Dear Mark,
I have always been a bit
suspicious of casinos and especially their ability to cheat players.
Come clean, Mark. Do the casinos tell the dealers to cheat the customer?
Ron T.
If you follow
my column regularly, Ron, you will notice my commentary ordinarily puts
me on the side of the player. With machete in hand, I am always willing
to slash through the green felt jungle for my readers. Most would call
me a casino adversary/player advocate. Thank you. But in the case of a
casino cheating a player, Ron, I would be remiss if I didn't say with
100 percent conviction that the casinos are in no way out to cheat you.
There are two key reasons why casinos
don't play the game of deception. First, most casinos are publicly
traded companies on the NYSE not interested in exposing their gaming
license to loss with any inkling of cheating going on. Also, here in
Nevada, you won't find a more regulated industry chock-full of rules
that would close a casino down for defrauding the public.
A second, if not even more significant
reason, is the way casinos reap their profits-paying players less than
the true odds. Meaning, every game offered to the player is
mathematically in the casino's favor. Example: When you flip a coin
there is a 50/50 chance of your winning. But instead of getting even
money for every dollar you wager, you are paid 99¢, or 83¢ or maybe even
75¢. This in a nutshell is how casinos operate their license to print
money, paying you less than even money on every bet you make.
Now, if
every single wager placed in the casino is based on that principle, why,
Ron, would they ever want to swindle you? That's not to say that a rogue
employee on his own never tries to manipulate the cards in the casino's
favor. That is why the casino manager watches the shift manager, who
watches the pit bosses, who watches the floorman, who watches the
dealers-with the eye in the sky (camera in the ceiling) watching
everybody. It doesn't take long for a dishonest employee to be weeded
out.
I would also note that in 17 years of
casino employment, working in seven different casinos, I have never been
asked to do even the slightest thing that borders on fraud. I have been
asked to speed up my hands per hour dealing blackjack or pick up the
pace on a crap game, but that's to get the math to work in the casino's
favor-never to cheat.
So, Ron, I would be more suspicious of
the wagers you make, not the casino. Let me ask you this: Are you
getting back 75¢ (keno) for every dollar bet, or 99¢, (perfect basic
strategy in blackjack)?
Follow up:
This past week I was deluged with calls and e-mail about an investigative
report by ABC-TV's PrimeTime regarding slot machines in Nevada
that are preprogrammed for "near-miss" read-outs, which entice gamblers
to play longer. The theme of the discourse was "I knew all along they
were cheating us."
PrimeTime's main source; a former
Nevada Gaming Control Board computer whiz and convicted felon named Ron
Harris, who prior to sentencing found religion.
Sorry, but I'll stick with my biased
conviction that because casinos have the percentages working for them on
each and every slot, there is little chance they would conspire, in this
case with a slot manufacturer, to cheat a patron. All pulls of the slot
handle produce random results-albeit results that, based on the slot pay
table, generally create losers. Besides, near-miss technology is not
only illegal in Nevada, but tampering with a computer chip can easily be
detected with the right equipment, even by a low-level computer nerd
like me. Chips are not only tested before leaving the factory but
randomly checked for integrity on the casino floor.
Coincidentally, another TV news magazine
program, to which I promised confidentiality for both the show's name
and content, wanted my opinion about an upcoming investigative report
they were doing regarding a highly sensitive casino issue. Because my
take on the subject matter wasn't the sensationalist spin that would
improve their ratings, my viewpoint will find it's way to the cutting
room's floor. Why should they use me? In the gambling industry they can
easily find someone with limited credentials willing to say off camera
or in silhouette, "Yeah, that's the norm, happens all the time." Sounds
very similar to the PrimeTime investigative piece above.
