http://allaboutcasinos.org/ Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:13:49 +0000 MyBB http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-How-can-Casinos-profit-from-10p-roulette Thu, 27 May 2010 18:57:08 +0100 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-How-can-Casinos-profit-from-10p-roulette http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-What-game-has-the-most-chance-of-winning Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:47:13 +0100 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-What-game-has-the-most-chance-of-winning Roulette
Blackjack
Poker
Slots]]> Roulette
Blackjack
Poker
Slots]]> http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Roulette-numbers Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:41:33 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Roulette-numbers http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-who-to-pay-first Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:17:28 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-who-to-pay-first http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Free-drinks-in-a-casino Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:15:17 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Free-drinks-in-a-casino http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Casino-chips Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:12:38 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Casino-chips http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Can-I-Beat-the-casinos Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:09:43 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Can-I-Beat-the-casinos http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Roulette-betting-strategies Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:00:52 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Roulette-betting-strategies Albert Einstein is reputed to have stated, "You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it."[dubious – discuss] This does not mean that you cannot win at a roulette table, but rather that more players will walk away with less money than their buy-in.
Over the years, many people have tried to beat the casino, and turn roulette - a game designed to turn a profit for the house - into one on which the player expects to win. Most of the time this comes down to the use of betting systems, strategies which say that the house edge can beaten by simply employing a special pattern of bets, often relying on the 'gambler's fallacy', the idea that past results are any guide to the future (for example, if a roulette wheel has come up 10 times in a row on red, that red on the next spin is any more or less likely than if the last spin was black).
All betting systems when employed on casino edge games will result, on average, in the player losing money. In practice, players employing betting systems may win, and may indeed win very large sums of money, but the losses (which, depending on the design of the betting system, may occur quite rarely) will outweigh the wins. Certain systems, such as the Martingale, described below, are extremely risky, because the worst case scenario (which is mathematically certain to happen, at some point) may see the player chasing losses with ever bigger bets until he runs out of money.
Biased wheels
Whereas betting systems are essentially an attempt to beat the fact that a geometric series with initial value of 0.95 (American roulette) or 0.97 (European roulette) will inevitably over time tend to zero, engineers instead attempt to overcome the house edge through predicting the mechanical performance of the wheel, most notably by Joseph Jagger at Monte Carlo in 1873. These schemes work by determining that the ball is more likely to fall at certain numbers, and if sufficiently good will raise the return of the game above 100%, defeating the betting system problem.
Edward O. Thorp (the developer of card counting and an early hedge-fund pioneer) and Claude Shannon (a mathematician and computer scientist best known for his contributions to information theory) built arguably the first wearable computer to do so in 1961. This system worked by timing the ball and wheel, and therefore predicting the most likely octant where the ball would fall. This could be countered simply by closing the table for betting before beginning the spin.
To try to prevent exploits like these, the casinos monitor the performance of their wheels, and rebalance and realign them regularly to try to keep the result of the spins as uniform as possible.
At least in the 1930s, some professional gamblers were able to consistently gain an edge in roulette by seeking out rigged wheels (not difficult to find at that time) and betting opposite the largest bets.
In 1982, several casinos in England began to lose large sums of money at their roulette tables to teams of gamblers from the USA. Upon investigation by the police, it was discovered they were using a legal system of biased wheel-section betting. As a result of this, the English roulette wheel manufacturer John Huxley manufactured a roulette wheel to counteract the problem.
The new wheel, designed by George Melas, was called "low profile" because the pockets had been drastically reduced in depth, and various other design modifications caused the ball to descend in a gradual approach to the pocket area. In 1986, when a professional gambling team headed by Billy Walters won $3.8 million using the system on an old wheel at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, every casino in the world took notice, and within one year had switched to the new low-profile wheel.]]> Albert Einstein is reputed to have stated, "You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it."[dubious – discuss] This does not mean that you cannot win at a roulette table, but rather that more players will walk away with less money than their buy-in.
Over the years, many people have tried to beat the casino, and turn roulette - a game designed to turn a profit for the house - into one on which the player expects to win. Most of the time this comes down to the use of betting systems, strategies which say that the house edge can beaten by simply employing a special pattern of bets, often relying on the 'gambler's fallacy', the idea that past results are any guide to the future (for example, if a roulette wheel has come up 10 times in a row on red, that red on the next spin is any more or less likely than if the last spin was black).
All betting systems when employed on casino edge games will result, on average, in the player losing money. In practice, players employing betting systems may win, and may indeed win very large sums of money, but the losses (which, depending on the design of the betting system, may occur quite rarely) will outweigh the wins. Certain systems, such as the Martingale, described below, are extremely risky, because the worst case scenario (which is mathematically certain to happen, at some point) may see the player chasing losses with ever bigger bets until he runs out of money.
Biased wheels
Whereas betting systems are essentially an attempt to beat the fact that a geometric series with initial value of 0.95 (American roulette) or 0.97 (European roulette) will inevitably over time tend to zero, engineers instead attempt to overcome the house edge through predicting the mechanical performance of the wheel, most notably by Joseph Jagger at Monte Carlo in 1873. These schemes work by determining that the ball is more likely to fall at certain numbers, and if sufficiently good will raise the return of the game above 100%, defeating the betting system problem.
Edward O. Thorp (the developer of card counting and an early hedge-fund pioneer) and Claude Shannon (a mathematician and computer scientist best known for his contributions to information theory) built arguably the first wearable computer to do so in 1961. This system worked by timing the ball and wheel, and therefore predicting the most likely octant where the ball would fall. This could be countered simply by closing the table for betting before beginning the spin.
To try to prevent exploits like these, the casinos monitor the performance of their wheels, and rebalance and realign them regularly to try to keep the result of the spins as uniform as possible.
At least in the 1930s, some professional gamblers were able to consistently gain an edge in roulette by seeking out rigged wheels (not difficult to find at that time) and betting opposite the largest bets.
In 1982, several casinos in England began to lose large sums of money at their roulette tables to teams of gamblers from the USA. Upon investigation by the police, it was discovered they were using a legal system of biased wheel-section betting. As a result of this, the English roulette wheel manufacturer John Huxley manufactured a roulette wheel to counteract the problem.
The new wheel, designed by George Melas, was called "low profile" because the pockets had been drastically reduced in depth, and various other design modifications caused the ball to descend in a gradual approach to the pocket area. In 1986, when a professional gambling team headed by Billy Walters won $3.8 million using the system on an old wheel at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, every casino in the world took notice, and within one year had switched to the new low-profile wheel.]]> http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Trip-to-Space-promotion Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:40:38 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Trip-to-Space-promotion InterCasino is pulling out all the stops with a promotion that will put one person 100kms into orbit and send more than a dozen others on what the online casino describes as ‘the most extraordinary trips on earth’.

The Space Race promotion is one of the biggest campaigns InterCasino has ever staged and follows the casino’s re-brand from last week.
In essence, the entire promotion all revolves around accumulating ‘lucky stars’. The stars are collected every time a player makes a wager and can be put towards a variety of promotions until the end of May.

The benchmark offer is the chance for one player to one a trip into sub-orbital space – a privilege that has been enjoyed by only 445 other people on the planet to date. The winner will be picked at random on June 1 and will undergo training and preparation before being blasted 100kms into the sky, where he or she will experience weightlessness.

Although this is the main prize, the other trips on offer at InterCasino are also spectacular and include: South Africa including football and safari, Dubai including horse racing carnival, Augusta, USA including golf weekend, Monaco Grand Prix including watching race from harbour yacht, Glastonbury music weekend including stay in Winnebago, Madrid to see the Champions League football final, Las Vegas plus tickets to see U2 live, Cardiff including Ryder Cup weekend entry, Australia including helicopter ride over Ayers Rock, Ibiza including luxury villa stay for up to four friends, Lapland including a stay in the world’s only igloo hotel, Capri, Italy including pampering weekend for up to 4 friends, and finally a trip to Texas, USA including tickets to see the 2011 Super Bowl.

A new prize will be awarded every week in a random prize draw. All players must do to qualify is earn some stars.

There’s more... if that’s still not enough, there is also a leaderboard competition with a £100,000 prize pool and a £50,000 top prize. The main leaderboard competition will run for the duration of the promotion but there is also a weekly competition with a £10,000 prize pool and £5,000 weekly top prize.

Players who don’t win one of InterCasino’s benchmark prizes will also be able to enjoy some straightforward cash back action on star earned. All in all, it looks as if InterCasino has it sewn up on the promotions front for now.]]> InterCasino is pulling out all the stops with a promotion that will put one person 100kms into orbit and send more than a dozen others on what the online casino describes as ‘the most extraordinary trips on earth’.

The Space Race promotion is one of the biggest campaigns InterCasino has ever staged and follows the casino’s re-brand from last week.
In essence, the entire promotion all revolves around accumulating ‘lucky stars’. The stars are collected every time a player makes a wager and can be put towards a variety of promotions until the end of May.

The benchmark offer is the chance for one player to one a trip into sub-orbital space – a privilege that has been enjoyed by only 445 other people on the planet to date. The winner will be picked at random on June 1 and will undergo training and preparation before being blasted 100kms into the sky, where he or she will experience weightlessness.

Although this is the main prize, the other trips on offer at InterCasino are also spectacular and include: South Africa including football and safari, Dubai including horse racing carnival, Augusta, USA including golf weekend, Monaco Grand Prix including watching race from harbour yacht, Glastonbury music weekend including stay in Winnebago, Madrid to see the Champions League football final, Las Vegas plus tickets to see U2 live, Cardiff including Ryder Cup weekend entry, Australia including helicopter ride over Ayers Rock, Ibiza including luxury villa stay for up to four friends, Lapland including a stay in the world’s only igloo hotel, Capri, Italy including pampering weekend for up to 4 friends, and finally a trip to Texas, USA including tickets to see the 2011 Super Bowl.

A new prize will be awarded every week in a random prize draw. All players must do to qualify is earn some stars.

There’s more... if that’s still not enough, there is also a leaderboard competition with a £100,000 prize pool and a £50,000 top prize. The main leaderboard competition will run for the duration of the promotion but there is also a weekly competition with a £10,000 prize pool and £5,000 weekly top prize.

Players who don’t win one of InterCasino’s benchmark prizes will also be able to enjoy some straightforward cash back action on star earned. All in all, it looks as if InterCasino has it sewn up on the promotions front for now.]]> http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-32Red-nominated Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:37:05 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-32Red-nominated
32Red has been voted Casino of the Year a total of six times by online gaming forum and casino review room Casinomeister so it came as no big surprise when 32Red was awarded the title of Casino of the Decade.

32Red considers the award to be the ‘ultimate accolade’ and is spreading the good news with its loyal customers who have enjoyed some action at the site and for those who voted for them. It is offering all players who make a real money deposit in February up to 50 free chips.


32Red CEO, Ed Ware, was thrilled to receive the award. He said: "The Casino of the Decade sits above all other awards in this year’s Casinomeister list and it’s one we receive with a great deal of pride. 32Red aimed to be here when we launched the online casino and we’re honoured that, come the end of ‘noughties’, we’re right at the top of our industry".

Ware added: “The company philosophy remains unchanged and it will continue to drive the casino to new heights. The numerous awards in the past decade have shown that focussing on the player experience is valued where it matters most – the player’s themselves, which the award represents. It is both justification of this philosophy and motivation to continue providing a service that really is second to none"]]>
32Red has been voted Casino of the Year a total of six times by online gaming forum and casino review room Casinomeister so it came as no big surprise when 32Red was awarded the title of Casino of the Decade.

