I’m going to Vegas in October and have never gambled. To warm up, we took a double-date to a local casino where my buddy could show me the ways of gambling so I’d be prepared in Vegas.
We stepped up to the Roulette table, where my made my first rookie mistake of getting $5 chips instead of $1. My $20 bought me exactly 4 chips that I was unsure of what to do with. I threw them randomly, putting 2 on black, 1 on a row at the bottom, and one in the middle of the board. My buddy explained to me that I probably just lost every cent of that first $20, and I should get $1 chips next time. As I pulled my second $20 out of my wallet, the dealer spun the wheel.
And it hit every square I had out there.
I stood there thinking that was pretty cool, and my buddy just laughed and kept saying “Holy shit, do you have any idea how much money you made?” I replied “um… no. Did I just double it or what?” At that point I was handed nearly $200 in chips. On my first spin. My first gamble ever at a casino.
In the next hour and a half, I turned that $200 into $275 at the Roulette table before calling it a night.
Now I think I’m going to go back out there whenever I need some extra spending money. Gambling rules!
Yep. You just discovered many regular casino goers have known for years. The casino is just like a giant ATM hooked to someone else’s bank account. They say that all of the games are stacked in the casinos favor so that it is impossible to win in the long term. Pffft. They forgot about the forces of beginner’s luck (you just proved that one), gaming strategies, and psychic abilities. Once you figure out what numbers or machines are “hot” you should be able to consistently pull in hundreds or more dollars a night.
Roulette may start to seem pretty easy after a while because all you have to do is pick the numbers that are about to come up. Some people like yourself have an innate ability to do that. You should move over to the blackjack table and count cards for even bigger payouts. Counting six decks is pretty difficult for most but you should be able to do it if you practice for a weekend. Once that gets old, watch the slot machines closely for someone that has pumped a lot of money into a machine without a payout. When they leave to get more money, swoop in, pump a few dollars in the machine and get all their money back plus an additional jackpot.
Ask any regular casino goer and they will tell you that they have come out ahead over the long term. The worst that can happen is that you will “break even” some days. Gather up as much money as you can for your trip to Las Vegas and tell the casinos to bend over because they are about to get stuck.
My brother’s ex-girlfriend likes to come to Las Vegas several times a year. The woman has her own business and doesn’t mind dropping some major coin while she is here.
Upon returning from her Memorial Day visit, she had $85,000 in 1099 forms from the money she had won over the weekend. She had, however, only $500 left in her purse. She is fairly lucky, but just doesn’t know when to quit.
A little 70 year old lady who thinks 13 is her lucky number came to the Las Vegas Hilton, stayed on the 13th floor, and on the 13th of August, she hit the Wheel Of Fortune progressive slot machine for $1.3 million dollars.
Of course, there were about 1.3 million people in the city who lost money that weekend, but hey…
When you come here, bring the money you can afford to lose. Hide your ATM card and credit cards, or give them to a friend who is not easily conned by you. Play what you can afford to lose - period. Then you can have a good time, and might actually win something.
Actually, this reminds me of another lesson learned from my craps visit. Bring envelopes with you. If you’re way ahead, put some money in one of the envelops, seal it, hide it in your luggage. Do not open these envelopes again until you’re home.
Alternatively, if you think you’ll have trouble not cracking open one of the envelopes, bring SASEs instead, and mail them home. (Of course, you’re then sending money through the mail, which is a whole 'nother gamble.)
Oh, and an addendum to DMark’s post: like he said bring the money you intend to play, don’t just know how much you’re going to play with the intention of drawing the money from the ATM in Vegas, as the ATMs in Vegas (in the casinos at least, and bank branches are rather few and far between) all charge a fairly exorbitant fee. IIRC, they’re actually charging a percentage of your withdrawl now…
Nothing personal, but I hate this type of advise. I you can’t trust yourself to have self-control dealing with your money then you have no business anywhere near a casino.
I think the obvious solution to this problem is never running out of money or losing. I plan on winning every time. That’s my strategy! I think it’ll work.
Really? Call the casino and tell them that. They’ll send a chartered plane for you and put you up for free in the hotel.
To me, gambling is entertainment. I figure out how much I am willing to pay for that entertainment and for how long. If I run out of money before my time limit, too bad. If the time limit comes up and I haven’t lost too much, then I had a cheap evening’s entertainment. If I’m ahead, that’s the cherry on top of the whipped cream.
My grandfather has the same strategy. Has has been a Vegas gambler for close to 60 years. He will be the first to tell you that he has never had a losing year. Yet, when he flies into town, the casinos send a limo and put him up in a nice room for free (with show tickets). Bless their hearts, dumb casinos, they are paying good money to have someone take their money like candy from a child.
Hey, that reminds me of the time I was walking past the bookies and saw the race card in the window. There, in the seventh race of the day, was a horse named Seventh Heaven, wearing number 7, carrying a 7lb penalty and priced at 7-1. So I nipped in and put £7 right on its nose.
The first time I gambled, my father told me somthing his Dad had told him. “The worse thing that can happen to you the first time you gamble is winning.”
Be careful.
But have fun spending your winnings! And yeah, gambling is fun.
That’s better than blowing out your paycheck. Some people just seem unable to have enough self-conrol do to so, and though I don’t have this problem, I don’t have enough sel-control in other areas (procrastination, in particular). So, that’s still a sound advice.
I used to keep the card of one of my former gf when we made trips to the casino. She still would beg me to give it back to her (and generally, she would end up playing with the money I intended to gamble). I generally had barely begun to sit sown when she had already gambled and lost everything she had brought.
However, eventually, after financial hardships (not related to gambling), she learnt self-control and no longer is addicted. So, for people who have this problem, you still have hope.
By the way, one of his BIL was working at the casino’s security, and told me once that the worst cases are often people who won big once. He gave me the example of some guy, who after winning a big jackpot, came back every day, and lost everything, house and job included. Now, maybe this “common knowledge” might not be accurate, and maybe it just stays in people memory more than “regular adicts” who never won big enough to be noticed and people who won big once and never came back.
