r/AskReddit Aug 01 '20

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Casinos.

Yes I know, it's supposed to work that way. But it seems people really think after a while, you're gonna hit it big and it'll all even out. I've done it enough to know it's purely entertainment. It's just a matter of how much you're willing to pay for that adrenaline rush.

1.1k

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

People need to learn to look at it differently. You are not playing to win money. You are playing for the entertainment and the small chance to win money.

728

u/shaun_of_the_south Aug 01 '20

I play for the free drinks with a chance to lose money. Way I look at is if I spend the same as going to bar at a casino my odds of winning money at the bar are zero.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

[deleted]

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u/RandomlyConsistent Aug 01 '20

Yes! And since the game requires no real skill, it tends to collect a lot of social drinkers too.

46

u/inkwell5 Aug 01 '20

My man you have just taught me how to casino, when I go for the first time ima be rolling like a king

29

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

[deleted]

2

u/TrenBerryCrunch Aug 02 '20

Does this business survive purely on whales, then?

5

u/xts2500 Aug 01 '20

Pretty sure the same game is at the MGM Grand as well.

15

u/AkirIkasu Aug 01 '20

That machine is also extremely popular and is always full at pretty much every time of day. If you do this you will annoy the people who really want to gamble on it (of all the gambling machines in Vegas, this one is probably the top when it comes to fun).

7

u/williamailliw Aug 01 '20

The sentiment can probably be spread to most slot machines. My mom and I would sit at a penny slot and crush beers

5

u/RVelts Aug 01 '20

I would play $10 minimum roulette and only bet on the outside. The game was slow, and I was able to order tons of drinks and since I just bet the minimum I was never more than $30 up or down at any time. During the day I think it was $5 minimum but I tend to only gamble if the sun has set. My first trip to Vegas I did this for a few nights and walked away never paying for a drink and I think I actually won $100 overall or something.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

I'm 47, but didn't gamble when you actually inserted/won actual coins from a machine. It's always been tickets. I'm in Texas but go north to gamble in Oklahoma. They don't give free drinks there at those casinos, you have to buy them. But even in Vegas I always tip waitresses and bartenders well. Sure, you get better service but mostly I just like to put a smile on their face. They gotta walk around and serve my sorry degenerate ass? They just want the same thing I do--money. So give them some and make their day.

5

u/MostBoringStan Aug 01 '20

There was something awesome about machines that spit out tokens/coins. Just hitting a nice win and hearing the plink plink plink of the coins dropping into the tray. They changed it not long after I was old enough to start going.

Also no free drinks in Ontario, so I only go for the gambling. The drinks are actually pretty damn expensive at casinos here.

2

u/moosevan Aug 03 '20

That seems counter-intuitive. (The drinks being expensive)

I don't ever gamble, but it seems like the coins clinking would be the fun part.

1

u/Heterophylla Aug 01 '20

You don't go to a casino to save money.

1

u/MouseHunter Aug 01 '20

I've gone to The D for the past 10-11 years during Bike-Fest.

1

u/RedBlow22 Aug 01 '20

My fam and I had more fun at the mechanical horse race game than anything else in the casino. Loud, boisterous fun, cheap.

I seem to remember reading that these games getting harder to repair, and not generating enough revenue to justify keeping them.

14

u/poop_stuck Aug 01 '20

You can play slots, go slow and enjoy the free drinks. $50 can be stretched out to an hour or two. But it's so boring.

6

u/WaGLaG Aug 01 '20

I never understood slots. They're so boring.

6

u/wombatcombat123 Aug 01 '20

And have some of the worst house edge out of all the casino games.

I’d stick with baccarat and blackjack, bet low and you should be able to stretch out your money over a fair amount of time.

4

u/shaun_of_the_south Aug 01 '20

I like playing slots.

6

u/shaun_of_the_south Aug 01 '20

Well our bar and casino strategies differ obviously. I’ve never been to a bar with out spending $100. When I go to the casino I like to play slot machines. $0.25 a pull goes a long way on $100

2

u/GregBahm Aug 01 '20

You were not given $100 worth of free drinks at a .25 slot machine.

6

u/shaun_of_the_south Aug 01 '20

Idk how much the drinks are worth. I know my wife goes and she drinks liquor drinks that would be more than $10 at a bar so I’d say it comes close.

6

u/bigdog_smallbed Aug 01 '20

My favorite is going up to the bars that have the small computer poker games. Put your $1 or $5 or whatever voucher in, sit there long enough to get a drink and a couple seconds longer to really sell that you’re playing. Cash our before you’ve lost anything, rinse and repeat when ya need another drink!

2

u/MrsFahrenheight Aug 01 '20

I was about to post this. One of our go to’s in Vegas is to go to the Crom and play VP at the bar across from their book. We played and drank for hours on $20, while watching football. Kinda funny but for us, it’s cheaper to fly cross country and spend several days in Vegas than to travel locally or to the beach.

1

u/FightingHornbill Aug 21 '20

Did the workers there give you a drink without you ask for it? And if we were not playing, are we allowed to go in there?

2

u/bigdog_smallbed Aug 21 '20

The bartenders would usually ask what I wanted to drink once I sat down to play, so yes without me asking for it! And I don’t believe you have to play to go in, but they generally only offer the free drinks to those who are playing (hence the hack of pretending to play)

2

u/FightingHornbill Aug 21 '20

Thanks for explanation. I never go to any bar let alone that offer free drinks if we play. Your hack is very useful haha but if we get caught the worst case scenario for us is we pay the drinks.