32Red considers the award to be the ‘ultimate accolade’ and is spreading the good news with its loyal customers who have enjoyed some action at the site and for those who voted for them. It is offering all players who make a real money deposit in February up to 50 free chips.


32Red CEO, Ed Ware, was thrilled to receive the award. He said: "The Casino of the Decade sits above all other awards in this year’s Casinomeister list and it’s one we receive with a great deal of pride. 32Red aimed to be here when we launched the online casino and we’re honoured that, come the end of ‘noughties’, we’re right at the top of our industry".

Ware added: “The company philosophy remains unchanged and it will continue to drive the casino to new heights. The numerous awards in the past decade have shown that focussing on the player experience is valued where it matters most – the player’s themselves, which the award represents. It is both justification of this philosophy and motivation to continue providing a service that really is second to none"]]> http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Casino-Advantage-Table-games Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:30:16 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Casino-Advantage-Table-games
In the early frontier gambling saloons, the house would set the odds on roulette tables at 27 for 1. This meant that on a $1 bet you would get $27 and the house would keep your initial dollar.

Today most casino odds are set by law, and they have to be either 34 to 1 or 35 to 1. This means that the house pays you $34 or $35 and you get to keep your original $1 bet.

The house average or house edge (also called the expected value) is the amount the player loses relative to any bet made, on average. If a player bets on a single number in the American game there is a probability of 1/38 that the player wins 35 times the bet, and a 37/38 chance that the player loses their bet. The expected value is:
−1×37/38 + 35×1/38 = −0.0526 (5.26% house edge)
For European roulette, a single number wins 1/37 and loses 36/37:
−1×36/37 + 35×1/37 = −0.0270 (2.70% house edge)
The presence of the green squares on the roulette wheel and on the table are technically the only house edge. Outside bets will always lose when a single or double zero come up. However, the house also has an edge on inside bets because the pay outs are always set at 35 to 1 when you mathematically have a 37 to 1 chance at winning a straight bet on a single number. To demonstrate the house edge on inside bets, imagine placing straight $1 wagers on all inside numbers on a roulette table (including 0 and 00) to assure a win. You would only get back 36 times your original bet having spent $38. The only exception are the five numbers bet where the house edge is considerably higher (7.89% on an American wheel), and the 'even money' bets in some European games where the house edge is halved because only half the stake is lost when a zero comes up.
The house edge should not be confused with the hold. The hold is the average percentage of the money originally brought to the table that the player loses before he leaves - the actual "win" amount for the casino. The Casino Control Commission in Atlantic City releases a monthly report showing the win/hold amounts for each casino. The average win/hold for double zero wheels is between 21-30%, significantly more than the 5.26% house edge. This reflects the fact that the player is 'churning' the same money over and over again. A 26.3% hold, for example, would imply that on average, the player bets the total he brought to the table five times, as 26.3% is approximately equal to 100% - (100% - 5.26%)^5. For example, a player with $100 making $10 bets on red (which has a near 50/50 chance of winning) is highly unlikely to lose all his money after only 10 bets, and will most likely continue to bet until he has lost all of his money or decides to leave. A player making $10 bets on a single number (with only 1/38 chance of success) with a $100 bankroll is far more likely to lose all of his money after only 10 bets. Despite being more likely to lose, the casino's average hold from this type of player would be significantly lower than the even-money bettor, because the single number player will on average bet less money (at 5.26% expected loss per dollar bet).






Rule variations and the "house advantage for Blackjack"
The blackjack player will encounter many rule variations which affect the house advantage and therefore affect his chances of winning. Some rules are determined by law or regulation, others by the casino itself. Not all rules are posted, so the player may have to ask either beforehand or when the situation occurs. Over 100 variations exist.
The casino has a "house advantage" at blackjack just as it does at any other casino game. The primary house advantage in blackjack comes from the fact that if the player busts he loses, irrespective of whether the dealer subsequently busts. If a particular casino game has a house advantage of 5%, it means that - over the long run - the casino will win about 5% of any initial bet. As long as the blackjack player uses the best possible strategy (a strategy which is known as "basic strategy"), the house advantage in blackjack is usually less than 1%. This is very favourable to the player compared to other casino games. Of course, many blackjack players do not know basic strategy or do not follow it, so the true house advantage in those cases may be much higher.
Dealer hits soft 17
Each casino has a rule about whether or not the dealer hits soft 17, a rule which is printed on the table itself. In the "S17" game, the dealer stands on all 17s. In the "H17" game, the dealer hits on soft 17s. Of course, the dealer always stands on hard 17s. In either case, the dealer has no choice; he either must or must not hit. The "Hit soft 17" game is less favourable to the player with about a 0.2% higher house advantage.
Number of decks
The number of decks used has a major effect on the player's chance of winning, because it affects the house advantage. All things being equal, fewer decks are always more favourable for the basic strategy player. One cause of this is that player blackjack is slightly more likely in single deck blackjack (because blackjack requires two different cards, by removing a card of one type (e.g., a Ten), getting one of a different type (e.g., an Ace) is more likely - and the effect is much greater in a single deck game than in a multi-deck game), and if the player does have blackjack, the dealer is significantly less likely to have blackjack as well (which is a push), meaning that statistically the player should get paid at 3:2 more often in the single deck game.
When single deck blackjack is offered, it is generally offered with more restrictive rules that favour the house. For illustrative purposes, the statistics below all use the same rules: double after split, re split to four hands, one card to split Aces, no surrender, double on any two cards, original bets only lost on dealer blackjack, dealer hits soft 17, and cut-card used. The single deck game is much better than double deck, which is significantly better than four decks, while from six decks and up there is very little difference.
Number of Decks
House Advantage
Single deck
0.17%
Double deck
0.46%
Four decks
0.60%
Six decks
0.64%
Eight decks
0.66%
Surrender
Some casinos offer a favourable option called "surrender," which allows the player to give up half his bet and not play out the hand. This option is sometimes referred to as "late" surrender because it occurs after the dealer has checked his or her hole card for a blackjack. When casinos first opened in Atlantic City, the surrender option was available before the dealer checked for blackjack - a rule highly advantageous to the player - but this "early surrender" option soon disappeared. Early surrender variations still exist in several countries.
The player should only surrender on the very worst hands, because having even a 25% chance of winning will result in a better average return than giving up half of his bet. With early surrender, a player is more likely to surrender against a dealer Ace.
Resplitting
If the player splits a pair other than aces and a third card of that value appears, the player can usually split again (or "re split") by putting up another bet equal to the original bet. Then there will be three bets on the table and three separate hands. Some casinos allow unlimited re-splitting of cards other than aces, while others may limit it to a certain number of hands, such as four hands (for example, "re split to 4").
Hit/re split split aces
After splitting aces, one common rule is that only one card will be dealt to each ace; the player cannot split, double, or take another hit on either hand. Rule variants include allowing re-splitting aces or allowing the player to hit split aces. Allowing the player to hit aces reduces the casino edge by about 0.13%, allowing re-splitting aces reduces the edge by about 0.03%. While re-splitting aces is not uncommon, houses that allow the player to hit split aces are extremely rare.
Double after split
After splitting a pair, most casinos allow the player to "double down" on either or both of the new two-card hands. This is called "double after split" and provides an advantage to the player of about 0.12%.
Double on 9/10/11 or 10/11 only
Often called "Reno" rules, this rule restricts the player to doubling down only on an initial player total of 10 or 11 (sometimes 9, 10, or 11 - more common in Europe). It prevents doubling on soft hands such as soft 17 (ace-6), and is unfavourable for the player. It increases the house advantage by between 0.09% (8 decks) and 0.15% (1 deck) for the 9-11 rule, and between 0.17% (8 decks) and 0.26% (single deck) for the 10-11 rule. These numbers can vary due to interaction with other rules.
No hole-card
In most non-U.S. casinos, a 'no hole card' game is played. This means that there is no dealer hole card. This usually affects the player's strategy when deciding whether to double and/or split, since a dealer blackjack will result in the loss of the split and double bets. For instance, holding 11 against a dealer 10, the correct strategy is to double in a hole card game (where the player knows the dealer's second card is not an ace), but to hit in a no hole card game. The no hole card rule adds approximately 0.11% to the house edge.
In some places,[where?] if the dealer is later found to have blackjack, the player loses only his original bet but not any additional bets (doubles or splits). This has the same advantage as the hole-card game, and as such does not change basic strategy.
Altered payout for blackjack
In many casinos in Nevada--usually at tables with the lowest table minimums--a blackjack hand pays only 6:5 or even 1:1 instead of the usual 3:2. This is the most unfavourable common variation, increasing the house edge significantly more than most U.S. player restrictions. Since blackjack occurs in approximately 4.8% of hands, the 1:1 game increases the house edge by 2.3%, while the 6:5 game adds 1.4% to the house edge. The 1:1 payout for video blackjack is a key reason why it has never approached the table version in terms of popularity. The 6:5 rule is most commonly employed on table blackjack at single deck games - which are otherwise the most attractive game for a basic strategy player.
Dealer wins ties
Allowing the dealer to win all push hands is catastrophic to the player. Though rarely used in standard blackjack, it is sometimes seen in "blackjack-like" games such as in some charity casinos.
Insurance
If the dealer's upcard is an ace, the player is offered the option of taking insurance before the dealer checks his or her 'hole card'.
Insurance is a side bet of up to half the original bet placed on a special portion of the table usually marked "Insurance Pays 2 to 1". This side bet is offered only when the dealer's exposed card is an ace. The idea is that the dealer's second card has a fairly high probability (nearly one-third) to be ten-valued, giving the dealer a blackjack and almost certainly results in a loss for the player. It is attractive (although not necessarily wise) for the player to insure against this possibility by making an "insurance" bet, which pays 2-to-1 if the dealer has a blackjack, in which case the "insurance proceeds" will make up for the concomitant loss on the original bet. The insurance bet is lost if the dealer does not have blackjack, although the player can still win or lose on the original bet.
Insurance is a poor bet for the player unless he is counting cards because, in an infinite deck, 4/13 of the cards have a value of ten (10, J, Q, or K) and 9/13 therefore are not, so the theoretical return for an infinite deck game is 4/13 * 2 * bet - 9/13 * bet = -1 /13 * bet, or -7.69%. In practice, the average house edge will be lower than this, because by eliminating even one non-ten card from the shoe (the dealer's ace), the proportion of the remaining cards that are valued at ten is higher. Even so, the bet is generally to be avoided, as the house's average edge is still more than 7%.
A player who is counting cards can keep count of the remaining tens in the shoe and use it to make insurance bets only when he has an edge (e.g., when more than one third of the remaining cards are tens). In addition, in a multi-hand single deck game, it is possible for insurance to be a good bet simply by observing the other cards on the table - for an initial hand, if the dealer has an ace, then there are 51 cards left in the deck, of which 16 are tens. However, if there are as few as 2 players playing, and none of their two initial cards are tens, then that means that 16 out of 47 remaining cards are ten - better than 1 in 3, and so the insurance bet is a good one.
When the player has blackjack and the dealer has an ace, the insurance bet may be offered as "even money", meaning that the player's blackjack is paid immediately at 1:1 before checking the dealer's hand. 'Even money' is only a slightly different bet; the difference being that the player must have sufficient funds to insure the blackjack if even money is not offered. Taking even money is generally even worse than average, because one of the player's two cards is a ten, so the proportion of tens remaining in the deck is lower.
In casinos where a hole card is dealt, a dealer who is showing a card with a value of ace or 10 may slide the corner of his hole card over a small mirror or electronic sensor on the tabletop in order to check whether he has a blackjack. This practice minimizes the risk of inadvertently revealing the hole card, which may give the sharp-eyed player a considerable advantage.
Side bets
Some casinos offer a side bet with their blackjack games. Examples include side bets based on getting three 7s, a three card poker-style bet, a pair, and many others. For the side bet, the player will typically put up an additional wager alongside his main bet and can win or lose the side bet, regardless of the main game result. The house edge for side bets is usually much higher than the main game.



