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, you're only getting 95¢. Though getting
shortchanged a measly nickel doesn't seem like much, it adds up as the number
of coin flips increases.
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 you'll see that their every payout is for a a
reduced payoff, or "less than true odds."
This difference between true 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? T'aint your friend's, 'tiz the casino owners. I've done
this question before, and normally I wouldn't 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 it's called in gamblese, is illegal. It means purposely
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 doesn't 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, don't forget to press the
cash-out button.
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 there's a loser somewhere in you, whining at you, and you got to learn
to cut his water off." — Bert, The Hustler (1959)
