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Any questions about how casinos work


jetwet1

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Please feel free to ask any questions you may have about the day to day operations of a casino, there are a couple of us that have worked/run casinos posting here and you may find it interesting, heck even surprising how these places run.

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Please feel free to ask any questions you may have about the day to day operations of a casino, there are a couple of us that have worked/run casinos posting here and you may find it interesting, heck even surprising how these places run.

Awesome thread. I'll start. Any such thing as a magnetic craps table? What I am getting at what are the ways that casinos "cheat?" My guess is some do and players swear that they do? Do you know any insider info? Of course don't mention any names. But come on there has got to be crooked games. Right?

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No such thing in Nevada or New Jersey.

 

The simple fact is that casinos do not have to cheat, a casino that is being run in a half decent way will make money.

 

The next thing to remember is that holding a casino license is a "privileged" one that can be revoked at any time, as the Trop in AC found out, the value of that license far exceeds any winnings that could be gained from cheating at the tables.

 

I will go so far as to say, I have seen casino security detain dealers for cheating, both in the casino's favor and in the players favor, these dealers have been prosecuted with the help of the casino.

 

Now, I will say, that outside of the US it's a whole different ball game, while most casinos run a straight up game in central America it is not unknown for there to be problems at the smaller joints.

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Great thread.

 

Question: I get the feeling that while casinos in NJ and NV are heavily monitored actively, those on the ships are just recorded and not really always monitored. Is that true? I say so because when I claimed to have bet something, the dealer asked the pit boss to check with the guys in the room upstairs and then after a few minutes confirmed that I was right. However on ship they just almost automatically tell me that I was right.

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Great thread.......I have always heard that some slot machines are just luckier than others and that they are set before a cruise starts to be looser and then they set them to be tighter as the cruise goes on. Is any of this true? Please tell us all you know about slot machines....

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Please feel free to ask any questions you may have about the day to day operations of a casino, there are a couple of us that have worked/run casinos posting here and you may find it interesting, heck even surprising how these places run.

 

They take your money, money, money :D May as well leave it on their front doorstep :p

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They take your money, money, money :D May as well leave it on their front doorstep :p

You are correct but your answer wasn't in the form of a question. You lose 500 dollars. :D

You should have said, "What is taking your money and leaving it on your front doorstep?" HAHA!

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Great thread.

 

Question: I get the feeling that while casinos in NJ and NV are heavily monitored actively, those on the ships are just recorded and not really always monitored. Is that true? I say so because when I claimed to have bet something, the dealer asked the pit boss to check with the guys in the room upstairs and then after a few minutes confirmed that I was right. However on ship they just almost automatically tell me that I was right.

 

Kind off, the casino's on board are monitored, on some lines there is actually a dedicated surveillance dept, part of their job is to monitor the casino, on others there is simply a bank of machines recording in the casino managers office, any review is done by the manager on duty.

 

Great thread.......I have always heard that some slot machines are just luckier than others and that they are set before a cruise starts to be looser and then they set them to be tighter as the cruise goes on. Is any of this true? Please tell us all you know about slot machines....

 

The easy way to tell if this happens, take a look at the pay table of your favorite machine, if it changes during the course of the cruise the pay out % has been changed, frankly I have never seen this happen.

 

I plan on shooting craps for seven days straight on my next cruise. Will I win anything? LOL!

 

The force is strong in you young Jedi, but the dark side beckons. Who the heck knows, you know what your doing on the game, now it's just a case of being in the right place at the right time.

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On our cruises I have noticed that the money makers in the casino, namely the slots, play fairly loose the first couple of days. As with any casino, there are always a few attention getting machines that ding, sing, etc. to attract attention. On one cruise, on the last sea day and the wife was just watching me play blackjack, the dealer whispered to us that she should try the quarter machine right behind her. Hummmm. I gave her a twenty. within 3 pulls she hit it for $300. She quit and I told her to drop another twenty into it just to take the winner off. After 6 pulls she hit it for $750. After dinner, she went back to that machine and won another $200 or so. Maybe with her cruise card in the machine, they were just returning some of my blackjack losses. Harry :cool:

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  • 2 weeks later...
How do dealers prefer to br tipped? Do they prefer a bet or a chip? If it's a bet where would the bet be placed for example on WPT or Three Card?

I would think they would prefer a toke straight out without a bet. That way they definitely get tipped. I am not a dealer but I think I would simply want the tip straight out and not chance losing it.

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It varies from dealer to dealer, when I delt it depended what I was dealing as well, but if given the choice I would always play the bet along side the players, not because it was better, but because it helped reinforce the fact that I was on the players side.

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As to the origional question on the thread.. casinos work with people putting there money in and then leaving with none!!! They love people who do not know how or what to play, and dislike players who study, learn and cut the edge to little!!!

 

On to the toke ?. They probably like the money straight, but if you are going to bet, bet with yourself, but a good "odds" bet don't bet a yo or ET, but bet a pass line or come or something like that. something that might win!!