House Advantages of Three Card Poker
House advantages vary according to the pay scale used:
Pair Plus
United Kingdom

Straight flush
35 to 1
40 to 1
40 to 1
Three of a kind
33 to 1
30 to 1
30 to 1
Straight
6 to 1
6 to 1
6 to 1
Flush
4 to 1
4 to 1
3 to 1
Pair
1 to 1
1 to 1
1 to 1
House Advantage
2.70%
2.32%
7.28%
Ante and Play house advantage assumes the player plays optimum strategy against the dealer which is to make the Play wager with a Queen-6-4 or better. There is less pay scale variation on the Ante Bonus than on the Pair Plus with following being by far the most common.
Ante Bonus
 
Straight Flush
5 x 1
Three of a kind
4 x 1
Straight
1 x 1

Ante and Play
 
House advantage
2.01% as a percentage of total Ante and Play wager
House advantage
3.37% as a percentage of Ante wager only
There are two ways of expressing the against dealer hand house advantage. If the house advantage is expressed as a percentage of the Ante wager only (at 3.37%) this could encourage players to erroneously think that the house advantage on the Play wager is 0.00%, and so think that the Play wager should always be made. Consequently it is better for players to understand the concept of house advantage on the total combined wager in the against dealer mode, being 2.01%.
Strategy for Three Card Poker
Optimum player strategy against the dealer is to make the Play wager with Queen-6-4 or better. However the simple strategy of Queen high or better produces a very similar result. As with all negative expectation gambling games there is no legitimate strategy that can overcome the house advantage. Therefore the player should play the strategy that provides the most enjoyment. The most common wager strategies are to play Ante and Pair Plus wagers for equal amounts, or for one of the Ante and Pair Plus wagers to be double the amount of the other one of the Ante and Pair Plus wagers.
Variation of Three Card Poker
Prime Table Games has added a wager called Prime in United Kingdom casinos and the game is known as Prime Three Card Poker. The Prime wager is optionally placed before cards are dealt and pays on the colour of the player cards. If all three cards are the same colour the payoff is 3 to 1. However when included with the dealer hand if all six cards are the same colour then the payoff is increased to 4 to 1. The house advantage on this wager is 3.62%.
Online Three Card Poker
Prime Table Games has licensed Three Card Poker use by certain internet casinos that do not access United States players, though a software provider, Wager Works. These internet casinos are identifiable by reference to Prime Table Games on these sites.
The majority of internet use of Three Card Poker, including all United States use, has not been licensed. Certain internet casinos have used other game names, but the game is still the same. Players are not informed by these internet casinos that Three Card Poker is a proprietary game and that these internet casinos use the game without permission of and without payment to the game inventor or the game rights owners.
It is the opinion of Prime Table Games that this use without permission is commercial theft of intellectual property and deception of players by internet casinos and associated parties. Further, it demonstrates a lack of adequate regulation of an immature internet gambling industry.]]>
In the early frontier gambling saloons, the house would set the odds on roulette tables at 27 for 1. This meant that on a $1 bet you would get $27 and the house would keep your initial dollar.

Today most casino odds are set by law, and they have to be either 34 to 1 or 35 to 1. This means that the house pays you $34 or $35 and you get to keep your original $1 bet.

The house average or house edge (also called the expected value) is the amount the player loses relative to any bet made, on average. If a player bets on a single number in the American game there is a probability of 1/38 that the player wins 35 times the bet, and a 37/38 chance that the player loses their bet. The expected value is:
−1×37/38 + 35×1/38 = −0.0526 (5.26% house edge)
For European roulette, a single number wins 1/37 and loses 36/37:
−1×36/37 + 35×1/37 = −0.0270 (2.70% house edge)
The presence of the green squares on the roulette wheel and on the table are technically the only house edge. Outside bets will always lose when a single or double zero come up. However, the house also has an edge on inside bets because the pay outs are always set at 35 to 1 when you mathematically have a 37 to 1 chance at winning a straight bet on a single number. To demonstrate the house edge on inside bets, imagine placing straight $1 wagers on all inside numbers on a roulette table (including 0 and 00) to assure a win. You would only get back 36 times your original bet having spent $38. The only exception are the five numbers bet where the house edge is considerably higher (7.89% on an American wheel), and the 'even money' bets in some European games where the house edge is halved because only half the stake is lost when a zero comes up.
The house edge should not be confused with the hold. The hold is the average percentage of the money originally brought to the table that the player loses before he leaves - the actual "win" amount for the casino. The Casino Control Commission in Atlantic City releases a monthly report showing the win/hold amounts for each casino. The average win/hold for double zero wheels is between 21-30%, significantly more than the 5.26% house edge. This reflects the fact that the player is 'churning' the same money over and over again. A 26.3% hold, for example, would imply that on average, the player bets the total he brought to the table five times, as 26.3% is approximately equal to 100% - (100% - 5.26%)^5. For example, a player with $100 making $10 bets on red (which has a near 50/50 chance of winning) is highly unlikely to lose all his money after only 10 bets, and will most likely continue to bet until he has lost all of his money or decides to leave. A player making $10 bets on a single number (with only 1/38 chance of success) with a $100 bankroll is far more likely to lose all of his money after only 10 bets. Despite being more likely to lose, the casino's average hold from this type of player would be significantly lower than the even-money bettor, because the single number player will on average bet less money (at 5.26% expected loss per dollar bet).






Rule variations and the "house advantage for Blackjack"
The blackjack player will encounter many rule variations which affect the house advantage and therefore affect his chances of winning. Some rules are determined by law or regulation, others by the casino itself. Not all rules are posted, so the player may have to ask either beforehand or when the situation occurs. Over 100 variations exist.
The casino has a "house advantage" at blackjack just as it does at any other casino game. The primary house advantage in blackjack comes from the fact that if the player busts he loses, irrespective of whether the dealer subsequently busts. If a particular casino game has a house advantage of 5%, it means that - over the long run - the casino will win about 5% of any initial bet. As long as the blackjack player uses the best possible strategy (a strategy which is known as "basic strategy"), the house advantage in blackjack is usually less than 1%. This is very favourable to the player compared to other casino games. Of course, many blackjack players do not know basic strategy or do not follow it, so the true house advantage in those cases may be much higher.
Dealer hits soft 17
Each casino has a rule about whether or not the dealer hits soft 17, a rule which is printed on the table itself. In the "S17" game, the dealer stands on all 17s. In the "H17" game, the dealer hits on soft 17s. Of course, the dealer always stands on hard 17s. In either case, the dealer has no choice; he either must or must not hit. The "Hit soft 17" game is less favourable to the player with about a 0.2% higher house advantage.
Number of decks
The number of decks used has a major effect on the player's chance of winning, because it affects the house advantage. All things being equal, fewer decks are always more favourable for the basic strategy player. One cause of this is that player blackjack is slightly more likely in single deck blackjack (because blackjack requires two different cards, by removing a card of one type (e.g., a Ten), getting one of a different type (e.g., an Ace) is more likely - and the effect is much greater in a single deck game than in a multi-deck game), and if the player does have blackjack, the dealer is significantly less likely to have blackjack as well (which is a push), meaning that statistically the player should get paid at 3:2 more often in the single deck game.
When single deck blackjack is offered, it is generally offered with more restrictive rules that favour the house. For illustrative purposes, the statistics below all use the same rules: double after split, re split to four hands, one card to split Aces, no surrender, double on any two cards, original bets only lost on dealer blackjack, dealer hits soft 17, and cut-card used. The single deck game is much better than double deck, which is significantly better than four decks, while from six decks and up there is very little difference.
Number of Decks
House Advantage
Single deck
0.17%
Double deck
0.46%
Four decks
0.60%
Six decks
0.64%
Eight decks
0.66%
Surrender
Some casinos offer a favourable option called "surrender," which allows the player to give up half his bet and not play out the hand. This option is sometimes referred to as "late" surrender because it occurs after the dealer has checked his or her hole card for a blackjack. When casinos first opened in Atlantic City, the surrender option was available before the dealer checked for blackjack - a rule highly advantageous to the player - but this "early surrender" option soon disappeared. Early surrender variations still exist in several countries.
The player should only surrender on the very worst hands, because having even a 25% chance of winning will result in a better average return than giving up half of his bet. With early surrender, a player is more likely to surrender against a dealer Ace.
Resplitting
If the player splits a pair other than aces and a third card of that value appears, the player can usually split again (or "re split") by putting up another bet equal to the original bet. Then there will be three bets on the table and three separate hands. Some casinos allow unlimited re-splitting of cards other than aces, while others may limit it to a certain number of hands, such as four hands (for example, "re split to 4").
Hit/re split split aces
After splitting aces, one common rule is that only one card will be dealt to each ace; the player cannot split, double, or take another hit on either hand. Rule variants include allowing re-splitting aces or allowing the player to hit split aces. Allowing the player to hit aces reduces the casino edge by about 0.13%, allowing re-splitting aces reduces the edge by about 0.03%. While re-splitting aces is not uncommon, houses that allow the player to hit split aces are extremely rare.
Double after split
After splitting a pair, most casinos allow the player to "double down" on either or both of the new two-card hands. This is called "double after split" and provides an advantage to the player of about 0.12%.
Double on 9/10/11 or 10/11 only
Often called "Reno" rules, this rule restricts the player to doubling down only on an initial player total of 10 or 11 (sometimes 9, 10, or 11 - more common in Europe). It prevents doubling on soft hands such as soft 17 (ace-6), and is unfavourable for the player. It increases the house advantage by between 0.09% (8 decks) and 0.15% (1 deck) for the 9-11 rule, and between 0.17% (8 decks) and 0.26% (single deck) for the 10-11 rule. These numbers can vary due to interaction with other rules.
No hole-card
In most non-U.S. casinos, a 'no hole card' game is played. This means that there is no dealer hole card. This usually affects the player's strategy when deciding whether to double and/or split, since a dealer blackjack will result in the loss of the split and double bets. For instance, holding 11 against a dealer 10, the correct strategy is to double in a hole card game (where the player knows the dealer's second card is not an ace), but to hit in a no hole card game. The no hole card rule adds approximately 0.11% to the house edge.
In some places,[where?] if the dealer is later found to have blackjack, the player loses only his original bet but not any additional bets (doubles or splits). This has the same advantage as the hole-card game, and as such does not change basic strategy.
Altered payout for blackjack
In many casinos in Nevada--usually at tables with the lowest table minimums--a blackjack hand pays only 6:5 or even 1:1 instead of the usual 3:2. This is the most unfavourable common variation, increasing the house edge significantly more than most U.S. player restrictions. Since blackjack occurs in approximately 4.8% of hands, the 1:1 game increases the house edge by 2.3%, while the 6:5 game adds 1.4% to the house edge. The 1:1 payout for video blackjack is a key reason why it has never approached the table version in terms of popularity. The 6:5 rule is most commonly employed on table blackjack at single deck games - which are otherwise the most attractive game for a basic strategy player.
Dealer wins ties
Allowing the dealer to win all push hands is catastrophic to the player. Though rarely used in standard blackjack, it is sometimes seen in "blackjack-like" games such as in some charity casinos.
Insurance
If the dealer's upcard is an ace, the player is offered the option of taking insurance before the dealer checks his or her 'hole card'.
Insurance is a side bet of up to half the original bet placed on a special portion of the table usually marked "Insurance Pays 2 to 1". This side bet is offered only when the dealer's exposed card is an ace. The idea is that the dealer's second card has a fairly high probability (nearly one-third) to be ten-valued, giving the dealer a blackjack and almost certainly results in a loss for the player. It is attractive (although not necessarily wise) for the player to insure against this possibility by making an "insurance" bet, which pays 2-to-1 if the dealer has a blackjack, in which case the "insurance proceeds" will make up for the concomitant loss on the original bet. The insurance bet is lost if the dealer does not have blackjack, although the player can still win or lose on the original bet.
Insurance is a poor bet for the player unless he is counting cards because, in an infinite deck, 4/13 of the cards have a value of ten (10, J, Q, or K) and 9/13 therefore are not, so the theoretical return for an infinite deck game is 4/13 * 2 * bet - 9/13 * bet = -1 /13 * bet, or -7.69%. In practice, the average house edge will be lower than this, because by eliminating even one non-ten card from the shoe (the dealer's ace), the proportion of the remaining cards that are valued at ten is higher. Even so, the bet is generally to be avoided, as the house's average edge is still more than 7%.
A player who is counting cards can keep count of the remaining tens in the shoe and use it to make insurance bets only when he has an edge (e.g., when more than one third of the remaining cards are tens). In addition, in a multi-hand single deck game, it is possible for insurance to be a good bet simply by observing the other cards on the table - for an initial hand, if the dealer has an ace, then there are 51 cards left in the deck, of which 16 are tens. However, if there are as few as 2 players playing, and none of their two initial cards are tens, then that means that 16 out of 47 remaining cards are ten - better than 1 in 3, and so the insurance bet is a good one.
When the player has blackjack and the dealer has an ace, the insurance bet may be offered as "even money", meaning that the player's blackjack is paid immediately at 1:1 before checking the dealer's hand. 'Even money' is only a slightly different bet; the difference being that the player must have sufficient funds to insure the blackjack if even money is not offered. Taking even money is generally even worse than average, because one of the player's two cards is a ten, so the proportion of tens remaining in the deck is lower.
In casinos where a hole card is dealt, a dealer who is showing a card with a value of ace or 10 may slide the corner of his hole card over a small mirror or electronic sensor on the tabletop in order to check whether he has a blackjack. This practice minimizes the risk of inadvertently revealing the hole card, which may give the sharp-eyed player a considerable advantage.
Side bets
Some casinos offer a side bet with their blackjack games. Examples include side bets based on getting three 7s, a three card poker-style bet, a pair, and many others. For the side bet, the player will typically put up an additional wager alongside his main bet and can win or lose the side bet, regardless of the main game result. The house edge for side bets is usually much higher than the main game.