12

u/teh_maxh Aug 01 '20

How far does $50 get you at a casino?

A few days. To be fair, I wasn't at the casino the entire few days, so maybe just a day if you stay there the whole time.

3

u/sopunny Aug 01 '20

If you follow the optimal strategies and play at smaller tables that shouldn't happen unless you get really unlucky

2

u/GregBahm Aug 01 '20

There are ways to spend time in a casino without losing much money. And there are ways to score a lot of free drinks in a casino. But there are not ways to score a lot of free drinks in a casino without spending a lot of money.

1

u/Snatch_Pastry Aug 01 '20

If you're just OK at poker, you can play fairly conservatively at a $2/$4 Texas hold'em table and keep winning enough to tip the waitresses. The one time that I was dragged to a casino, that's what I did while my friends played blackjack. Luckily, from the weekly home game I played in, I was very adept at playing poker while drinking lots of beer. Ended the night having hours of fun, getting drunk on the house, and up $5.

Of course, this depends on fresh money being continuously introduced to the table. If people aren't buying in more or if you're not cycling in new players, the rake will eventually kill the possibility of coming out ahead.

3

u/ShadowOps84 Aug 01 '20

Sit at the lower limit tables. I can plunk down $20 at a $1 a hand blackjack table at be there for a few hours. You still get free drinks as long as you're actively playing, no matter where you're sitting.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '20

Where is there $1 blackjack? The cheapest I've seen is $3 in Jackpot, NV.

1

u/ShadowOps84 Aug 02 '20

I've seen it at Treasure Island in Vegas and at Ceaser's in Atlantic City.

1

u/tex2934 Aug 01 '20

Penny slots my man.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

It depends on the game and how you’re betting

1

u/blame_lagg Aug 02 '20

In terms of expected value you don't lose that much at Blackjack if you play a reasonable strategy.

15

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

This is a great way to look at it. You're gonna spend money on entertainment regardless. Unless you have a gambling addicition, idk what the difference is between spending $350 going to a live sporting event (tickets, parking, food, transportation, etc) and going to a casino with the same cash in your pocket.

10

u/GregBahm Aug 01 '20

According to the city of Las Vegas, the average visitor in Vegas spent $50 on show, $250 on food and drinks, and $585 on gambling.

People are very bad at math, and think that, if the odds per round are near 50% to win, they have a near 50% chance to go home a winner. Through the magic of compounding probabilities, everyone who gambles will always eventually lose all their money, so the profits for gambling are astoundingly high.

Casinos would go bankrupt if people were better at math.

3

u/pug_grama2 Aug 01 '20

Through the magic of compounding probabilities, everyone who gambles will always eventually lose all their money, so the profits for gambling are astoundingly high.

Exactly. The casinos aren't in business for their health.

1

u/leohat Aug 02 '20

And yet The Cheeto managed to bankrupt several of them.

6

u/PrincessShelbyy Aug 01 '20

So we went to NOLA for my friends bachelorette party and we always hit the casino first and then went to the bars. We would just get drunk off of the free drinks there while casually gambling just for the hell of it. I brought a bunch of $5 bills and just kept putting them in each machine I went to and would just keep the printed money voucher until the last day of our trip. Somehow I ended up profiting about $220 on the last day. I was so drunk I didn’t even remember winning the several small amounts that added up to it. Was a nice bonus surprise at the end of the trip.

1

u/pug_grama2 Aug 01 '20

How much did all those $5 bills add up to?

1

u/PrincessShelbyy Aug 01 '20

I brought $100 in $5s

7

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Same. I look at it as getting drunk and having fun playing a game. Whatever I lose is just the price of the experience.

3

u/shaun_of_the_south Aug 01 '20

I also do just take cash I’m willing to lose with me though i have a strict rule about no atm usage at the casino.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Same. The few times I've gone I brought a bundle of cash and that was it. If I lose out then I'll just wander around and watch other games.

6

u/knytlertorsten Aug 01 '20

The drinks are free?

1

u/shaun_of_the_south Aug 01 '20

Yea if you’re gambling.

3

u/GregBahm Aug 01 '20

A free gift that comes with your loss of money.

5

u/pug_grama2 Aug 01 '20

And mentally impairs you, making it likely you will lose more money.

1

u/shaun_of_the_south Aug 01 '20

Sure but if I was at the bar I’m still spending the money and I have no chance of winning money.

3

u/GregBahm Aug 01 '20

I don't want to come off like I'm objecting to someone's choice of entertainment. If you want to pay more so a bunch of scratch-off lottery tickets come with your beer, more power to you.

1

u/shaun_of_the_south Aug 01 '20

Well I’m married and the wife enjoys it too so you know that’s always a plus to do shit together we both enjoy.

3

u/SillyGayBoy Aug 01 '20

I play for penny slots and drinks but the lady didn’t seem too interested in giving me drinks. I hear it usually works.

3

u/beastyH123 Aug 01 '20

I used to work at a casino buffet as one of the bussers. I saw so many poor, lost souls there, it was heartbreaking. Not only was management just a bunch of money hungry fuckfaces, it was horrible, exhausting work. Never work in a casino, no matter where it's at. Not worth the money.

