I enjoy watching westerns, and often there is a card game in the saloon. It’s usually poker, but sometimes it’s a game of faro. All I know about faro is that it was popular in the old west, and that it was easy fairly easy to cheat on whether you were the player or the house.
According to this, “Although the game became scarce after WWII, it continued to be played at a few Las Vegas and Reno casinos through 1985.”
Is faro played in any casino in the US, and why did it die out in 1985 while poker didn’t?
I looked into it years ago but I don’t really remember everything I found. I think it’s basically two reasons. The game doesn’t have enough built in advantage to the house and cheating was rampant by both players and the house.
I have no doubt casinos could find a way to make it more profitable. Add in progressive or bonus payouts that cost money and have horrible odds. With all the variations of poker played as table games I’m not sure there is a need.
It really shouldn’t be compared to poker. Poker you play against the other players and the house makes money by raking the pot. Faro is more easily compared to blackjack where you are playing against the house.
The cheating problem was an issue in the past before regulation. After casinos became legitimate businesses that make money off of math over time and not chicanery that wasn’t an issue anymore. But the reputation of it being seedy remained. It’s my understanding that it only survived in lower rent joints off the strip or in places like Reno. Even there it wasn’t popular. For the players it was slow moving and complicated compared to Blackjack. For the house some bets had practically no advantage while for some the odds were greatly in their favor. If you played correctly you could have a good chance of beating the house but it would take time.
The bottom line is casinos had no reason to continue. There was low demand and low payout for the house.
This was the established wisdom given in various places I’ve read/heard including an olde timely casino in Virginia City Nevada and the Lonely Planet Nevada Guide Book IIRC
The mention of Faro sparked a memory of seeing a deck on display somewhere, but I couldn’t remember just where. I tried searching my google photos and voilà!
Looking at the image tag I was kind of surprised that I took this just a few blocks away from where I’m sitting, at the Roberto-Suñol Adobe
Bet on one or two cards. What you’ll notice is that the great majority of deals, you neither win nor lose; you have to bet many ways to make anything happen. That just doesn’t work for a casino. What works for a casino is the player winning or losing frequently; it’s in the constant flow that the casino can make bux, even when the casino’s edge per play is very small, as in traditional blackjack.