House Advantages of Three Card Poker
House advantages vary according to the pay scale used:
Pair Plus
United Kingdom

Straight flush
35 to 1
40 to 1
40 to 1
Three of a kind
33 to 1
30 to 1
30 to 1
Straight
6 to 1
6 to 1
6 to 1
Flush
4 to 1
4 to 1
3 to 1
Pair
1 to 1
1 to 1
1 to 1
House Advantage
2.70%
2.32%
7.28%
Ante and Play house advantage assumes the player plays optimum strategy against the dealer which is to make the Play wager with a Queen-6-4 or better. There is less pay scale variation on the Ante Bonus than on the Pair Plus with following being by far the most common.
Ante Bonus
 
Straight Flush
5 x 1
Three of a kind
4 x 1
Straight
1 x 1

Ante and Play
 
House advantage
2.01% as a percentage of total Ante and Play wager
House advantage
3.37% as a percentage of Ante wager only
There are two ways of expressing the against dealer hand house advantage. If the house advantage is expressed as a percentage of the Ante wager only (at 3.37%) this could encourage players to erroneously think that the house advantage on the Play wager is 0.00%, and so think that the Play wager should always be made. Consequently it is better for players to understand the concept of house advantage on the total combined wager in the against dealer mode, being 2.01%.
Strategy for Three Card Poker
Optimum player strategy against the dealer is to make the Play wager with Queen-6-4 or better. However the simple strategy of Queen high or better produces a very similar result. As with all negative expectation gambling games there is no legitimate strategy that can overcome the house advantage. Therefore the player should play the strategy that provides the most enjoyment. The most common wager strategies are to play Ante and Pair Plus wagers for equal amounts, or for one of the Ante and Pair Plus wagers to be double the amount of the other one of the Ante and Pair Plus wagers.
Variation of Three Card Poker
Prime Table Games has added a wager called Prime in United Kingdom casinos and the game is known as Prime Three Card Poker. The Prime wager is optionally placed before cards are dealt and pays on the colour of the player cards. If all three cards are the same colour the payoff is 3 to 1. However when included with the dealer hand if all six cards are the same colour then the payoff is increased to 4 to 1. The house advantage on this wager is 3.62%.
Online Three Card Poker
Prime Table Games has licensed Three Card Poker use by certain internet casinos that do not access United States players, though a software provider, Wager Works. These internet casinos are identifiable by reference to Prime Table Games on these sites.
The majority of internet use of Three Card Poker, including all United States use, has not been licensed. Certain internet casinos have used other game names, but the game is still the same. Players are not informed by these internet casinos that Three Card Poker is a proprietary game and that these internet casinos use the game without permission of and without payment to the game inventor or the game rights owners.
It is the opinion of Prime Table Games that this use without permission is commercial theft of intellectual property and deception of players by internet casinos and associated parties. Further, it demonstrates a lack of adequate regulation of an immature internet gambling industry.]]> http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Stanley-casino-Plymouth-is-giving-it-away Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:32:58 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Stanley-casino-Plymouth-is-giving-it-away http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Licence-conditions-codes-of-practice-for-casinos Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:16:13 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Licence-conditions-codes-of-practice-for-casinos There are four types of licence condition that may be attached to operating licences, under the Gambling Act 2005: general and individual conditions (which are attached by the Gambling Commission), conditions imposed by the Secretary of State (made through statutory instruments) and statutory conditions imposed by the Gambling Act 2005 itself. Licence conditions set out matters that must be complied with by licensees.

General licence conditions can be applied to an individual operating licence or a class of operating licence (for example, all betting operating licences).
Individual licence conditions can be applied to an individual operating licence. They are likely to address matters concerning an individual operator and their activities.
Conditions imposed by the Secretary of State may be applied to a class of operating licence.
Statutory conditions may be applied to a class of operating licence.
What are codes of practice?
We issue codes of practice under section 24 of the Gambling Act 2005, about the manner in which facilities for gambling are provided to ensure that:

gambling is conducted in a fair and open way
children and other vulnerable people are protected from being harmed or exploited by gambling
assistance is made available to people who are, or may be, affected by problems related to gambling.
Codes of practice are either:

social responsibility code provisions - which have the same status as licence conditions and must be adhered to by all licence holders
ordinary code provisions – these do not have the status of licence conditions but failure to take account of them can be used as evidence in criminal or civil proceedings. Ordinary licence conditions typically describe best practice.
How do I get a copy of the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice?
A copy the Licence conditions and codes of practice - October 2008 (LCCP) is available on our website.

Extracts from the LCCP, applicable to each type of licence, are also available on our website.

When a licence is issued, the licence holder will receive an extract of the LCCP, specific to the activities their licence allows them to carry out.

Should we make any changes to the full LCCP document, a revised copy will be sent to licence holders. This will be sent out before the revised conditions and codes of practice come into effect. This gives licence holders time to learn about how any changes will affect their business. We only make changes to the LCCP where necessary and based on our experience of implementing the conditions and codes. Changes are only made following consultation.

What supplements to the LCCP have been published since October 2008?
If required, we will publish supplements to accompany the current version of the LCCP. If we publish a supplement we will inform all licence holders affected by the changes.

Since the LCCP - October 2008 was published, three supplements have been issued:

Licence conditions and codes of practice supplement 4: primary gambling activity - January 2009 specifies the requirement for the primary gambling activity associated with specified non-remote operating licences to be offered in all associated licensed premises. This new licence condition and related code of practice provisions came into effect for the majority of licensees on 1 May 2009.
Licence conditions and codes of practice supplement 5: revision to licence condition 11 - February 2009 specifies revisions to the limits on society lottery proceeds and prizes. The Gambling Commission and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) both held consultations towards the end of 2008 on society lottery proceeds and prize limits. As a result, DCMS has raised the maximum proceeds for individual society lottery draws from £2 million to £4 million. As the maximum prize is 10% of the ticket proceeds this change means that a maximum prize of £400,000 is now possible for a single draw. The revised licence condition came into effect on 13 February 2009. This condition concerning lotteries gives effect to the changes to be implemented as a result. The condition remains the same as that published in October 2008 except for the amounts highlighted in the document. The change to the licence condition took effect from 13 February 2009. The Gambling Act 2005 (Variation of Monetary Limits) Order 2009 was approved by Parliament and came into effect on 4 February 2009.
Licence conditions and codes of practice supplement 6: casino gaming reserve - June 2009 specifies revisions to the formula used to calculate the gaming reserve which is required to be held by non-remote casino operators. The revision retains the basis on which the reserve is calculated (relating to the maximum stake permitted in casino games), but drops the additional requirements based on additional gaming tables or additional casinos. The revised licence condition came into effect on 1 July 2009.
Do Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice only apply to new licences?
No. Licence conditions and codes apply to new and existing licences, including:

any holder of a personal or operating licence issued under the Gambling Act 2005
converted society lottery operating licences which will replace current registrations under the Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976
gaming machine technical operating licences to continuing machine supply or maintenance (certificates issued under section 27 of the Gaming Act 1968)
any interim personal or operating licence a person holds (pending final determination of their licence application).
What happens if I do not comply with the licence conditions and codes of practice?
We have powers to take action against licensed operators who fail to comply with the conditions of their licence or codes of practice.

Related publicationsLCCP Supplement 6 casino gaming reserve - June 2009
Licence conditions and codes of practice - October 2008
Licence conditions and codes of practice 2009 - remote casino - December 2008
Licence conditions and codes of practice 2009 - casino - December 2008
Licence conditions and codes of practice 2009: changes from previous version - December 2008
Licence conditions and codes of practice supplement 4: primary gambling activity - January 2009]]> There are four types of licence condition that may be attached to operating licences, under the Gambling Act 2005: general and individual conditions (which are attached by the Gambling Commission), conditions imposed by the Secretary of State (made through statutory instruments) and statutory conditions imposed by the Gambling Act 2005 itself. Licence conditions set out matters that must be complied with by licensees.