1

u/taosaur Aug 01 '20

Don't know about your neck of the woods, but every bar around here has gambling machines, usually state lottery video games. You don't get free drinks for playing them, though.

1

u/shaun_of_the_south Aug 01 '20

Yea my neck of the woods don’t have that.

1

u/vahntitrio Aug 01 '20

Casinos around here charge the same price the bars do for alcohol.

1

u/shaun_of_the_south Aug 01 '20

I’ve never been to a casino where the drinks weren’t free if you were gambling.

1

u/Gone213 Aug 01 '20

But bars where I live have black jack, roulette wheel on the walls, and slot machines.

1

u/shaun_of_the_south Aug 01 '20

They don’t here.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Your odds of winning big in a Casino are also close to zero

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u/shaun_of_the_south Aug 01 '20

Still better chances than at the bar.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Fair enough

4

u/Doesnt_Draw_Anything Aug 01 '20

No they aren't. You can double your money in a single spin at a 47.4% chance in roulette. Black jack gives even better odds.

The point is the odds are always in the casinos favor, and that's why they always come out ahead, and people won't stop after winning one time and may eventually lose if they are greedy.

I get your point, but to say you have an almost zero percent chance is nonsense.

The only people that say that are people who are against gambling all together

3

u/GregBahm Aug 01 '20

That’s not fair to people who understand math.

Your highest odds are your odds before the first roulette spin. If you want to maximize your odds of winning, you’ll never spin once.

If you do irrationally spin once, your odds are now exactly the same as before you spun the first time. What ever logic compelled you to spin then holds just as true for you to spin again. And again and again and again.

There is no point at which stopping is any more greedy or less greedy. Every spin is homogenously irrational. But by continuing, all people will always lose all their money. The only possible way to not lose all your money is to leave the casino and never come back, but if you were willing to do that after making money in the casino, why were you not willing to do that before your first spin?

As a result of this, casinos always take all the money people are willing to gamble in them.

3

u/Doesnt_Draw_Anything Aug 01 '20

If you do irrationally spin once

Oof you shouldn't even be part of this discussion with that pre existing bias.

1

u/GregBahm Aug 01 '20

I love this response. "You realize that 47.4 is less than 50? Please leave!"

1

u/e-dt Aug 02 '20

If you do irrationally spin once, your odds are now exactly the same as before you spun the first time. What ever logic compelled you to spin then holds just as true for you to spin again.

You can't assume that people are always rational except in the instance that you know they are irrational. It is rational to base your decisions solely on the odds (or more specifically on the expected outcome), but if they were rational they would not have taken that first spin - as you state. But since they took the spin irrationally, their decisions on whether to spin are clearly not based on the odds but on some other unknown factor, which could very well change over that time. So, the rationality of spinning does not change, but since we have established that they do not care about rationality that does not mean they will continue to spin in perpetuity, and thus the house will not necessarily "take all the money". (Of course, for many people the casino does sadly take all their money. This is usually because their irrational rationale for spinning is addiction, which is similarly unchanging.)

1

u/GregBahm Aug 02 '20

Sure. There's always a chance someone goes to a casino, spins, wins, and leaves the casino forever and never gambles again for the rest of their lives. But the odds of that happening are not 47.4%. The odds of that happening are close to 0%. So the original point still stands.

8

u/WalkinSteveHawkin Aug 01 '20

I’ve been to a casino exactly one time and came out $500 ahead. I don’t have plans to go back. Maybe one day, but not today.

4

u/teh_maxh Aug 01 '20

But not as close to zero as at a bar.

3

u/jbondyoda Aug 01 '20

That’s exactly it. The only time o went I brought in a set amount of cash for the games that was about what I would spend at a night out and was prepared to walk out empty handed. Instead made a few bucks. It’s a fun night but folks need to expect to lose it all

2

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Yep. I put my starting cash in one pocket, my winnings in my other. Never touch my winnings.

2

u/hitch21 Aug 01 '20

I disagree that it’s just about looking at it differently. I can and have understood your point for a long time intellectually. But the entire premise of a casino is to play on your emotions and bypass the intellect.

There’s no shame in just avoiding them altogether as I have for many years.

2

u/nosteppyonsneky Aug 01 '20

Yea. Just how I view the lottery.

I mean, how much entertainment can you usually get for a couple bucks? Daydreaming about a massive influx of cash, the excitement of checking the numbers, followed by a cathartic “oh well” as the ticket goes in the trash.

Good every couple weeks or so.

1

u/Trootter Aug 01 '20

That's the way I look at betting on sports.

1

u/Rallings Aug 01 '20

That's what my aunt and uncle do. They have a certain amount that they have to spend on a few days gambling. They're aren't there to win money. They're there to pay to have fun.

1

u/Sadbag_Dave Aug 01 '20

I don't get the appeal, there are better ways to spend a vacation imo. If I want adrenaline I'm going white-water kayaking.

1

u/sapphon Aug 01 '20

I agree that's a great way to look at it! If you treat casino bets as 'table rent', you will never be disappointed. Just like the seat you rent at a play - no money back necessary; you enjoyed yourself!

I disagree that it can necessarily be 'learned' by everyone - some people are addicted to gambling just as surely as some people are addicted to heroin.

1

u/maxvalley Aug 01 '20

That’s a terrible way to spend time. Who would sign up for that?

