# Friday night, $2,000 at the casino **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 27, 2025, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555 "2025-04-27T06:39:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2025, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/281 "2025-06-07T22:47:47Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Agreed. The same applies to horse racing: I’ve read that tax essentially killed the professional gambling on horse racing in the UK. When winnings were tax-free, there was enough margin to make a small-time living. When the government introduced tax on winnings (50-100 years ago), it took that margin. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2025, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/282 "2025-06-07T22:49:55Z")
I don’t know. I’m sure he’ll be around to fill us in. I get the impression he’s a remote worker. WAG ---
**Author:** ![MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/283 "2025-06-16T04:00:33Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Im not an expert, but earning money at a job instead of gambling would make for a better retirement? Depends on which games. How much they win. Level of denominations and stakes they frequently played. If someone only plays +EV games such as poker or slots with high progressives, they can make a lot of money if they possess lots of knowledge, skill, and luck. And earning money at a job doesn’t guarantee comfortable retirement. If someone worked part-time at McDonalds all of their adult life, there will not be a large nest. ---
**Author:** ![MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/284 "2025-06-16T04:03:31Z")
I’m trying to remain at least somewhat anonymous on here. I won’t be going into too many details regarding my “day” job. All I’m going to say is that it comes with perks such as travel and a flexible schedule. ---
**Author:** ![MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/285 "2025-06-16T04:15:13Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Do gamblers retire? At age 65 or so, after many years of hitting the casinos and such do they suddenly say “Well, it is time to stop doing this. I have carefully set aside funds that cannot be touched every time I won, and now I can just stop doing this and retire…because, after all, this is not an internal need at all, but just a job.” Do gamblers retire? Why not? If they make enough “fuck you” money. I “work” with two APs who have sort of retired. One is in their 70s and one is in his 50s. The one in his 50s hasn’t fully retired, it’s just mostly from AP. He took a lot of the money he won from those high progressives and put them into other business ventures. Good for him. I hope that will be my fate some day. The guy in his 70s went to a full time hustler to just a weekend warrior. I’m good friends with a former online professional poker player. He worked in tech before poker. After it became tougher and tougher to move money to and from online poker sites here in the US, he decided to go back into tech. He was in his 30s at that time. Not necessarily retirement, but he was able to take the money he won and lived comfortably until he was able to ease his way back into the traditional workforce. I believe it took him some time. ---
**Author:** ![MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/286 "2025-06-16T04:28:04Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > > [@Czarcasm](#): > > > > What percentage might that be? > > What percentage of regular poker players fit in that category? The ones who be become very wealthy are probably fewer than one in ten thousand. There are some who eke out a living fleecing tourists at low levels. They are fewer than one one in one hundred. Yeah, players sharking at tables full of transient tourists somewhere out in Nevada or California…about one in one hundred. Problem is that they have more competition. Other low-level professionals trying to do the same thing. Elsewhere, I feel that number might be smaller. Midwest and most of the south, maybe one in fifty. In Texas and south Florida? Hell, maybe one in twenty or thirty. And it’s not just the tourists down there who like to gaaaamble at the poker table. Those damn oil workers from Texas act like they don’t give a shit about burning their hard earned money. ---
**Author:** ![MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/287 "2025-06-16T04:33:21Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I think regular poker is different from the other games at a casino - for poker, the players compete against each other and the casino charges some sort of fee ( they take a percentage from each pot, charge an entry fee, etc) while for the other table games you’re playing against the casino and the casino makes money through the house advantage. One player or another wins every hand of poker but everyone at the table can lose in blackjack or “carnival games” ( which includes some poker variations) Yes, that fee is called the “rake”. ---
**Author:** ![MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/288 "2025-06-16T05:03:07Z")
And… That was the point I was trying to make earlier. There are such things as win-win games in the casino. Certainly not common, but not unheard of. When you have money pooled in progressive jackpots, that money (aside from the reset amount) _belongs to the people_, not the house. So if a prog is reset to $100, that amount belongs to the house. But anything above that belongs to the players. So if that uncapped progressive balloons up to $600, $500 is pooled by the people. When it comes to uncapped progressives, _at some theoretical point_ all of them can become +EV. It’s just like poker. You have money pooled by players, and the house takes some of it. If a machine is set at say 88%, that machine is going to stay at 88% throughout its lifetime or until the casino adjusts the payout percentage (usually lower). But so much money can accumulate in that progressive jackpot it can compensate for the 12% house edge, with an individual player. Likewise in poker, if a player wins enough money getting past the rake is no issue. That fee will be a drop in the bucket compared to the money won. Now, is it worth someone’s time to hunt for large progressives? It totally depends on the “market” (i.e. number of games per casino and number of competitors per casino) and the player’s circumstances (i.e. bankroll, free time, temperament). It can range from a complete waste of time to a very productive use of time. ---