General licence conditions can be applied to an individual operating licence or a class of operating licence (for example, all betting operating licences).
Individual licence conditions can be applied to an individual operating licence. They are likely to address matters concerning an individual operator and their activities.
Conditions imposed by the Secretary of State may be applied to a class of operating licence.
Statutory conditions may be applied to a class of operating licence.
What are codes of practice?
We issue codes of practice under section 24 of the Gambling Act 2005, about the manner in which facilities for gambling are provided to ensure that:

gambling is conducted in a fair and open way
children and other vulnerable people are protected from being harmed or exploited by gambling
assistance is made available to people who are, or may be, affected by problems related to gambling.
Codes of practice are either:

social responsibility code provisions - which have the same status as licence conditions and must be adhered to by all licence holders
ordinary code provisions – these do not have the status of licence conditions but failure to take account of them can be used as evidence in criminal or civil proceedings. Ordinary licence conditions typically describe best practice.
How do I get a copy of the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice?
A copy the Licence conditions and codes of practice - October 2008 (LCCP) is available on our website.

Extracts from the LCCP, applicable to each type of licence, are also available on our website.

When a licence is issued, the licence holder will receive an extract of the LCCP, specific to the activities their licence allows them to carry out.

Should we make any changes to the full LCCP document, a revised copy will be sent to licence holders. This will be sent out before the revised conditions and codes of practice come into effect. This gives licence holders time to learn about how any changes will affect their business. We only make changes to the LCCP where necessary and based on our experience of implementing the conditions and codes. Changes are only made following consultation.

What supplements to the LCCP have been published since October 2008?
If required, we will publish supplements to accompany the current version of the LCCP. If we publish a supplement we will inform all licence holders affected by the changes.

Since the LCCP - October 2008 was published, three supplements have been issued:

Licence conditions and codes of practice supplement 4: primary gambling activity - January 2009 specifies the requirement for the primary gambling activity associated with specified non-remote operating licences to be offered in all associated licensed premises. This new licence condition and related code of practice provisions came into effect for the majority of licensees on 1 May 2009.
Licence conditions and codes of practice supplement 5: revision to licence condition 11 - February 2009 specifies revisions to the limits on society lottery proceeds and prizes. The Gambling Commission and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) both held consultations towards the end of 2008 on society lottery proceeds and prize limits. As a result, DCMS has raised the maximum proceeds for individual society lottery draws from £2 million to £4 million. As the maximum prize is 10% of the ticket proceeds this change means that a maximum prize of £400,000 is now possible for a single draw. The revised licence condition came into effect on 13 February 2009. This condition concerning lotteries gives effect to the changes to be implemented as a result. The condition remains the same as that published in October 2008 except for the amounts highlighted in the document. The change to the licence condition took effect from 13 February 2009. The Gambling Act 2005 (Variation of Monetary Limits) Order 2009 was approved by Parliament and came into effect on 4 February 2009.
Licence conditions and codes of practice supplement 6: casino gaming reserve - June 2009 specifies revisions to the formula used to calculate the gaming reserve which is required to be held by non-remote casino operators. The revision retains the basis on which the reserve is calculated (relating to the maximum stake permitted in casino games), but drops the additional requirements based on additional gaming tables or additional casinos. The revised licence condition came into effect on 1 July 2009.
Do Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice only apply to new licences?
No. Licence conditions and codes apply to new and existing licences, including:

any holder of a personal or operating licence issued under the Gambling Act 2005
converted society lottery operating licences which will replace current registrations under the Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976
gaming machine technical operating licences to continuing machine supply or maintenance (certificates issued under section 27 of the Gaming Act 1968)
any interim personal or operating licence a person holds (pending final determination of their licence application).
What happens if I do not comply with the licence conditions and codes of practice?
We have powers to take action against licensed operators who fail to comply with the conditions of their licence or codes of practice.

Related publicationsLCCP Supplement 6 casino gaming reserve - June 2009
Licence conditions and codes of practice - October 2008
Licence conditions and codes of practice 2009 - remote casino - December 2008
Licence conditions and codes of practice 2009 - casino - December 2008
Licence conditions and codes of practice 2009: changes from previous version - December 2008
Licence conditions and codes of practice supplement 4: primary gambling activity - January 2009]]> http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Page-1-2 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:53:19 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Page-1-2
This is what I had trained for.

I went on the roulette table and within 10 spins of the ball, I had all the casinos money back from the customers and put the table back into profit. The management were happy and the customers seamed to accept the inevitable outcome,

I knew I had a natural talent for this business. I was addicted to it straight away. I loved it.

What I didn't know was that my career in casinos would take me all over the world working in legal and illegal casinos.

For large corporations and Mafia organisations.

It would nearly cost me my life, and it would certainly have a heavy price to pay.

Having left home just after my 16th birthday, I worked for two years in a burger bar during the night night, whilst attending collage during the day to gain my 'A-levels. I was accepted into college to do a degree, however I needed a summer job,

There it was, 'Trainee Croupiers required' I applied for the job and was successful.

Training started 10 weeks before my 18th birthday, I learnt quickly, I loved it, I got my licence which is required to be able to work in casinos just after my birthday, and started dealing Roulette and Blackjack to real life customers with real life money.
18 years old, cash on the hip, Girls that loved to party ( a lot ), VIP free of charge into nearly all the top nightclubs, A job that was fun,

There was no way that I was going to go to collage, This was too good!


One of the things I liked about casinos is that very night was different, customers changed, staff changed, and you never knew what was going to happen.
I was dealing Blackjack on the first table, closest to the staff entrance to the gaming floor. I looked up as the staff came in, A poor girl caught the bottom of her dress on the heal of her shoe, the dress came down, she wasn't wearing any underwear, their she was revealing all she had to reveal. All
the customers in the area looked , the poor girl went running back into the staff area riddled with embarrassment and refused to come back on the gaming floor to work for that night.
I smiled.
To be honest I found it funny and exciting, I knew that I should have been concerned and respectful towards my fellow co-worker, however, I didn't.

I knew at that moment that my morality and human decency was questionable, at best.

No sooner had that happened, when I received a sharp pain on my shin, that travelled up my leg and I did all I could to fight the pain and remain standing up!.


It brought tears to my eyes, but I wasn't going to show it. I just put my head down and continued dealing.
'bastard'. I thought, but there was nothing I could do about it!
A short time after, I was relieved from dealing the Blackjack game to have a break. I limped up to the staff room and sat down with a coffee and a cigarette.
In he came, the strictest Gaming Inspector in the club. “get out of my seat” he shouted, I did, and went to sit by the window.
He made himself a coffee, and as he walked past me said “if I ever catch you not paying full attention to the game that you are dealing, or if I ever catch you making a mistake, the kick to your shin you have just had from me, would feel like a tickle, compared to what you will receive.

Two things crossed my mind at that point, firstly, I was never going to make another mistake whilst dealing a casino game, and secondly, how quickly could I become an inspector?

Inspectors were demi-gods in the industry. They watched two games at the same time, recorded all the cash transactions, Dealt with most of the customer disputes and checked multiple combinations of cash and chip payouts simultaneously. All of this without cameras, or much support from anyone.
They used to have their own independent staff room, however due to space limitations and cost cutting, now had to share with mere Croupiers.]]>
This is what I had trained for.

I went on the roulette table and within 10 spins of the ball, I had all the casinos money back from the customers and put the table back into profit. The management were happy and the customers seamed to accept the inevitable outcome,

I knew I had a natural talent for this business. I was addicted to it straight away. I loved it.

What I didn't know was that my career in casinos would take me all over the world working in legal and illegal casinos.

For large corporations and Mafia organisations.

It would nearly cost me my life, and it would certainly have a heavy price to pay.

Having left home just after my 16th birthday, I worked for two years in a burger bar during the night night, whilst attending collage during the day to gain my 'A-levels. I was accepted into college to do a degree, however I needed a summer job,

There it was, 'Trainee Croupiers required' I applied for the job and was successful.

Training started 10 weeks before my 18th birthday, I learnt quickly, I loved it, I got my licence which is required to be able to work in casinos just after my birthday, and started dealing Roulette and Blackjack to real life customers with real life money.
18 years old, cash on the hip, Girls that loved to party ( a lot ), VIP free of charge into nearly all the top nightclubs, A job that was fun,

There was no way that I was going to go to collage, This was too good!


One of the things I liked about casinos is that very night was different, customers changed, staff changed, and you never knew what was going to happen.
I was dealing Blackjack on the first table, closest to the staff entrance to the gaming floor. I looked up as the staff came in, A poor girl caught the bottom of her dress on the heal of her shoe, the dress came down, she wasn't wearing any underwear, their she was revealing all she had to reveal. All
the customers in the area looked , the poor girl went running back into the staff area riddled with embarrassment and refused to come back on the gaming floor to work for that night.
I smiled.
To be honest I found it funny and exciting, I knew that I should have been concerned and respectful towards my fellow co-worker, however, I didn't.

I knew at that moment that my morality and human decency was questionable, at best.

No sooner had that happened, when I received a sharp pain on my shin, that travelled up my leg and I did all I could to fight the pain and remain standing up!.


It brought tears to my eyes, but I wasn't going to show it. I just put my head down and continued dealing.
'bastard'. I thought, but there was nothing I could do about it!
A short time after, I was relieved from dealing the Blackjack game to have a break. I limped up to the staff room and sat down with a coffee and a cigarette.
In he came, the strictest Gaming Inspector in the club. “get out of my seat” he shouted, I did, and went to sit by the window.
He made himself a coffee, and as he walked past me said “if I ever catch you not paying full attention to the game that you are dealing, or if I ever catch you making a mistake, the kick to your shin you have just had from me, would feel like a tickle, compared to what you will receive.

Two things crossed my mind at that point, firstly, I was never going to make another mistake whilst dealing a casino game, and secondly, how quickly could I become an inspector?

Inspectors were demi-gods in the industry. They watched two games at the same time, recorded all the cash transactions, Dealt with most of the customer disputes and checked multiple combinations of cash and chip payouts simultaneously. All of this without cameras, or much support from anyone.
They used to have their own independent staff room, however due to space limitations and cost cutting, now had to share with mere Croupiers.]]> http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Robbing-Bast-ds Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:47:16 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Robbing-Bast-ds http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Remote-and-gambling-software-technical-standards Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:40:17 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Remote-and-gambling-software-technical-standards Gambling software and remote operating licence holders (including ancillary remote betting licence holders) are required to comply with the Gambling Commission’s technical standards and requirements relating to the timing and procedures for testing. This requirement is set out in Condition 2 of the Licence conditions and codes of practice - October 2008.

What are the remote and gambling software technical standards?
Remote and gambling software technical standards - August 2009 details the specific technical standards and the security requirements that licensed remote gambling operators and gambling software operators need to meet.

The RTS comprises the following:

Remote technical standards including information provision requirements.
Security requirements.
Technical standards
The technical standards cover:

customer account information
displaying transactions
rules, game descriptions and the likelihood of winning
time-critical events
result determination
result determination for play-for-fun games
generation of random outcomes
auto-play functionality
skill and chance games with auto-play
interrupted gambling
limiting collusion/cheating
financial limits
time requirements
responsible product design
information provision (Annex A).
Security requirements
The security requirements are based on international information security standards and are summarised in the technical standards document. A full version of the security requirements can be obtained in paper format from us.

The security requirements detail information security standards with the aim of ensuring that operators have appropriate controls in place so that customers are not exposed to unnecessary risks when choosing to participate in remote gambling.