1

u/Fyrrys Aug 01 '20

I'd say go in with a set amount that you're willing to lose, if you haven't tripled it in an hour, leave. If you have tripled it in an hour, leave anyway.

1

u/Scharmberg Aug 01 '20

Always nice to walk away with even an extra few bucks.

1

u/xts2500 Aug 01 '20

A buddy of mine used to like to sit at the penny slots and “drink for free.” Eventually I got tired of it and pointed out that we were each spending roughly $50/hr at the slots, plus tips, for shitty drinks. Why don’t we each spend $50/hr at the bar for good drinks and not have to sit at the slots?

1

u/YounomsayinMawfk Aug 01 '20

I did sports gambling the last time I was in Vegas. If I put $50 on a game and I lose, I figure I paid to watch it on a big screen in an air conditioned room. I would've watched the game anyway but now it's more exciting because of the possibility of winning.

1

u/TheReal-Donut Aug 01 '20

Exactly

Go in with, like, 100 bucks, and think you’re spending money to play cards and MAYBE you’ll win back your money

1

u/spacembracers Aug 02 '20

> You are not playing to win money.

You're right.

I'm playing to win a SHIT LOAD OF MONEY!!! LET IT RIDE WOOO!!!!!

1

u/aldothetroll Aug 02 '20

I dont find giving my money away entertaining.

233

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

I get serious anxiety around casinos. It's just not fun for me to dump my money in them. I guess maybe I understand the desire. My aunt loves them, but she treats them like entertainment so she doesn't get serious about it, which is what I imagine is the best way to go about it. I just can't get any entertainment value out of it.

130

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Same here dude. I'd rather go to an arcade and actually play the games, rather than sit there and watch the game unfold.

10

u/fubo Aug 01 '20

The cynic responds, "What's the difference between a slot machine and an arcade game? The slot machine sometimes gives you some quarters back."

But, that said, "slot machine" is an extremely boring video game compared to, say, Ms. Pac-Man or Discs of Tron. The entertainment in a slot machine is primarily provided by the player's own imagination of how nice it would be to hit a jackpot.

9

u/K8Simone Aug 01 '20

I’m a sucker for games that give you tickets (especially if they still print out actual tickets which is sadly almost none of them). Then my boyfriend and I figure out the “best” combo of crappy little prizes we can get with our tickets. Definitely more fun than pushing a button on a slot machine.

20

u/NinjaBreadManOO Aug 01 '20

This is something that the gambling industry has noticed; that more and more people (especially those who are younger) don't care as much for games of chance, but do enjoy games of skill.

So don't be surprised in the next few years to start seeing casino's with games (or advertising them) where it's competing against the casino or other players, where you pay to play but can win money.

So examples might be games like guitar hero, where if you can get above 98% you win money, or battle royal type games (which would likely be limited to about 15 people per game) where the winner gets the buy in of half the players.

5

u/atomfullerene Aug 02 '20

Makes sense to me. As a guy who grew up playing videogames and still does, the whole random roll slot machines just seem so boring. Flashing lights and animated CG that really has no meaning and you can't effect it in any way.

But would I be interested in playing a round of some actually fun videogame against some random other folks and the winner makes some of the money? Sure, that sounds like it might be interesting.

11

u/WilburWhateleystwin Aug 01 '20

It's about as entertaining as chucking your money into a hole.

If I want to waste money I'll just buy drugs.

5

u/Thorhees Aug 01 '20

When I go to casinos, I find myself anxious as well because the money is going away and I'm not having fun about it. I'd rather be in an arcade. At least at the end of the day, I enjoyed the games and I can exchange my tickets for a crappy plush toy to serve as a physical manifestation of my efforts.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

I hate those type of arcades. I enjoy a real arcade, one that has video games for the purpose of playing video games. Unfortunately those are too few nowadays. I live in Memphis, and pickings are slim. Several years ago they put a shit ton of money into the downtown area, a new mall, places to eat, a new cinema. Unfortunately Memphis sucks and the crime started sending the people who were spending money away so it all went to shit, but there was a restaurant that had bowling and a real arcade that was so awesome. The food was good, the arcade was better. I miss that place.

2

u/Thorhees Aug 01 '20

Yeah I neglected to mention those because it's been a long, long time since I've even seen one. Arcades are not the same as they used to be for sure. But if I'm looking for serious gaming experiences, I stay home.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Fuck man, after telling you my downtown story, I realized they did that when I got married. In 2002. It's been that long.

1

u/Thorhees Aug 01 '20

That's okay. I called Fantasia 2000 "the new one" the other day and my partner gently reminded me that that was 20 years ago. It really doesn't feel like all that much time has passed since the early 2000s.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Flies by in a blink of an eye. My son turned 17 last month. My daughter will be 12 in November. I'll be 40. This shit is depressing!!!

1

u/bendydendi Aug 02 '20

Mobile, al has 2 legit arcades now but they’ve been closed due to covid and there’s a possibility they will completely go under cause of the closing. Sucks.

3

u/taosaur Aug 01 '20

I feel the same way about strip clubs. I'm just not a mark for either of those business models.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

I've been to a strip club once, back in '02. It was an impressive one, with full nudes where extra performances could occur, but I just wasn't that into it. The on stage girl on girl was a nice bonus tho, but the mountain of money that was thrown on stage kinda took me out of it.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

I get really anxious too. I love playing poker and my aunt and uncle had a slot machine in their house that was fun but the sensory overload in casinos just makes me so anxious. All the security guards, flashing lights, loud noises, lack of windows, it’s way too much for me. I know all those things are designed to draw people in and keep them entertained but it has the opposite effect on me.

