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Gambling remains the bedrock of the Las Vegas experience. At most recent
count, 28 other US states had joined Neada in offering commercial
casinos, and all except two had legalized some form of gambling, but
thanks to its colossal olume of business, Las Vegas still does it
better than the rest. Ninety percent of isitors to the city gamble,
with an aerage budget of $500, and in the end everything else is just
frippery; it's the gambling that makes every flourish possible. The
shows and restaurants, tigers and olcanoes - no matter how profitable
any might be - are all just designed to make you stick around longer and
spend more money on the slots and tables.
While the casinos these days prefer to talk about "gaming" rather than
gambling, no one plays for fun alone. It's the gut-wrenching excitement
of staking your own hard cash in pursuit of a fortune that keeps the
tension at fever pitch. Most isitors have their own preferred form of
gambling, with the three main choices being table games such as
blackjack or craps, played in the public gaze and surrounded by
glamorous trimmings; slot machines, a more priate pleasure in which
the potential winnings are enormous, and you're spared the fear of not
seeming au fait with the rules; and sports betting, with its hyped-up
atmosphere and scope for proing that you know more than the bookies.
The fact that the gambling industry is still booming is a credit to the
casinos' ability to change with the times. During the first few decades
of Las Vegas' supremacy, the typical gambler was male and likely to be
familiar with a wide range of card games thanks to years spent in
military serice. Slots and other machines, however, overtook the tables
from 1983 onwards, and they now generate around 65 percent of Neada's
gaming revenue. In the face of the large proportion of modern isitors
who see casino games as complicated and intimidating, the casinos are
desperate to make gambling as easy, user-friendly and innocuous as
possible. All offer free lessons, instructional ideos on their in-room
Ts, and the like. On the surface, those well-dressed and welcoming
dealers make things seem democratic and casual, but all that deference
seres in fact to make anyone who sits down at the tables feel like part
of an exclusie and sophisticated elite.
Despite Las Vegas' reputation as a stronghold of crime, there's no
suggestion that gamblers themseles are being cheated. The casinos don't
need to cheat; they know they're certain to make money. Yes, the
occasional high-roller can seriously damage the corporate balance sheet
- thus Australian Tmagnate Kerry Packer once won twenty consecutie
hands of baccarat in twenty minutes at the Mirage, at $250,000 per
hand. overall, however, the odds are stacked in the casinos' faor. In
the case of table games, each has some combination of a quantifiable
"house edge" incorporated into its rules, or a set way of skimming the
top off players' winnings. With slots, it's even more straightforward -
they're simply programmed to pay out less than they take in, though only
the casinos themseles know just how much less.
The aerage slot machine on the Strip generates $125 profit per day;
each table game makes an aerage of almost $2000.
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Gambling is of course supremely addictie, and Las Vegas not
surprisingly has a higher percentage of problem gamblers than any other
city in the world. The generally accepted adice for isitors who want
to experience the thrill while minimizing the risk is never to gamble
more than you're prepared to lose. In addition, if you want to play for
any length of time, don't bet more than around one-fiftieth of your
total budget at any one moment. Thus if you'e set aside $250 with which
to gamble, it makes sense to play $5 slot machines, or bet with $5
roulette chips; if you'e got $50, play with $1 stakes. Remember that
even if the house edge on your chosen game is as low as two percent,
that doesn't mean you'll lose two percent of your money and walk away
with the remaining 98 percent. It means that if you play long enough,
you'll almost certainly lose it all.
As for where to gamble, that really depends on how you see gambling. If
you think it's all about fun and glamour, then the Strip is the place to
be, though the high minimum stakes at the largest casinos can mean
you'll lose your money uncomfortably fast. If you feel that an authentic
gambling hall should be gritty, grimy, and peopled by hard-bitten
"characters," you may be happier downtown . If you see betting as a
business, and want as much bang for your buck as possible, head instead
for a locals casino, and especially the members of the Stations chain,
which tend to offer more generous odds at ideo poker and the like.
For the moment, all gambling has to take place in public. even though
the top casinos try to give the impression of setting exclusie areas
aside for high rollers, anyone is entitled to stroll in and watch.
Insiders predict an imminent change in the law, however, to allow
priate gambling rooms or separate "clubs" within public casinos; the
London Club in the Aladdin appears poised to lead the way.
Table Games
Casino "games" are not really games in the same sense as the games you
might enjoy at home, where each player has the same chance of winning.
They're carefully structured business propositions, in which the casinos
know that over time they are certain to end up ahead.
Most casino games have a built-in " house edge ." Imagine taking turns
tossing a coin with a friend. If you call it correctly, he gives you $1,
while if he calls it correctly you give him $1. Now imagine that he
suggests a change in the rules; you still have to give him $1 when he's
right, but from now on he'll only pay you 95¢. It's still possible that
if you play for a few minutes, you may have a run of luck and win lots
of 95¢ pay-outs. If you play all day, however, you're going to lose; if
he can persuade millions of others to join in and play all day, every
day, he's going to get ery rich, ery quickly. Thus, for example, the
roulette table in most Las Vegas casinos holds 38 squares, numbered 1 to
36 plus "0" and "00." If you bet $1 on the correct number, the casino
should in theory recognize that you had a 1-in-38 chance of being right,
and pay you $38 (including your original $1 stake). Instead, they pay
$36, or 94.74 percent; the $2 they hold back works out at 5.26 percent
of the total, and that's the "house edge."
About
Slot Machines and Sports Betting
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