The requirements apply to:

electronic systems that record, store, process, share, transmit or retrieve sensitive customer information - for example, credit/debit card details, authentication information, customer account balances
electronic systems that generate, transmit, or process random numbers used to determine the outcome of games or virtual events
electronic systems that store results or the current state of a customer’s gamble
points of entry to and exit from the above systems (other systems that are able to communicate directly with core critical systems)
communication networks that transmit sensitive customer information.
Testing strategy for compliance with remote gambling and software technical standards
The Testing strategy for compliance with remote gambling and software technical standards - August 2009 details:

what we would normally consider to be the types of testing required in order for us to be satisfied that the technical standards are being met
who we consider appropriate to carry out that testing
the procedures for testing.

It discusses the testing strategy for assessing compliance with the Remote and gambling software technical standards - August 2009.]]> Gambling software and remote operating licence holders (including ancillary remote betting licence holders) are required to comply with the Gambling Commission’s technical standards and requirements relating to the timing and procedures for testing. This requirement is set out in Condition 2 of the Licence conditions and codes of practice - October 2008.

What are the remote and gambling software technical standards?
Remote and gambling software technical standards - August 2009 details the specific technical standards and the security requirements that licensed remote gambling operators and gambling software operators need to meet.

The RTS comprises the following:

Remote technical standards including information provision requirements.
Security requirements.
Technical standards
The technical standards cover:

customer account information
displaying transactions
rules, game descriptions and the likelihood of winning
time-critical events
result determination
result determination for play-for-fun games
generation of random outcomes
auto-play functionality
skill and chance games with auto-play
interrupted gambling
limiting collusion/cheating
financial limits
time requirements
responsible product design
information provision (Annex A).
Security requirements
The security requirements are based on international information security standards and are summarised in the technical standards document. A full version of the security requirements can be obtained in paper format from us.

The security requirements detail information security standards with the aim of ensuring that operators have appropriate controls in place so that customers are not exposed to unnecessary risks when choosing to participate in remote gambling.

The requirements apply to:

electronic systems that record, store, process, share, transmit or retrieve sensitive customer information - for example, credit/debit card details, authentication information, customer account balances
electronic systems that generate, transmit, or process random numbers used to determine the outcome of games or virtual events
electronic systems that store results or the current state of a customer’s gamble
points of entry to and exit from the above systems (other systems that are able to communicate directly with core critical systems)
communication networks that transmit sensitive customer information.
Testing strategy for compliance with remote gambling and software technical standards
The Testing strategy for compliance with remote gambling and software technical standards - August 2009 details:

what we would normally consider to be the types of testing required in order for us to be satisfied that the technical standards are being met
who we consider appropriate to carry out that testing
the procedures for testing.

It discusses the testing strategy for assessing compliance with the Remote and gambling software technical standards - August 2009.]]> http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Gala-Coral-Group Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:35:12 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Gala-Coral-Group The Group headquarters are in Nottingham Gala Bingo and Casino, Barking Coral & Woking Gala Coral E-commerce.
The Group through acquisitions and new developments have over 1630 Licenced Betting Offices



Group Divisions
Gala Bingo
Gala Bingo operates 148 clubs throughout the United Kingdom, with approximately a 24% share of all clubs and nearly 40% of National Bingo Game ticket sales up until the operator's withdrawl from the National Game in Summer 2008.
Gala has around five million bingo members, of which approximately 1.2 million are active players. Gala Bingo has an average of 600,000 admissions per week.
The bingo division began participation in the Nectar loyalty card scheme on June 1, 2007.[1] Nectar points were originally awarded for club admissions, and additionally for slot machine play from 1 September 2007 - a first for the UK Bingo industry.
On 31 July 2007 pensioner Pauline Clarke, 62, became Gala's first GBP millionaire, after winning a tie-break against another online player[2].
Gala Casinos
Gala Casino operates 20% of the UK casino market through its 32 outlets (30 of which are UK based).
Gala Casinos has 1.3 million members. Roulette is the most popular game by far, accounting for 63% of gaming income. Punto Banco/Baccarat is next with 19.1% and blackjack 11.1%.
In December 2000, the Gala Group made its first move into the casino sector with the acquisition of 26 Ladbrokes casinos from the Hilton Group. This established the Group’s leading position within the high volume, low stake sector of the gaming market.
Private equity firms Candover and Cinven acquired the Group in February 2003 and in August 2005 a third investor, Permira, bought a stake in the Group.
Coral
Coral is the fastest growing bookmaker in Britain, and currently has 1630 betting shops in the UK as of 3 August 2009 as well as hundreds more in Italy trading under the Eurobet name.
Joe Coral began his bookmaking business in 1926 operating betting pitches at greyhound courses. His great friend, Tom Bradbury-Pratt ran speedway meetings at Harringay and a number of other venues. He, and Joe Coral, went on to establish many speedway and greyhound tracks and Joe was one of the first bookmakers to take advantage of the 1960 legalisation of off-course betting shops and opened his first shop in 1961. In those days Coral were not afraid to lay large commissions, even to shrewd customers.
Coral was acquired by Bass in January 1981, by which time Coral was one of the largest leisure groups in the United Kingdom, comprising approximately 650 betting shops, two greyhound stadia, social clubs, casinos, hotels and holiday camps. Although the betting shops and stadia retained the Coral name, the other operations were integrated into Bass.
In December 1997 Ladbrokes acquired Coral from Bass. However, the acquisition was referred to the UK Monopolies and Mergers Commission and they concluded in September 1998 that Ladbrokes should not be allowed to retain ownership of Coral (however they were allowed to keep Coral's betting offices in the Channel Islands and integrated these into their own retail division).
Coral Group was then sold in a management buy-out backed by Morgan Grenfell Private Equity in February 1999. At the end of 1999 Eurobet, an internet betting business was acquired and the Group’s name was changed to Coral Eurobet.
The Coral Eurobet Group was then sold in a further management buy-out in September 2002 which was backed by Charterhouse Development Capital.
Coral owns two greyhound racing stadia in Britain, at Romford and Hove. Coral also operates betting shops at three of Britain’s biggest racecourses – Cheltenham, Epsom, and Sandown Park (venue of the company sponsored 'Coral Eclipse' race) , plus one each at Gatwick Airport (South Terminal) and Stansted Airport.
Coral also operates an online casino, an online gaming site, and an online poker site.
Coral was the first major UK Bookmaker to sign to Turf TV on 22 December 2007.
Coral also owns a Squash and gym club at Hove.
Coral employs over 11000 betting shop staff within the UK
In 2007, the Group commenced the rollout of betting shops in Italy (under the 'Eurobet' brand) following its success in December 2006 in winning 403 sports and horse race betting licences, through a government-led auction. The Group also set up a joint venture in China.
In July 2009 Coral announced the relocation of their broadcasting department to Milton Keynes to a purpose built studio to manage the inception of its new TV channel, Coral TV.
E-Commerce Division
The division is responsible for the development, management and operation of all the E-Commerce activities of the Gala Coral Group. The division is also the online betting and gaming arm of the Gala Coral Group, offering a wide variety of products and betting opportunities both in the UK and internationally through the Group’s branded services.
galabingo.com,
GalaTV.co.uk,
galacasino.co.uk,
coral.co.uk
eurobet.com
sportpress.com
Eurobet serves clients in over 130 countries, providing online sports betting in the following languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Greek, Russian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Albanian and Czech.
Other services operated by the division include Gala TV.
Main article: Gala TV
Gala TV is a TV gaming channel that launched on October 4, 2006 on Sky Digital and Freesat channels 861. The channel shows bingo games.
International Division
The international division of Gala Coral was formally established on 1 October 2007. The aim of the International division is to develop an integrated multi-brand strategy. The first example of this is Italy with Eurobet retail and eurobet.it
Italy The Group won 403 betting licences in the open market tender in December 2006 under its Eurobet brand.
China The Group set up a joint venture to launch land-based bingo in China, with bingo being seen as the most appropriate point of entry for the Group.
Group History
Coral Eurobet History
Joe Coral (born Joseph Kagarlitski, 11 December 1904) began his bookmaking business in 1926 and, although primarily concerned with operating betting pitches at racecourses, he did open a credit office in the West End of London in 1943.
He was, though, one of the first to take advantage of the new legislation and duly opened his first licensed betting office in 1961. The new law was, however, not intended to encourage betting and therefore shops were positively unattractive in appearance and devoid of any comforts.
By 1962 there were 13,340 betting offices of which Coral owned 23. During the seventies the situation changed completely and by 1977 four major bookmakers had evolved (including Coral) who owned nearly 24% of the 13,254 shops operating. Coral's number had originally grown to 589 as a result of a merger with another bookmaker, Mark Lane in 1971.
By 1975 the company had become the Coral Leisure Group and had diversified to include a variety of other leisure activities comprising social clubs, casinos, hotels and later holiday camps.
In January 1981, however, the Coral Group was acquired by Bass plc and although it continued to retain the Coral name it became an integral part of the growing Bass Leisure. Bass is one of the oldest established UK companies, William Bass having started the brewing operation in 1777.
With Bass support the number of Coral shops continued to grow during the 80's via acquisitions of Bartletts and Heathorns in 1984, with 13 and 47 shops respectively, PTS in 1985 with 41 shops and Leisure Bookmakers in 1989 with 60 shops.
The private ownership meant that more acquisitions were to come and by the time Coral joined Gala the number of shops had grown to 1260. Coral also owns and operates two greyhound stadiums at Romford and Brighton & Hove (the latter being named the most scenic Greyhound Stadium in the UK), both of which operate using the Coral brand.
At the 2006 UK Gambling Awards, Coral was named "Bookmaker of the Year".
Gala History
Gala Bingo was formed in 1991 when Coral Social Clubs (owned by Bass plc) merged with Granada Social Clubs. Gala was officially launched on October 17, 1991 when 17 clubs re-branded and launched a new image. In 1997 a management buy-in purchased 130 Gala Bingo Clubs from Bass. The management team led the management buy-in. The deal was backed by PPM Ventures.
In December 2000, the Gala Group made its first move into the casino sector with the acquisition, of 26 Ladbrokes casinos.
In October 2005, Gala Group and Coral Eurobet merged, creating one of the top 100 companies in the UK.
Private equity firms Candover and Cinven acquired the Group in February 2003 for £1.24 billion, and in August 2005 a third investor, Permira, bought a stake in the company valuing Gala at nearly £1.9bn.
In January 2006, the Group acquired the County Clubs Bingo chain in Scotland, taking the total number of Gala Bingo Clubs to 174. A new bingo club in Cheltenham, Glos, is due to open 29 March.
In February 2006, the Group went on to acquire the Leo Casino in Liverpool, from Dolby Management Ltd (which, as of February 2007 has retained its own separate brand), increasing the number of casinos in the estate to 31 (at the time).
Gala owns 174 Clubs, 32 Casino venues, two Greyhound stadiums, and over 1500 licensed betting offices.
On 7 November 2006, Gala Coral tabled a bid for the 540 state owned Tote licensed betting offices. The sale of the Tote was a manifesto commitment by the Labour Government. The Racing industry (which receives a subsidy from the totepool) has hoped to take it over and, as a consortium (including Arena Leisure, which owns racecourses, the Racehorse Owners Association, and the Racecourse Holdings Trust) made a formal bid. This was blocked on June 1 2005, The European Commission declared that the price the British Government was selling at did not reflect the Tote's market value and was therefore state aid. Gala Coral has proposed to take over the entire operation (paying £405 million), integrate the 540 licensed betting offices into its own operations (it is likely that some shops would have to be sold to rivals to ensure local competition prevails), under the 'Coral' brand, and then sell the Tote's remaining assets (mainly the totepool, raceside bookmakers, telebetting and online betting) to the Racing consortium at a knock down price. As this would be a private transaction, it would not be state aid, in addition the State would receive a fair dividend from the Tote's privatisation . If this goes ahead, Gala Coral will have in excess of 2,000 licensed betting offices, bringing the Company's Coral division to similar size of rivals Ladbrokes and William Hill.]]> The Group headquarters are in Nottingham Gala Bingo and Casino, Barking Coral & Woking Gala Coral E-commerce.
The Group through acquisitions and new developments have over 1630 Licenced Betting Offices