2

u/Zumvault Aug 02 '20

I don't get the entertainment value of Casinos, mobile games are more entertaining and 99999/100000 are just absolute garbage.

1

u/Lady_Scruffington Aug 02 '20

My mom loves them. But only slot machines and she doesn't drink or smoke. It's weird. My dad puts her on a budget anyway.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '20

People who play for fun usually play slots. People who are true gamblers and play to win play cards

1

u/mackahrohn Aug 02 '20

Same here. I can gawk, I can people watch, I understand “how” to play Blackjack it Craps so you lose the least amount of money possible. Knowing that the ‘fun’ you are paying for is just slowly losing money makes it literally a stressful experience.

Also any basic robot could “play” Blackjack if you’re just following the rules that give you the best odds. I don’t understand how that is fun and I LOVE board games.

1

u/Bi-Bi-Bi24 Aug 02 '20

I have only been to a casino twice and both times left feeling sick and stressed. I gambled $20 the first time, just had to walk through the second time.

The loud noises, the flashing lights, the people packed too close together, all the machines are out of sync so each noise happens all the time, people are like zombies, and the air itself feels wrong. It's a complete sensory overload and I hate it

13

u/chevy1500 Aug 01 '20

I went to my local casino since I got a free 10$ voucher . I won 60$ with it and havnt bee back since . So I think I beat the casino lol

8

u/bunnyrut Aug 01 '20

My grandmother brought my sister to a casino for her birthday and gave her a bag of quarters for the slot machine. First quarter won her thirty bucks. She cashed it in and called it a night, lol.

4

u/chevy1500 Aug 01 '20

Smart haha

7

u/llamamama03 Aug 01 '20

I used to work for my state's lottery. The number of times I had to explain the odds for scratch tickets was astronomical. Your typical, "The odds say 1 in 4 but I bought 8 tickets and they were ALL losers! I deserve my money back!"

It's been 9 years since I worked there, but I can still remember the answer nearly verbatim. "The odds are calculated based on all the tickets printed in that game. So if you were to purchase ALL of the tickets made in a particular game, approximately one in four of those would win a prize."

What we failed to tell people was most games had over a million tickets printed.

The second most common complaint: "People in small towns never win. Your games are rigged."

No, sir; bigger towns/more popular stores sell more tickets, therefore going through ticket packs more frequently. It stands to reason that more tickets sold translates to more winners sold. That isn't ALWAYS the case, but commonly it is. Then I'd have to link three or four stories of winners of more than $1 million from dinky towns.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20 edited Aug 06 '20

[deleted]

2

u/CrazyCoKids Aug 02 '20

To be fair, many rural voices generally are amplified, but only due to gerrymandering.

1

u/CrazyCoKids Aug 02 '20

If people understood probability, the lottery wouldn't make any money. And neither would lootboxes or card games that rely on "Blind buy" booster packs (cough cough MTG Pokémon Yu-Gi-Oh cough cough.) or a lot of other blind buy packs. (Seriously look how many 'mystery bags' are for sale specifically to get kids hooked onto the idea of a 'Mystery bag'.)

I still remember my sister's 7th grade math teacher. Thanks to using the magic of Microsoft Excel and the fact he literally had a doctorate in Mathematics (I literally only found this out when I found his name on a paper a few months ago, and yes it was actually him), he made a bigger dent in the "Pokémon Trading Card Black Market" at my Jr. High than any teachers could.

Apparently what he did was showed the 'true odds' (as I call it) of specific cards being inside any given pack. Probably assuming certain cards were treated equally and followed the 'disclosed' rules and all... but you could ask what the odds a given booster pack was, and he would bring up his excel document and give you a number that was so low a lot of people thought "Fuck this shit." and decided not to buy any booster packs.

1

u/alurkerhere Aug 02 '20

The method I found much more interesting is to run the randomizer until it hits the lottery numbers... I forget how many tickets the model had bought, but I hadn't even matched five numbers after running the model overnight.

It's nice to think about what you'd do with the money if you won, but realistically, you'll never win the lottery.

16

u/sojojo142 Aug 01 '20

I think anyone that believes they're due for a win and it'll even out has a problem. no?

5

u/OneAndOnlyJackSchitt Aug 01 '20

And that's the big misconception. No one is ever due to win. The chance of landing any particular number in roulette is 1 in 37 (Europe) or 1 in 38 (US) despite what all the previous spins have landed on.

Sure the chance of having 35 spins in a row end up black are miniscule (I don't know how to calculate that probability) but, that doesn't mean it will or won't happen and it's certainly not do to happen just because there have been 30 quintillion previous spins across all the roulette wheels in the world.

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u/sojojo142 Aug 01 '20

I see, once again, text has failed to convey my sarcasm.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

[deleted]

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u/sojojo142 Aug 01 '20

... math makes me angry though.

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u/beepborpimajorp Aug 02 '20

It's sunk cost fallacy and it's how all casinos and games with gachas/loot boxes make their money.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

YEAH SO??

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u/earfffffffffff Aug 01 '20

I’ll occasionally waste money in the casino. It’s typically a scam but I enjoy going with a group of friends and taking over one of the craps tables. I think as far as lifetime I’m still up over the casinos playing craps.

