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Online Gambling PhD >
A Ture Odds Way of looking at
things
Dear Mark,
Please pardon this simple question, but could you
explain what you meant
when you stated in a column being paid "less than true
odds." Stan B.
True odds, Stan, is the ratio of the number of times a
favorable event will
occur as compared to the number of times an unfavorable
event will happen.
As for "less than true odds," here-tiz in common talk
with an example:
Suppose you and I flip a coin, a dollar a pop. If you
lose, you pay me a
buck. If you win, I pay you only 95˘. Sound fair to you,
Stan? Even though
the odds of winning are a 50-50 proposition, the game
becomes inequitable
when instead of you getting paid $1 when you win, youıre
only getting 95˘.
Though getting shortchanged a measly nickel doesnıt seem
like much, it adds
up as the number of coin flips increases.
Online Gambling
Casinos use this same concept, being paid less then true
odds, when you win
a bet at most casino games. Note any casino
pay table roulette, many craps
bets, video poker, slots, etc. and youıll see that their
every payout is for
a a reduced payoff, or "less than true odds."
This difference between true
gambling odds and less than true
odds is called the
house edge, a percentage of each bet you make that the
house takes in. The
reason you are not paid true odds when you gamble is
that you need to make a
payment, an entertainment tax if you will, for the
casino letting you play
in their joint.
Dear Mark,
I had a friend who told me he made a few thousand
dollars a year just by
walking around in casinos and looking for slot machines
that had money left
in the tray or in credits. Sounds like a way to make
some extra cash. Is
this legal? Who owns that money anyway? Laurie J.
Whose money is it? Tıaint your friendıs, tiz the casino
owners.
Iıve done this question before, and normally I wouldnıt
repeat it, but just
this last week I personally observed two elderly gents
trying to get buffet
funds by circling the casino floor looking for credits
and loose change, so
it has earned a repetition.
"Sea gulling" as itıs called in gamblese, is illegal. It
means purposively
circumnavigating the casino floor looking for orphan
coins or credits on a
slot machine, or even change on the floor.
If your friend continues to make a full-time occupation
of cruising the
casino on the lookout for easy pickings, he will
eventually be caught and
asked never to come back, or " permanently 86ed" in
casino-ese. Luckily, if
your pal Sticky-finger is caught, there is no soundproof
room with a
glove-vice waiting.
But that doesnıt mean there are not those like your
friend who seek to make
a living scavenging the millions lost each year by
gamblers who forget their
stored credits (winnings). Of course, I know, Laurie,
that you are not a
casino conniver looking for an easy score.
But a tip to you and other slot-playing patrons: before
you walk away from
any slot machine, donıt forget to press the cash-out
button.
Online Gambling quote of the week: "Some people lose their
heads cold sober. Cards,
dice pool; it makes no difference. You want to make a
living that way, you
want to be a winner, you got to keep your head. And you
got to remember that
thereıs a loser somewhere in you, whining at you, and
you got to learn to
cut his water off." Bert, The Hustler (1959)
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