Group Divisions
Gala Bingo
Gala Bingo operates 148 clubs throughout the United Kingdom, with approximately a 24% share of all clubs and nearly 40% of National Bingo Game ticket sales up until the operator's withdrawl from the National Game in Summer 2008.
Gala has around five million bingo members, of which approximately 1.2 million are active players. Gala Bingo has an average of 600,000 admissions per week.
The bingo division began participation in the Nectar loyalty card scheme on June 1, 2007.[1] Nectar points were originally awarded for club admissions, and additionally for slot machine play from 1 September 2007 - a first for the UK Bingo industry.
On 31 July 2007 pensioner Pauline Clarke, 62, became Gala's first GBP millionaire, after winning a tie-break against another online player[2].
Gala Casinos
Gala Casino operates 20% of the UK casino market through its 32 outlets (30 of which are UK based).
Gala Casinos has 1.3 million members. Roulette is the most popular game by far, accounting for 63% of gaming income. Punto Banco/Baccarat is next with 19.1% and blackjack 11.1%.
In December 2000, the Gala Group made its first move into the casino sector with the acquisition of 26 Ladbrokes casinos from the Hilton Group. This established the Group’s leading position within the high volume, low stake sector of the gaming market.
Private equity firms Candover and Cinven acquired the Group in February 2003 and in August 2005 a third investor, Permira, bought a stake in the Group.
Coral
Coral is the fastest growing bookmaker in Britain, and currently has 1630 betting shops in the UK as of 3 August 2009 as well as hundreds more in Italy trading under the Eurobet name.
Joe Coral began his bookmaking business in 1926 operating betting pitches at greyhound courses. His great friend, Tom Bradbury-Pratt ran speedway meetings at Harringay and a number of other venues. He, and Joe Coral, went on to establish many speedway and greyhound tracks and Joe was one of the first bookmakers to take advantage of the 1960 legalisation of off-course betting shops and opened his first shop in 1961. In those days Coral were not afraid to lay large commissions, even to shrewd customers.
Coral was acquired by Bass in January 1981, by which time Coral was one of the largest leisure groups in the United Kingdom, comprising approximately 650 betting shops, two greyhound stadia, social clubs, casinos, hotels and holiday camps. Although the betting shops and stadia retained the Coral name, the other operations were integrated into Bass.
In December 1997 Ladbrokes acquired Coral from Bass. However, the acquisition was referred to the UK Monopolies and Mergers Commission and they concluded in September 1998 that Ladbrokes should not be allowed to retain ownership of Coral (however they were allowed to keep Coral's betting offices in the Channel Islands and integrated these into their own retail division).
Coral Group was then sold in a management buy-out backed by Morgan Grenfell Private Equity in February 1999. At the end of 1999 Eurobet, an internet betting business was acquired and the Group’s name was changed to Coral Eurobet.
The Coral Eurobet Group was then sold in a further management buy-out in September 2002 which was backed by Charterhouse Development Capital.
Coral owns two greyhound racing stadia in Britain, at Romford and Hove. Coral also operates betting shops at three of Britain’s biggest racecourses – Cheltenham, Epsom, and Sandown Park (venue of the company sponsored 'Coral Eclipse' race) , plus one each at Gatwick Airport (South Terminal) and Stansted Airport.
Coral also operates an online casino, an online gaming site, and an online poker site.
Coral was the first major UK Bookmaker to sign to Turf TV on 22 December 2007.
Coral also owns a Squash and gym club at Hove.
Coral employs over 11000 betting shop staff within the UK
In 2007, the Group commenced the rollout of betting shops in Italy (under the 'Eurobet' brand) following its success in December 2006 in winning 403 sports and horse race betting licences, through a government-led auction. The Group also set up a joint venture in China.
In July 2009 Coral announced the relocation of their broadcasting department to Milton Keynes to a purpose built studio to manage the inception of its new TV channel, Coral TV.
E-Commerce Division
The division is responsible for the development, management and operation of all the E-Commerce activities of the Gala Coral Group. The division is also the online betting and gaming arm of the Gala Coral Group, offering a wide variety of products and betting opportunities both in the UK and internationally through the Group’s branded services.
galabingo.com,
GalaTV.co.uk,
galacasino.co.uk,
coral.co.uk
eurobet.com
sportpress.com
Eurobet serves clients in over 130 countries, providing online sports betting in the following languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Greek, Russian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Albanian and Czech.
Other services operated by the division include Gala TV.
Main article: Gala TV
Gala TV is a TV gaming channel that launched on October 4, 2006 on Sky Digital and Freesat channels 861. The channel shows bingo games.
International Division
The international division of Gala Coral was formally established on 1 October 2007. The aim of the International division is to develop an integrated multi-brand strategy. The first example of this is Italy with Eurobet retail and eurobet.it
Italy The Group won 403 betting licences in the open market tender in December 2006 under its Eurobet brand.
China The Group set up a joint venture to launch land-based bingo in China, with bingo being seen as the most appropriate point of entry for the Group.
Group History
Coral Eurobet History
Joe Coral (born Joseph Kagarlitski, 11 December 1904) began his bookmaking business in 1926 and, although primarily concerned with operating betting pitches at racecourses, he did open a credit office in the West End of London in 1943.
He was, though, one of the first to take advantage of the new legislation and duly opened his first licensed betting office in 1961. The new law was, however, not intended to encourage betting and therefore shops were positively unattractive in appearance and devoid of any comforts.
By 1962 there were 13,340 betting offices of which Coral owned 23. During the seventies the situation changed completely and by 1977 four major bookmakers had evolved (including Coral) who owned nearly 24% of the 13,254 shops operating. Coral's number had originally grown to 589 as a result of a merger with another bookmaker, Mark Lane in 1971.
By 1975 the company had become the Coral Leisure Group and had diversified to include a variety of other leisure activities comprising social clubs, casinos, hotels and later holiday camps.
In January 1981, however, the Coral Group was acquired by Bass plc and although it continued to retain the Coral name it became an integral part of the growing Bass Leisure. Bass is one of the oldest established UK companies, William Bass having started the brewing operation in 1777.
With Bass support the number of Coral shops continued to grow during the 80's via acquisitions of Bartletts and Heathorns in 1984, with 13 and 47 shops respectively, PTS in 1985 with 41 shops and Leisure Bookmakers in 1989 with 60 shops.
The private ownership meant that more acquisitions were to come and by the time Coral joined Gala the number of shops had grown to 1260. Coral also owns and operates two greyhound stadiums at Romford and Brighton & Hove (the latter being named the most scenic Greyhound Stadium in the UK), both of which operate using the Coral brand.
At the 2006 UK Gambling Awards, Coral was named "Bookmaker of the Year".
Gala History
Gala Bingo was formed in 1991 when Coral Social Clubs (owned by Bass plc) merged with Granada Social Clubs. Gala was officially launched on October 17, 1991 when 17 clubs re-branded and launched a new image. In 1997 a management buy-in purchased 130 Gala Bingo Clubs from Bass. The management team led the management buy-in. The deal was backed by PPM Ventures.
In December 2000, the Gala Group made its first move into the casino sector with the acquisition, of 26 Ladbrokes casinos.
In October 2005, Gala Group and Coral Eurobet merged, creating one of the top 100 companies in the UK.
Private equity firms Candover and Cinven acquired the Group in February 2003 for £1.24 billion, and in August 2005 a third investor, Permira, bought a stake in the company valuing Gala at nearly £1.9bn.
In January 2006, the Group acquired the County Clubs Bingo chain in Scotland, taking the total number of Gala Bingo Clubs to 174. A new bingo club in Cheltenham, Glos, is due to open 29 March.
In February 2006, the Group went on to acquire the Leo Casino in Liverpool, from Dolby Management Ltd (which, as of February 2007 has retained its own separate brand), increasing the number of casinos in the estate to 31 (at the time).
Gala owns 174 Clubs, 32 Casino venues, two Greyhound stadiums, and over 1500 licensed betting offices.
On 7 November 2006, Gala Coral tabled a bid for the 540 state owned Tote licensed betting offices. The sale of the Tote was a manifesto commitment by the Labour Government. The Racing industry (which receives a subsidy from the totepool) has hoped to take it over and, as a consortium (including Arena Leisure, which owns racecourses, the Racehorse Owners Association, and the Racecourse Holdings Trust) made a formal bid. This was blocked on June 1 2005, The European Commission declared that the price the British Government was selling at did not reflect the Tote's market value and was therefore state aid. Gala Coral has proposed to take over the entire operation (paying £405 million), integrate the 540 licensed betting offices into its own operations (it is likely that some shops would have to be sold to rivals to ensure local competition prevails), under the 'Coral' brand, and then sell the Tote's remaining assets (mainly the totepool, raceside bookmakers, telebetting and online betting) to the Racing consortium at a knock down price. As this would be a private transaction, it would not be state aid, in addition the State would receive a fair dividend from the Tote's privatisation . If this goes ahead, Gala Coral will have in excess of 2,000 licensed betting offices, bringing the Company's Coral division to similar size of rivals Ladbrokes and William Hill.]]> http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-History-Of-Online-Poker Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:56:02 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-History-Of-Online-Poker
Online venues, by contrast, are dramatically cheaper because they have much smaller overhead costs. For example, adding another table does not take up valuable space like it would for a brick and mortar casino. Online poker rooms also allow the players to play for low stakes (as low as 1¢/2¢)[3] and often offer poker freeroll tournaments (where there is no entry fee), attracting beginners and/or less wealthy clientele.

Online venues may be more vulnerable to certain types of fraud, especially collusion between players. However, they have collusion detection abilities that do not exist in brick and mortar casinos. For example, online poker room security employees can look at the hand history of the cards previously played by any player on the site, making patterns of behavior easier to detect than in a casino where colluding players can simply fold their hands without anyone ever knowing the strength of their holding. Online poker rooms also check players' IP addresses in order to prevent players at the same household or at known open proxy servers from playing on the same tables.

Free poker online was played as early as the late 1990s in the form of IRC poker. Planet Poker was the first online cardroom to offer real money games. The first real money poker game was dealt on January 1, 1998. Author Mike Caro became the "face" of Planet Poker in October 1999.

The major online poker sites offer varying features to entice new players. One common feature is to offer tournaments called satellites by which the winners gain entry to real-life poker tournaments. It was through one such tournament on PokerStars that Chris Moneymaker won his entry to the 2003 World Series of Poker. He went on to win the main event, causing shock in the poker world. The 2004 World Series featured three times as many players as in 2003. At least four players in the WSOP final table won their entry through an online cardroom. Like Moneymaker, 2004 winner Greg Raymer also won his entry at the PokerStars online cardroom.

In October 2004, Sportingbet, at the time the world's largest publicly traded online gaming company (SBT.L), announced the acquisition of ParadisePoker.com, one of the online poker industry's first and largest cardrooms. The $340 million dollar acquisition marked the first time an online cardroom was owned by a public company. Since then, several other cardroom parent companies have gone public.