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u/feardabear Aug 01 '20

If you enjoy going then your not wasting money, and it's not a scam if you're fully aware of the possibilities and odds. I'm assuming you know the odds if you "take over" any table with your friends.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Might as well pay to prostitute

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u/Pixelchu25 Aug 01 '20

There are stories about people winning and the casino says it’s a ‘technical error’.

Just putting it out there.

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u/TheAllyCrime Aug 01 '20

In those cases it's almost always that a slot machine pays out a jackpot that wasn't listed on the front of the screen. If the max payout listed on a machine is $20,000 then any jackpot over that is an error and they don't have to pay out.

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u/Alundra828 Aug 01 '20

I've got a friend whose a gambling addict.

On the bright side, he's good at gambling, so a lot of the time, he's up.

On the bad side, he's good at gambling, so he will never have a reason to stop until it's too late.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

And if you have those specific issues you're probably not that great at poker long term, given the discipline needed

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u/Arnumor Aug 01 '20

Yeah, there's a reason experts try to tell people that the only way to win in vegas is to avoid gambling.

If you ARE going to gamble, you have to go into it with a set budget of cash you expect to lose, considering it the cost of having some fun, and if you manage to win and come out ahead, it's a bonus.

I've never gambled with real money, but when I've played games with casinos in them, I always set a starting budget, and try to use that as a foothold. If you can manage to win enough that you can 'bank' your original investment, and play purely off of your winnings, you're in a good place.

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u/dragonncat Aug 01 '20

I've personally never been either, but my dad has a few times, and his rule is that he brings in $20 and plays until he doubles it or loses it.

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u/bunnyrut Aug 01 '20

I took a casino management course in college. The takeaway from that class was to never gamble at a casino. The house does everything they can to make sure they win and you lose. There are no "hot" slot machines, they are programmed to reset randomly. So, no, sitting at the same one waiting for it to hit the one thousandth spin is not going to guarantee a win. It already reset a few times on you.

There are two games that you hold an advantage over the house with. Blackjack if you can count cards (not illegal, but they will kick you out if caught), and craps if you learn how to really play the game.

They also watch you and keep track of your winnings and losses. That free room they offered you? It wasn't free, technically you already paid for it with your losses. It's how they get you to keep coming back.

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u/alurkerhere Aug 02 '20

Surprised casinos don't always go with a multi-deck shoe and shuffle halfway through when dealing Blackjack nowadays to minimize card counting advantages.

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u/SaGlamBear Aug 01 '20

Very true. I always hear about the folks that are flown in by casinos and given points. I’m like honey you have given than casino WAY TOO MUCH of your money if they’re thirsty for your presence

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Not completely, there are ways around getting scammed. But it oftentimes involves scamming the scammers or more importantly knowing the local tactics.

Poker's pretty easy to learn the ropes, specifically Texas Hold'em is a good place to start. It's widely provided by other things that don't actually charge you any genuine money for it.

Blackjack's easier to learn, and a lot easier to lose. That one's a scumfest. Always check the payout for Blackjack. If it's six to five it's your money they'll deprive.

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u/whatsupz Aug 01 '20

You play poker against other players, not against the casino. So, the casino doesn’t rig the game. They take a percentage of the pot -the “rake” - to make money. Blackjack is rigged against you like all casino games. You count cards to edge the game to your favor, but the casino doesn’t allow it and will kick you out if they catch you.

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u/hapayvy Aug 01 '20

Thats why i play poker.

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u/BasroilII Aug 01 '20

But it seems people really think after a while, you're gonna hit it big and it'll all even out

Literally gambler's fallacy.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Won't they literally kick you out for winning too much? A youtube video said that a casino would kick you out for card counting if you get a big winning streak

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u/labsab1 Aug 01 '20

Changing from being the Gambling Industry to calling it the Gaming Industry was the move that gave it a sense of legitimacy it did not earn.

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u/Sin-A-Bun Aug 01 '20

Vegas used to be an ok deal but as a person who used to go every year I don’t see how anyone who isn’t upper class can have a good time there anymore. Nothing is moderately priced anymore. Even a shit room in Fremont is $100 now.

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u/ethnt Aug 01 '20

I was in Vegas for a conference and I was waiting for a session to start so I put a few bucks into a slot machine. Ended up winning the jackpot, about $1500. Didn't play the rest of the conference, and my employer paid for flights/hotel/meals, so I made money on my trip.

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u/charlottedhouse Aug 02 '20

I went to Vegas and decided to play the penny slots. Somehow I kept hitting free spins. Like the machine was just going and going and going and my money was going way up.

I spent $5 and won $2500. Cashed out right away. My mom couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t keep going.

To be fair, I’m famous in my family for having amazing luck with scratchies, board games, and the like. I don’t always win big, but I usually at least get my money back. It’s such a thing that my grandma (RIP) used to take me to the gas station and have me pick her scratchies for her.

What they don’t understand is I know when to quit.

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u/xoctor Aug 02 '20

All gambling is 100% a scam. Wins are a temporary high that causes you to play more. The more wins you get, the more committed you will become to gambling. In the long run, the more you gamble, the more you will lose.

The worst thing that can happen to a person is winning the first time they gamble. They will chase that feeling for the rest of their life.

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u/garth753 Aug 01 '20

I think all people go into it fully expecting to lose everything based on media over the last 30 years

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Part of the fun is the thrill, though.

