Gambling, Casino's and All That Jazz

[Mini Mic]

Over the past year or so my friends and I have all been turning of legal gambling age (18 here in Aus) and so today we decided to go to a Casino to check it out. Last time my friends went I was overseas and so didn't get to go (ironically I was in Vegas at the time but too young to do anything in America). Anyhoo we were there for a few hours, I broke even though admittedly I didn't gamble very much anyway since that's just the way I am. My friend on the other hand lost $80 which (while it may not be much in the great scheme of things) went pretty **** quickly. The whole idea of "winning back your losses" really is pretty silly since you almost always end up losing more. Even so it was pretty funny watching him get more and more frustrated as he lost more and more money on Black Jack while the two ladies next to us kept winning. None the less this wasn't the first time he's lost money like that which made me think how careful you have to be since it can get you so quickly. In Quantitative Methods last week our tutor told us about how the casino's set the winning price so as that teh expected value (not gonna explain that to those who don't know) is less than 0, in other words so they win more than they lose mathematically.

On the flip side, a few weeks ago my grandmother won $28,000 on the pokies so I guess they can be a very good thing too.

I'm not really sure what the point of this topic is but feel free to discuss any interesting, funny/ insightful stories you have had with gambling.

 

[Xsyven]

Dude, Vegas sucks if you're not 21 or older... I feel bad that you flew all the way from Australia just to go there.

Funny story, though. I go to Vegas a lot, since it's only two hours away from where I live. I've gone with my older brother about four times. He's not a gambler, but every time he was down here, he'd only spend one quarter, and end up winning between 10-20 dollars. Then he'd buy us both dinner, since it pretty much only cost him a quarter.

But yeah, my experience with gambling happened on a cruise. I ended up losing between fifteen to twenty dollars before I stopped, but only because I realized that I had about six more dollars left for the entire trip. I didn't want to spend too much on the cruise, so I only brought like, fifty bucks, and I went to the casino on the last day. My friend ended up winning over one hundred in slots.

 

[pockyD]

vegas is plenty of fun even if you're not 21

also, OF COURSE all casino games favor the house... why would they feature a game where they expect to lose money?

 

[Mann]

Women in convertibles go topless driving down the streets late nights in Las Vegas at times. Circus Circus used to be fun, haven't been there in years. There are places that server great food.

 

[Xsyven]

Meh. Go there once, it's a good time. Go there twice, same thing as last time. After the third time, you see the city for what it really is.

Dirt, scum, and lights.

 

[Mini Mic]

Meh.

Vegas was still fun to go to even if I couldn't gamble, was only there like 2 days anyway.

 

[Vinnie275]

nobody say anything about the great hookers!!

 

[SkylerOcon]

Want to have fun in Vegas? Count cards.

 

[Livvers]

Vegas is one of the few places I never had desire to go visit. I'm not much of a gambler, though. The slots in Pokemon were enough for me.

The shows might be cool, but I'd rather see something on Broadway here.

Blablabla.

 

[Xsyven]

Vegas and NY shows are pretty different. Cirque Du Soliel's O is amazing... I hear. Tickets are upwards of one hundred bucks.

 

[AJ-Lo]

Want to have fun in Vegas? Count cards.

yeah, before you see 21, you should read the book about it

 

[yossarian22]

Want to have fun in Vegas? Count cards.

You must have a hell of a memory to count those massive 12 deck shoes they have.

Best bet in Vegas is not to gamble, period. Every game favors the house so if you are down, quit. You won't win it back in any game. The best games have something like a 49:51 ratio of win/loss. So you are basically giving the casino a dollar and getting 98 cents back at best.

The only exception to this is poker. Best game to play in Vegas because you aren't against the house (normally), you go against other people. And other people are, more often than not, idiots.

 

[diabetic_yoshi]

Trust me, coming from a guy that lived in Las Vegas for 18 years, it's not all that it's cracked up to be. A Vegas resident never, never goes to the Strip. In fact, the only people that really go to the casinos are the tourists and the old people who have nothing better to do. Even the arcades in them suck. I only ever came across one Tekken machine there that worked properly.