty. Larger winnings, over $1200 require the casino to give you a form that you fill out and that informs the IRS that you have won that money. If you are playing table games, he government paperwork is generated whenever you cash in more that $9000 in chips at one time. If you hate paperwork, don't cash in more that that at any one time.


For a detailed discussion see:
http://rose.casinocitytimes.com/articles/977.html



The best gambling advice on games as well as some free games to play and see how things work is at this site:

http://wizardofodds.com/


All that being said, there is always the economic principle of "utility" that suggests things are worth what pleasure they give us. When you go to a restaurant and pay $18 for what you could fix at home for $6, you enjoy the experience. It is the same with gambling.

A friend of mine recently went on a 9 day trip to Maine paying $120 a night for a bed and breakfast. At that rate, I figured my actual expenses for room and breakfast in December and calculated that while I am in Vegas, that would give me $3750 to lose gambling and our vacations would cost the same.

If you want a totally risk free experience, come fish bluegills with me. There when you lose it costs nothing, and when you win you take home supper.