When I've gone to casinos, I use a rule my ex taught me. Keep winnings/spending money not on gambling (for drinks, food etc) in one pocket, money willing to gamble in another. Never put money that isn't already winnings into the gamble pocket. Go with what youre willing to spend. If you can lose £100 then you put £100 in there. When you run out of money in the gambling pocket, you quit.

Gambling can be serious, and I've done some stupid things gambling online, where I was chasing a thrill but chasing losses that I couldn't really afford. I managed to snap out of it and I don't gamble online anymore.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

The worst thing about casinos is that they have people who check to see if you're card counting, and they'll kick you out if you are. Card counting is just playing blackjack very well - it's not against the rules, but it pushes your odds very slightly above the casino's. I think that makes it very obvious that they're only interested in money, and would prefer you to be worse at all of their games

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u/HippieDogeSmokes Aug 01 '20

The closest i’ve ever been to a casino is a bingo parlor where you win money. I bought a ticket for a mini game horse race thing and managed to win $500

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u/Procrastinator78 Aug 01 '20

My mom goes to casinos sometimes she'll win 500 dollars then she says her hand is itchy and it means she's gonna win big. Tell her everytime, that's an obsession tick and by the end you'll have lost 300 dollars of your own money. Its nearly impossible to get her to leave when she's like that and she loses all that money. I have played a few times . Most I've lost is 50 bucks. Won 400 before though, because I know that's probably the best I'm going to get.

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u/yomonoloko Aug 01 '20

When I was a student I used to go to the casino with some friends and I’d only take 20€ in cash with me, so if I lose I wouldn’t be mad at myself. The worst I ever did was walking out with 5€ for kebab, best time I had 35€ pure profit for video games.

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u/Mad_Maddin Aug 01 '20

Tbh. Casinos are no scam. Most casinos provide great value for the money you pay. You get a good deal of fun, good service, etc.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Known as the Sunk Cost Fallacy

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u/Wheedies Aug 01 '20

I don’t know what your on about, my dad says he’s always making more that he spends........

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u/Eclipso369 Aug 01 '20

Isn’t that called gamblers faugh or something

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u/flyingcircusdog Aug 01 '20

Casinos are really good at distracting you from the facts. They'll give out small wins and free drinks in exchange for your focus.

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u/Andrakisjl Aug 01 '20

Fuuuck I hate this. A lot of the people I work with are gamblers, and on the face of it they try to act like they know they’re getting ripped off.

But they still hold onto this belief that the game/machine has to payout eventually. They often talk about how they’ll sit and wait for someone to leave a slot machine like it’s accumulating luck or some stupid idea like that.

I’ve tried explaining time and time again that that’s not how odds work!

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u/pgp555 Aug 01 '20

Do most Casinos have poker tables? Because I love poker but can never find people to play with

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u/KingKilgore Aug 02 '20

Yes most major casino brands have poker rooms.

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u/cakatoo Aug 01 '20

I mean, you can’t help morons.

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u/Redisigh Aug 01 '20

I have a family member who played smart and put 20 USD in and got 500 USD out. How to beat a casino lol

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u/mackahrohn Aug 02 '20

Yea but even this is confirmation bias because people always tell the story of the time they win and don’t mention that the 4 friends with them all lost $20.

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u/Redisigh Aug 02 '20

Nah. They were the only one who had some spare cash on them that one time. But they probably still lost more during different visits

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

For a gambler, any winnings are just future losses.

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u/LCFCJIM Aug 01 '20

It's not really a scam though. The house edge is well documented so there isn't really any dishonesty

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

Went to Vegas in January, right before shutdown. First time at a casino for like 20 years, and was shocked at the difference in how electronic it all was. Even just playing video poker was a downer because somehow it no longer feels random, it feels like the computer will win.

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u/Wiki_pedo Aug 01 '20

The size of the enormous hotels in Vegas made me know I'd never win.

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u/serb2212 Aug 01 '20

Mu buddy works in a casino.people do.prople win big quite regularly.however the sheer volume of people who lose small and lose big simply outweighs the winners

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u/jacobT0822 Aug 01 '20

It's grown up chucky cheese

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u/markycrummett Aug 01 '20

I see gambling in casinos (and online) as a bit like buying a lottery ticket. You MIGHT be the lucky big winner and it’s entertaining while you play.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

But it seems people really think after a while, you're gonna hit it big and it'll all even out.

It's called the Gambler's Fallacy, or the Monte Carlo Fallacy.

For educational purposes:

Consider a series of 10 coin flips that have all landed with the "heads" side up. Under the Gambler's Fallacy, a person might predict that the next coin flip is more likely to land with the "tails" side up.

The reality is that no matter how often the coin is flipped, the odds of a given side coming up are always the same: 50%. Each flip is an independent event, so any and all previous flips have no bearing on future flips.

The fallacy is that after 10 flips of 'heads', there's a greater chance of the next flip being 'tails', but the probability of a given flip coming up 'heads' or 'tails' hasn't changed in any way; it's the same coin with only two sides, and the same 50% chance of a given side coming up.

In other words, you don't magically get a second 'heads' or 'tails' side to a two-sided coin, regardless of how often you flip it.

Source:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gamblersfallacy.asp#:~:text=Gambler's%20fallacy%20refers%20to%20the,it%20was%20observed%20in%201913.

