# Casino offer, which interpretation is valid? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 12, 2017, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casino-offer-which-interpretation-is-valid/779639 "2017-02-12T08:58:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casino-offer-which-interpretation-is-valid/779639/1 "2017-02-12T08:58:49Z")
I think I am clearly owed £100 a casino The offer given for all hands of £25 or more: > [@](#): > > We’ve hidden a number of cash bonuses for you to find while you play Blackjack & Roulette. There is no need to opt in, if you trigger the cash bonus it will be credited to you! Simply meet the criteria below, and you’ll be given your bonus, in cash! > > Keep checking back as we’ll be mixing up what in-play bonuses are available to you. > > 5 Card Charlie – Win a hand with 5 cards on Blackjack and we’ll give you £50 cash > > Double Zero – see two 0’s in a row while playing roulette and we’ll give you £25 cash > > Lucky Number 13 – See two 13’s in a row while playing Roulette, and we’ll give you £113 cash > > Blackjack Insurance - If you’re unlucky enough to lose 10 hands of blackjack in a row we’ll give you £50 cash! > > Double Blackjack – If you hit blackjack twice in a row on a single hand we’ll give you £50 in cash. I played a lot of blackjack, and got paid out on all my 5-card Charlies but I didn’t get paid out on double blackjacks. To my mind the repeated use of “in a row” throughout all the offers establishes the phrase as meaning “sequentially, one after the other”. The single hand obviously refers to players who play multiple hands at a tme, so if hand 4 gets a BJ then hand 3 gets one no bonus but if hand 4 gets a BJ then hand 4 gets another then bonus. First time I got 2 consecutive BJs and no payout the CSR assured me it would pay out when I completed the offer I was in the middle of. I got another one in the meantime, and no payout at the conclusion. After a lot of chat, I was then offered the explanation that the offer means you need to get 2 BJs at once. I think this makes no sense, as the phrase “in a row” is clearly sequential. If they meant “at the same time” they should have used that phrase or similar. Which interpretation(s) do you think is/are valid? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casino-offer-which-interpretation-is-valid/779639/2 "2017-02-12T13:58:47Z")
“Twice in a row on a single hand” is ambiguous, but I’d interpret it to mean that you’d have to play two hands a game and get blackjack on both. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casino-offer-which-interpretation-is-valid/779639/3 "2017-02-12T14:23:21Z")
I read the offers first and reflected on them before reading the remainder of your post. My interpretation matched the casino’s. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casino-offer-which-interpretation-is-valid/779639/4 "2017-02-12T15:40:42Z")
What exactly does “hand” mean in blackjack. I’d assume like in other card games I know it means the set of cards that go together in some fashion: 13 cards in bridge, 5 cards in draw poker, etc. When you play two somethings simultaneously in Blackjack do you say you’re playing two hands? In that case you can’t really win get two blackjacks in a single hand ever. If hand means the complete deal to all players at once, then the casino is right. And I guess if you were playing three \__?_ (can’t call them hands), you’d have to win on the 1st and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd not the 1st and 3rd. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casino-offer-which-interpretation-is-valid/779639/5 "2017-02-12T17:57:25Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > When you play two somethings simultaneously in Blackjack do you say you’re playing two hands? I would usually say you are playing two _spots_. One hand in blackjack consists of one betting cycle; i.e. everything that happens between placing your initial bet and when the dealer takes the cards back. This is why “blackjack twice in a row on a single hand” is extremely poorly worded. By the usual use of “hand” in blackjack, meaning one complete cycle of play, it’s impossible to get two blackjacks in a row. What I would think they _mean_ is two blackjacks in a row on the same _spot_, which is a reasonable interpretation that agrees with the OP. Apparently, what the casino actually means is two blackjacks sequentially in one deal of the cards, which means this offer is impossible to achieve for players who only bet one spot. Either way, the wording is bad and it seems the casino staff doesn’t even understand exactly what the offer means. OP should definitely complain about the ambiguous wording and poor staff communication. Maybe you’ll get a coupon for the buffet. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casino-offer-which-interpretation-is-valid/779639/6 "2017-02-12T18:35:11Z")
In my own wording, I think it means a player plays two hands on a single deal and gets 21 on both. It isn’t the clearest phrasing, but it is clearer to me than what the OP is trying to describe in the second paragraph. That has me quite confused. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casino-offer-which-interpretation-is-valid/779639/7 "2017-02-12T18:39:17Z")
My thought on reading it was you needed to split aces and get dealt 10s for that one to pay out. I guess you could split 10s and get dealt aces too but I doubt that combo happens very often. A single hand is what happens to the cards of a single betting spot at the table you can play multiple hands from a single chair. Then for it to be sequential you need one directly after the other and the only way I can think of to do that would be splitting aces. That being said it’s really weird wording. So I’d go with no they don’t owe you anything. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casino-offer-which-interpretation-is-valid/779639/8 "2017-02-12T20:22:42Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > My thought on reading it was you needed to split aces and get dealt 10s for that one to pay out. That’s not a blackjack. A blackjack is only an Ace + 10 on the first two cards dealt. (If you don’t believe me, try to get a dealer to pay you 3:2 on your split aces when you get 10s.) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casino-offer-which-interpretation-is-valid/779639/9 "2017-02-21T10:32:23Z")
Update: I went back to the casino and played 2 hands to a deal to try to trigger the bonuses with their interpretation. Again, although the 5-card Charlies came in fine nothing happened when I got 2 BJs in the same deal on adjacent seats. CSRs eventually put it through to someone more senior and eventually I got £50. This week I went back and decided to forget about the double BJ so just played one hand per deal as normal. I got 2 consecutive BJs and the bonus triggered. This makes it clear to me that my original interpretation was the intended one, the original trigger mechanism must have been broken and they’ve now fixed it, the CSRs were talking shit, and they really do owe me £100 for my original double blackjacks. Trying to get them to understand is going to be a nightmare though… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casino-offer-which-interpretation-is-valid/779639/10 "2017-02-21T11:07:53Z")
My advice is to let the matter drop. They don’t build casinos because people win. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casino-offer-which-interpretation-is-valid/779639/11 "2017-02-21T12:07:03Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > My advice is to let the matter drop. They don’t build casinos because people win. This was just an update for anybody who saw the original question, firmly showing my interpretation was right. As for casinos “not letting people win” I’ve deliberately not revealed how my luck went outside the scope of the offer. Whether I made loadsamoney and the £100 would be a cherry on the top or lost a load and the £100 may mitigate some loss is not relevant.