**Author:** ![MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/289 "2025-06-16T05:17:37Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Its Friday night.🎲 Ahhhhhhhh the weekend report! I took my dad to a few casinos. He watched me do my thing! At the end of the session, I was down $20. He got mad and told me I could’ve given that $20 to him for Father’s Day on top of the money I’ve already gifted him. LOLOL Got damn it, he would’ve had (another) heart attack if he was around two months ago when I lost that $2K! I’m losing my motivation for gaming though. Sometimes I have to reward myself treats stored in my trunk just to get up out of my car to go into the casino. I often pull into the casino parking lot and just fuck around on my cell phone for a while. But sometimes my desire for three cheddar/sour cream kettle chips and a jolly rancher from my trunk can cut my scrolling time short. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/290 "2025-06-16T05:32:25Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > they can make a lot of money if they possess lots of knowledge, skill, **and luck**. Yeah, about that last part. ---
**Author:** ![MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/291 "2025-06-16T05:53:59Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I think @MW_Degen_Gamblr has said many times he has a day job. > > I imagine retirement is not dependent on his gambling. > > He is hobby gambling. It’s not semi-pro. > > I’ve lived around many gamblers, no professed pros, but they would like you to believe they were. > Not one, none, nada would answer questions about their earnings.(it was considered rude to even ask) > > They didn’t mind bitching about losses. That is likely because many non-gamblers don’t take people’s money won/earned from casinos seriously. Professionals, semi-pros, and even rec players who are not in the red, do take their money seriously. Family/friends/partners might feel entitled to their money. They see that money as disposable and that money should be shared. I’ve also noticed that money won from casinos are more likely to be “micromanaged” by those who are close. They tend to mind how that money is spent/saved/invested more than money earned from more conventional sources. Another reason, casino wins might stir up resentment or jealousy. Because again, some people don’t see it as “real money”. Some people resent people who acquire money that hasn’t been “earned”. Being a professional gambler isn’t a job, but it is sure as hell work. If one is a pro poker player they have studied hundreds if not thousands of hours to get good. They have likely paid lots of money for coaching. Lots of travel is likely involved. If one is a slot AP they likely WALK around the casino floor for HOURS. Daily or most days. Lots of networking is usually involved. Lots of high stress situations can occur. Being kicked out of the casino, being “backroomed” (that’s a hella scary experience), conflict with other APs (some of them have ended in violence - not me but others), encounters with nosy police while traveling, etc. Anyone who has won lots of money have likely worked hard for that money, and wants to avoid potential drama from family or friends. Yet another reason, that money can be easily stolen if they aren’t careful. Money goes into the bank, but there are gap times when gamblers are walking around with cold hard cash. Now, this is much less common but not unheard of…gamblers can be literally robbed, like at gunpoint. So yeah, there are reasons why gamblers might hesitate answering questions about their earnings. Bitching about losses is actually safer. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/292 "2025-06-16T13:50:54Z")
All very interesting. And thanks for the updates & backstories. > [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > I “work” with two APs who have sort of retired. One is in their 70s and one is in his 50s. The one in his 50s hasn’t fully retired, it’s just mostly from AP. What does “AP” stand for here and elsewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/293 "2025-06-16T14:17:48Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > What does “AP” stand for here and elsewhere? I’m guessing Advantage Player; kind of like card counting but reading the pattern on the bells & lights on a given slot machine. …or else it could be a major news wire service. 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/294 "2025-06-16T15:01:51Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > > [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > > > they can make a lot of money if they possess lots of knowledge, skill, **and luck**. > > Yeah, about that last part. That’s why you never make Luck a dump stat. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/295 "2025-06-17T14:54:50Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > But sometimes my desire for three cheddar/sour cream kettle chips and a jolly rancher from my trunk can cut my scrolling time short. You keep potato chips and Jolly Ranchers in your car trunk as a motivator to get your butt out of the car? > [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > Sometimes I have to reward myself treats stored in my trunk just to get up out of my car to go into the casino. I don’t get why you do it then. We’ve seen you lose on multiple weekends so if you dread it so much and you are losing money, why? Save the calories from three potato chips and a Jolly Rancher and do something you enjoy. And, save money. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/296 "2025-06-17T15:23:22Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > I don’t get why you do it then. I’ve been entering this thread periodically, but was going to pose the same question/observation. The OP does not make it seem as though he finds it either enjoyable or terribly remunerative. I’m wondering if the OP simply got into a “habit” that he is now findings hard to break. Or maybe he previously found attractive some aspect of gambling/presenting himself as a gambler. OP - wondering how you feel this thread makes you appear to others who read it. Not that you ought to care. Lead your life and earn/spend your time and money however you wish. But nothing you say really puts you in a terribly great light. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/297 "2025-06-17T16:02:28Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > I don’t get why you do it then. Addiction? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/298 "2025-06-17T16:20:58Z")
I’d say it sounds like addiction except for the part where he dreads going into the casino and has to reward himself with treats. I know plenty of people who don’t really enjoy indulging in their addiction but they don’t have to reward themselves to drink that beer, light that cigarette etc. They can’t help but do it. If he doesn’t enjoy it, doesn’t make money at it and doesn’t feel compelled, I don’t know why he does it. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/299 "2025-06-17T16:32:47Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Addiction? Is it common for addicts to go out of their way to publicize their addiction? I’m just uncertain what the OP’s intentions are. In his OP he states: > [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > …I think I officially have a problem. > … > This is not a cry for help. … So is he simply self-witnessing? Some of what he posts almost seems like “bragging” about his unconventional lifestyle. He seems to want to pass himself off as “expert” in certain casino/gambling topics, but he also seems to make some pretty unforced errors. And then he plays all coy when folk try to ask specific questions. Just not at all sure what the OP’s intentions are in starting/continuing this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555/300 "2025-06-17T16:49:11Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I’d say it sounds like addiction except for the part where he dreads going into the casino and has to reward himself with treats. I know plenty of people who don’t really enjoy indulging in their addiction but they don’t have to reward themselves to drink that beer, light that cigarette etc. They can’t help but do it. If he doesn’t enjoy it, doesn’t make money at it and doesn’t feel compelled, I don’t know why he does it. Because the nicotine or alcohol or heroin, or in this case dopamine has a tough hold on them. I’ve heard of lots of people who want to quit but can’t; known some, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friday-night-2-000-at-the-casino/1017555.md?page=16)