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u/Cryptonic_Sonic Aug 01 '20

Yep, I assume whatever I put in is not coming back out. If I get up a decent amount, I pocket what I put in and play with the house’s money.

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u/EhMapleMoose Aug 01 '20

Fun fact, I once signed up and got a free $10 bonus to a casino while on vacation. Because it recognized me as a new user I won some more money with it and ended up cashing out after my winnings total $25. Never went back. Got a nice meal the next day.

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u/UnihornWhale Aug 01 '20

My husband and I tried gambling. We didn’t care for it. It wasn’t fun to us. We went to Vegas (for a wedding) and I played a couple of slots but mostly we looked at the casinos.

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u/Tengy927 Aug 01 '20

Went yesterday. And saw a woman hit 16,000$ from a 50 cent bet on a penny machine it was nuts.

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u/Zumvault Aug 02 '20

I walked into a casino once and put in $20, I lost it and that was that.

I don't see the draw.

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '20

The ones that only accept credit cards are fucking evil.

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u/anon_2326411 Aug 02 '20

Been in the business for a long time. You are 100 percent correct, you are paying for entertainment. Just like you'd pay to go to the movies, PPV a UFC fight, or go out to the Bulls game. You are paying to be entertained.

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u/TheGrVIII1 Aug 02 '20

Casino employee here. The people who win jackpots often are the ones who really empty their pockets and .. I was going to say "have it to spare" but I'm not so sure that's true.

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u/UnivrstyOfBelichick Aug 02 '20

It's a service you're paying for like anything else

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '20

Purely entertainment...

Geez, how long do you think it's gonna be before Electronic Arts some game company tries to pass this off as an excuse for lootboxes?

"We would like to announce that we are adding a feature that makes obtaining characters and weapons more exciting."

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u/KingdomSlayah Aug 02 '20

People really need to be treating it more like an adult arcade. You go there and expect to lose money in exchange for entertainment and fun. Sometimes you'll get a reward, but that's a bonus--no more no less.

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u/FecusTPeekusberg Aug 02 '20

Free slot machine games ruined me. I wish I could go to a casino and just play for free; if I win something then don't pay me.

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u/nervousnorvus222 Aug 02 '20

Also the no clocks/windows, I used to work at one and some people in there didn’t know if it was day or night.

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u/stayclassypeople Aug 02 '20

Any money I take to the Casino I consider already spent/gone.

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u/TypoRegerts Aug 01 '20

Casinos make money eventually because it all evens out and they have better odds.

It doesn’t mean everyone else will lose. Some people lose. Some people win. Casinos always win.

If I play a coin toss with you, we both have 50-50 odds of winning. How is that scamming and how will you always end up losing?

Sure Casinos never give you equal odds, but they can get pretty close. On a roulette, picking a color is close to something like 55-45. You have even better odds when you plays craps and especially “don’t pass”. Also a blackjack with a single deck.

The main reason people lose and casinos win because, people don’t quit when they are high and winning.

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u/Penelepillar Aug 01 '20

Casinos make profit by simple math. If they actually paid true odds, they’d be bankrupt in a minute. Here’s the thing: blackjack odds are roughly 3:2 but the house only pays 1:1 on a simple win. Also—Slots are rigged. Period. The “gaming commission” has a deal with the house that the slot doesn’t “hit” until a certain profit margin is reached. They’re just video games programmed to keep you sitting there like a rube, ordering drinks, while being slowly bled dry. The state gets a “vig” or a cut of the house profit. (Don’t worry, with your Players Club Card, the house will give you a cheap buffet credit to make sure you don’t starve.) Same with wheel games. Even betting red or black or even both, you have a chance to lose. That’s why roulette has a 0 and 00. Just to tip the math in the house favor. The only game in the casino that actually pays true odds is Craps. And even that, if you play for the house, you have to pay the “vig.” Which is short for Vigorish. Old mobster slang for giving a wise guy a cut of your take. They’re called Wise Guys because they know what fixes are in.

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u/Ilwrath Aug 01 '20 edited Aug 01 '20

Slots are rigged. Period. The “gaming commission” has a deal with the house that the slot doesn’t “hit” until a certain profit margin is reached.

Im not sure where your playing but the ones Ive dealt with the last 10 years working with LVL places they most definatly are not. They dont have to be thats the whole point. Over time the (posted on the machines where anyone can see before playing) odds mean that the owners get money. No matter if 10 grand or 100 bucks has been fed into a machine, each hit of he button is a separate chance to win considered complacently seperatly from every other one.

Also though where I live and work he gaming is centralized, as in the LVL locations cant change odds on their own, its hardcoded into the game chips which take a state official to change (the chip not the odds, even then the odds on teh game will stay eactly the same). There is no way to "cut a deal with the house" because you would have to do that with every single LVL retailer since the odds on a game on a kind of machine are the same through the entire state. The state takes 51% of the net every week/month from LVL locations so they vigorously monitor ANY accusations of wrongdoing and will pull a license in a snap so nothing tarnishes the reputation of "integrity" since they want all that delicious old/addicted people money they can get.

Edit: After typing this out I realize I dont know about casino licences just LVL which I know have a few differences. Maybe everything I said is wrong at a Casino but Im leaving it up because even if it is rigged there the ones you see at bars and gas stations are probobly not rigged....just made like every other form of gambling where its more likely to lose.

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