The world never stands still too long. If it does, this may mean it’s dying and has nowhere else to go. The eternal question for every business lucky enough to hit a winning formula is whether to change it and, if so, by how much and how quickly. In one shape or form, casinos have been around for centuries. They were gambling in Ancient China and Rome long before anyone thought of building in the Nevada desert. Yet, the basic idea has remained the same. If your luck is in, a small bet will win you a fortune. It’s a remarkably seductive temptation. Just think.
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Well, the inevitable has begun to happen. When the recession first hit and credit dried up, everyone predicted the casinos would lose out. If the banks squeeze credit, people cannot maintain their levels of discretionary spending and, sadly, gambling is always going to be one of the choices made less often. The prediction then ran on: if fewer people go into casinos and those that do go spend less, the casinos will find their profits under pressure. At this point, the forecasters would take a deep breath. This will not be a problem so long as the casinos hold their nerve. The economy will slowly pick up. Confidence will return as consumers save less and spend more. In three to five years time, casino revenues will be back to their normal levels. But, and this is where the forecasters would look grim, if the casinos try to suck extra dollars of profit out of fewer players, they risk killing the golden goose. So which way have casinos played their hands?
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Each year the gambling industry runs an exposition highlighting new gaming systems and machines. And the number of new table games that actually make it to the casinos over the world is very small. But those that actually do come with a house edge of 3% and even more.
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It’s fun to watch how Hollywood treats the card counters. Back in the 1950’s and 60’s, all the movie studios and TV stations applied a code. No-one could be shown getting away with a crime, ignoring the fact that counting cards never has been a crime. Everything had to reinforce the myth that crime does not pay. This meant that everyone who “cheated” had to be punished in some way.
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Travel back in time a few decades and you will find the source of many modern myths. The most interesting swirl around the group of professional gamblers who devised the so-called basic strategy and those people, blessed with a good memory, that can beat the House by counting cards. Today’s wisdom says that putting the two together gives you the best chance of beating the house edge. There is some truth to this for those of you who go to real-world casinos. Indeed, many casinos actually sell small cards with the basic strategy printed in neat tables and charts. The original math wonks who crunched the numbers used to guard their knowledge and sell it only at high price. Today, the casinos effectively give it away. Why are the casinos so confident you will not break the bank?
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Ever since the dawn of civilization, people have come together to play games for money. Gambling has a history spanning centuries. While no-one can doubt the lure of being able to win large amounts of money from relatively small stakes, a key element in the growth of gaming houses has been the sociable nature of the activity. People meet each other. Many just come to be seen. Others come to project an image, proving their wealth by appearing not to care if they lose big. Today, gambling is a major industry.
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For the majority going through school, the math classes are a form of slow torture. All these tiresome problems to solve and never any obvious relevance to real-world situations. Except, of course, that the theory of probabilities gives you everything you need to know about how to bet effectively. Once you can work out the odds on any given event occurring, you are ahead of the game when it comes to winning. In a sense, gambling is the application of science. But this slightly breaks down because knowing the odds does not guarantee you will win. The actual result of the event is still determined by events outside your ability to control. Whether you win is a matter of luck. So we might conclude that gambling in general is a mixture of science and intangibles like intuition.
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This is not about the gambling addicts. For them, the drive to place the next bet will be there no matter what the state of the economy. That’s why addiction is so destructive. This is about the rational gamblers who look at their budgets and decide how much they can afford to risk the next time they sit down to play. This includes all the professionals. For them, money management is all part of the self-discipline it takes to get to the top of their game and become such a reliable winner they can afford to give up the day job.
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There’s a sad fact about playing in a casino, whether real or virtual. The operators have worked out how to play the games on offer and set the odds to favor themselves. After all, if the majority did not lose, there would be no money to pay out all the money you win. Needless to say, the casinos have invested time and money into working out every possible variation on the rules and the ways to play under them.
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The game is one of the simplest ever invented. The rules are few and there’s no physical effort involved in playing it. You just sit, look at a few cards and make your bets. That’s probably why it’s become one of the most popular casino games of all time. Of course everyone knows the House has an edge. That’s how it pays all the expenses for running the casino. Remember it makes no difference whether this is a casino in the real world or online. You still need people and a base.
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