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Thanks Jetwet for the thread. Before I realized you had this thread, I started a thread that I suspect the ship casuno is cheating. I won't repeat my entire long message from that thread, but basically in a week I never saw but one person win. My theory is that regulation in international waters is not up to that at land-based US casinos. I have no idea how the ship casinos could control what cards come out of a shuffler, or how they can affect the dice, but it was remarkable how no one walked away with any money. I know the casino always wins in the long run, but I always see SOME winners walking out of our local land casinos. Is it possible something is going on?

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I have never dealt at sea-so I can't speak directly to the games on board. We were basically paid minimum wage and if we were to survive, you had to have tips. Therefore you hoped to lose-especially to those that were tipping. Cheating to help a player never crossed my mind because if you were prosecuted (at least in our state), your chances of getting your dealer's license back were slim.

 

There are nights when all dealers are hot and no one seems to win. There's no real reason for it, but it happens. Also, many players love to stash their green and black chips in their pockets or purses. Many leave the table with a winning-it's just not apparent unless you're really watching close.

 

We loved it when someone won big. It was free advertising because they would tell all of their friends and of course they always returned themselves. Conversely, if a place cheated-the negative publicity would probably far outweigh the gain from cheating.

 

As a dealer, you want to keep the game moving (the more hands dealt-usually the greater chance of earning tips) and for players to have a good time and enjoy you. It really helps the tips when you develop your own "clients" that want to play at your table when they come to gamble. If you are slow, rude, and/or make mistakes, players go to other tables or casinos. Again, word-of-mouth advertising is the best, or worst, form of advertising a casino can have.

 

As for tipping, jetwet1 has the perfect answer. Although at the end of the year, most dealers would probably see a lot more income if the players had just given them the tip instead of betting it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Do any of you have insight into how players get rated at table games (particularly craps)?

 

I generally play inside numbers (2 or 3 units) and pass line with full odds, but will press numbers fairly aggressively. Total action on a new roll might be around $100 (do odds count?), but could easily get up to 500-600 or more on a good roll. Do pit bosses take the pressed bets into account in determining average bet, and if so how? Do they just look at the existing action at predetermined (or random) times, or do they try to guesstimate your play?

 

What, if anything, can be done to make sure you get full credit for your play...and are there any significant differences in ratings between land based/ sea based casinos.

 

Thanks in advance for any responses...details regarding ratings at table games (and craps in particular) seems to be particularly subjective and one of the few areas where it is hard to get good information.

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I think your answer can vary from ship to ship and from casino to casino. I feel it often depends on how good the pit boss is and how much competition they have. If there is another casino across the street and you bet a fair amount, you're likely to be treated better compared to at sea where there's no competition. You can't swap ships in the middle of a cruise to go somewhere else that comps better.

 

In Nevada, I ask the pit boss how I'm being rated. I often play two hands in BJ and parlay my bets. When I'm on a good streak and the bets are advancing, I'll ask the pit boss how I'm being rated. If he's good, he's already noticed the different bets and averaged them. (and included both hands). Comp rates vary and many do not receive what they earn because they are too shy and afraid to ask (especially before they came up with the rewards cards and computers). A casino is only out a few dollars to give you a meal or a room (if it would go unoccupied). I think it can also help to play in the same section with the same pit boss so that they get to know you and your action. I've talked to many friends that say they never get any comps and then they start talking about all of the different casinos that they visited. To acquire comps it is much easier to stay in one place so that they can accumulate.

 

The subject of comps has been covered in many articles and books. Do a Google search for casino comps and see if that gives you some ideas.

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Generally speaking (I'm sure it varies from line to line and ship to ship), but:

 

Does the casino stay open 24/7 (like Vegas)? What about while the ship is in port?

 

Do there tend to be video poker machines (i.e. Deuces Wild)?

 

What about live Texas Hold Em cash games/tournaments? Is there a "Poker Room", per se'?

 

My first-ever cruise is in September on the Carnival Fantasy; and I do plan on spending a fair amount of time in the casino. Whether or not I just have the guy deliver me my stuffed towel animals to my seat at the blackjack table, remains to be seen. It will probably depend on the answer to my "24/7" question above. :)

 

Thanks for starting this thread!

 

 

eta: never mind about the poker thing; I just found the thread "Poker on Carnival" that might be right in my wheelhouse.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1019278

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Does the casino stay open 24/7 (like Vegas)? What about while the ship is in port?

 

Nope. On port days, the casino opens about 30 minutes or so after leaving port. On sea days, they open for slots in the morning - about 9 or 10 AM IIRC, and tables open at noon or 1 PM. Closing time is 3 AM.

 

Since you're new to the cruise scene, there are a couple of things that you should know about onboard casinos to avoid surprises. It's sometimes hard to find a bar waiter when you want one. It depends on how tight the ship's staffing is. Also, on a lot of lines, it has become a practice to designate formal nights as "no smoking in the casino" nights. Since DW and I are both smokers, on those nights (which are always on sea days),we do our playing at the tables in the afternoon.

 

Welcome to cruising and good luck.

 

Shalom, Andy.

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A couple years ago on one of our many cruises, I noticed that the spare or backup roulette ball on the wheel spindle was smaller then the one the dealer was using.

 

I asked the dealer and she called the pit boss over. He said he could not tell me and walked away.

 

Does anyone know why they would be using two different size roulette balls?

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