In June 2005, PartyGaming, the parent company of the then largest online cardroom, PartyPoker, went public on the London Stock Exchange, achieving an initial public offering market value in excess of $8 billion dollars. At the time of the IPO, ninety-two percent of Party Gaming's income came from poker operations.

In early 2006, PartyGaming moved to acquire EmpirePoker.com from Empire Online. Later in the year, bwin, an Austrian based online gambling company, acquired PokerRoom.com. Other poker rooms such as PokerStars that were rumored to be exploring initial public offerings have postponed them.[4]

As of March 2008, there are fewer than forty stand-alone cardrooms and poker networks with detectable levels of traffic. There are however more than 600 independent doorways or 'skins' into the group of network sites.[5] As of January 2009, the majority of online poker traffic occurs on just a few major networks, among them PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the iPoker Network. The vast majority of high stakes action takes place on Full Tilt Poker, with the top ten winning players from 2008 all coming from this site.[6]

[edit] Legality
From a legal perspective, online poker may differ in some ways from online casino gambling. However, many of the same issues do apply. For a discussion of the legality of online gambling in general, see online gambling.

Online poker is legal and regulated in many countries including several nations in and around the Caribbean Sea, and most notably the United Kingdom.

In the United States, the North Dakota House of Representatives passed a bill in February 2005 to legalize and regulate online poker and online poker cardroom operators in the state. The legislation required that online poker operations would have to physically locate their entire operations in the state. Testifying before the state Senate Judiciary committee, Nigel Payne, CEO of Sportingbet and owner of Paradise Poker, pledged to relocate to the state if the bill became law.[7]

The measure, however, was defeated by the State Senate in March 2005 after the U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to North Dakota attorney general Wayne Stenehjem stating that online gaming "may" be illegal, and that the pending legislation "might" violate the federal Wire Act. However, many legal experts dispute the DOJ's claim.

In response to this and other claims by the DOJ regarding the legality of online poker, many of the major online poker sites stopped advertising their "dot-com" sites in American media. Instead, they created "dot-net" sites that are virtually identical but offer no real money wagering. The sites advertise as poker schools or ways to learn the game for free, and feature words to the effect of "this is not a gambling website."

On October 13, 2006, President Bush officially signed into law the Safe Port Act, a bill aimed at enhancing security at U.S. ports.[8] Attached to the Safe Port Act was a provision known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). According to the UIGEA, "unlawful internet gambling" means to place, receive, or otherwise knowingly transmit a bet or wager by means of the internet where such bet is unlawful under any law in the State in which the bet is initiated, received, or otherwise made. Thus, the UIGEA prohibits online gambling sites from performing transactions with American financial institutions. As a result of the bill, several large publicly traded poker gaming sites such as PartyPoker.com, PacificPoker.com and bwin closed down their US facing operations. Some operations have not closed and it is still possible for some American players to play online for real money and even sign up for new accounts. The UIGEA has had a devastating effect on the stock value of these companies.[9]

Since its passage, several members of the United States Congress have introduced bills to overturn or revise the UIGEA.

Following passage of UIGEA, former U.S. Senator Al D'Amato joined the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Part of the PPA's mission is to protect and to advocate for the right of poker players to play online. Sen. D'Amato's responsibilities include Congressional lobbying. In April 2008 the PPA claimed over 1,000,000 members.[10][11] The organization claimed just over 800,000 members in October 2007.[12]

Other grassroots organizations, including the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, have formed in opposition to UIGEA, to promote the freedom of individuals to gamble online with the proper safeguards to protect consumers and ensure the integrity of financial transactions.

On November 27, 2009, Department of the Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke announced a six month delay, until June 1, 2010, for required compliance with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). The move blocks regulations to implement the legislation which requires the financial services sector to comply with ambiguous and burdensome rules in an attempt to prevent unlawful Internet gambling transactions.

[edit] How online poker rooms profit
Typically, online poker rooms generate the bulk of their revenue via four methods. First, there is the rake. Rake is collected from most real money ring game pots. The rake is normally calculated as a percentage of the pot based on a sliding scale and capped at some maximum fee. Each online poker room determines its own rake structure. Since the expenses for running an online poker table are smaller than those for running a live poker table, rake in most online poker rooms is much smaller than its brick and mortar counterpart.

Second, hands played in pre-scheduled multi-table and impromptu sit-and-go tournaments are not raked, but rather an entry fee around five to ten percent of the tournament buy-in is added to the entry cost of the tournament. These two are usually specified in the tournament details as, e.g., $20+$2 ($20 represents the buy-in that goes into the prize pool and $2 represents the entry fee, de facto rake). Unlike real casino tournaments, online tournaments do not deduct dealer tips and other expenses from the prize pool.

Third, some online poker sites also offer games like blackjack or side bets on poker hands where the player plays against "the house" for real money. The odds are in the house's favor in these games, thus producing a profit for the house. Some sites go as far as getting affiliated with online casinos, or even integrating them into the poker room software.

Fourth, like almost all institutions that hold money, online poker sites invest the money that players deposit. Regulations in most jurisdictions exist in an effort to limit the sort of risks sites can take with their clients' money. However, since the sites do not have to pay interest on players' bankrolls even low-risk investments can be a significant source of revenue.

[edit] Integrity and fairness
[edit] Randomness of the shuffle
As with other forms of online gambling, many critics question whether the operators of such games - especially those located in jurisdictions separate from most of their players - might be engaging in fraud themselves.[citation needed]

Internet discussion forums are rife with allegations of non-random card dealing, possibly to favour house-employed players or "bots" (poker-playing software disguised as a human opponent), or to give multiple players good hands thus increasing the bets and the rake, or simply to prevent new players from losing so quickly that they become discouraged. However, there is no more than anecdotal evidence to support such claims, and others argue that the rake is sufficiently large that such abuses would be unnecessary and foolish. Any attempt at manipulative dealing would run a significant risk of third party detection due to increasingly sophisticated tracking software that could be used to detect any number of unusual patterns.[citation needed]

Many players claim to see lots of "bad beats" with large hands pitted against others all too often at a rate that seems to be a lot more common than in live games. However, this might actually be caused by the fact that online cardrooms deal more hands per hour. Since online players get to see more hands, their likelihood of seeing more improbable bad beats or randomly large pots is similarily increased.[citation needed]

Many new players fail to understand that there is a great deal of variation in poker (like most card games) whether the game is played live or online. For every hour of play the standard deviation even for the best players can be fifty times the expected hourly profit or even more, meaning that even the best players will inevitably go on lengthy losing streaks. On the other hand, newcomers who experience a run of bad luck are more likely to suspect foul play when simple variance is the most likely cause.[citation needed]

Many online poker sites are certified by bodies such as the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and major auditing firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers to review the fairness of the random number generator,[13] shuffle,[14] and payouts for some sites.

[edit] Insider cheating
Insider cheating can occur when a person with trusted access to the system (e.g. an employee of the poker room) uses his position to play poker himself with an unfair advantage. This could be done without the knowledge of the site managers.

Perhaps the first known major case came to light in October 2007, when Absolute Poker acknowledged that its integrity had been breached by an employee, who had been able to play at high stakes while viewing his opponents' hidden "hole" cards.[15] The cheating was first brought to light by the efforts of players, whose saved histories of play showed the employee was playing as only someone who could see their opponents' cards could. [16]

In 2008, UltimateBet became embroiled in a similar scandal, with former employees accused of using a software backdoor to see opponents' cards. UltimateBet confirmed the allegations on May 29.[17][18] The Kahnawake Gaming Commission announced sanctions against UltimateBet as a result.[19]

[edit] Collusion
More mundane cheating involves collusion between players, or the use of multiple accounts by a single player. Collusion is not limited to online play but can occur in any poker game with three or more players. Most poker rooms claim to actively scan for such activity. For example, in 2007, PokerStars disqualified TheV0id, the winner of the main event of the World Championship of Online Poker for breaching their terms of service.[20]

[edit] Differences compared with conventional poker
There are substantial differences between online poker gaming and conventional, in-person gaming.

One obvious difference is that players do not sit right across from each other, removing any ability to observe others' reactions and body language. Instead, online poker players learn to focus more keenly on betting patterns, reaction time, speed of play, use of check boxes/auto plays, opponents' fold/flop percentages, chat box, waiting for the big blind, beginners' tells, and other behavior tells that are not physical in nature. Since poker is a game that requires adaptability, successful online players learn to master the new frontiers of their surroundings.

Another less obvious difference is the rate of play. In brick and mortar casinos the dealer has to collect the cards, shuffle, and deal them after every hand. Due to this and other delays common in offline casinos, the average rate of play is around thirty hands per hour. However, online casinos do not have these delays. The dealing and shuffling are instantaneous, there are no delays relating to counting chips (for a split pot), and on average the play is faster due to "auto-action" buttons (where the player selects his action before his turn). It is not uncommon for an online poker table to average ninety to one hundred hands per hour.

There are many ways in which online poker is considerably cheaper to play than conventional poker. While the rake structures of online poker sites might not differ fundamentally from those in brick and mortar operations, most of the other incidental expenses that are entailed by playing poker in a live room do not exist in online poker. An online poker player can play at home and thus incur no transportation costs to get to and from the poker room. Provided the player already has a somewhat modern computer and an Internet connection, there are no further up-front equipment costs to get started. There are also considerable incidental expenses once on a live poker table. In addition to the rake, tipping the dealers, chip runners, servers and other casino employees is almost universally expected, putting a further drain on a player's profits. Also, whereas an online player can enter and leave tables almost as he pleases, once seated at a live table a player must remain there until he wishes to stop playing, or else go back to the bottom of the waiting list. Food and beverages at casinos are generally expensive even compared to other hospitality establishments in the same city (let alone compared to at home) and casino managers feel little incentive to comp poker players.[citation needed]

In the brick and mortar casinos, the only real way a player can increase his earnings is to increase his limit, likely encountering better opponents in the process. In the online world players have another option: play more tables. Unlike a traditional casino where it is physically impossible to play at more than one table at a time, most online poker rooms permit this. Depending on the site and the player's ability to make speedy decisions, a player might play several tables at the same time, viewing them each in a separate window on the computer display. For example, an average profit around $10 per 100 hands at a low-limit game is generally considered to be good play. In a casino, this would earn a player under $4 an hour. After dealer tips, the "winning" player would probably barely break even before any other incidental expenses. In an online poker room, a player with the same win rate playing a relatively easy pace of four tables at once at a relatively sluggish 60 hands per hour each earns about $24/hour on average. The main restriction limiting the number of tables a player can play is the need to make consistently good decisions within the allotted time at every table, but some online players can effectively play up to eight or more tables at once. This can not only increase winnings but can also help to keep a player's income reasonably stable, since instead of staking his entire bankroll on one higher limit table he is splitting his bankroll, wins and losses amongst many lower limit tables, probably also encountering somewhat less skilled opponents in the process.

Another important difference results from the fact that some online poker rooms offer online poker schools that teach the basics and significantly speed up the learning curve for novices. Many online poker rooms also provide free money play so that players may practice these skills in various poker games and limits without the risk of losing real money, and generally offer the hand history of played hands for analysis and discussion using a poker hand converter. People who previously had no way to learn and improve because they had no one to play with now have the ability to learn the game much quicker and gain experience from free-money play.

Finally, the limits associated with online poker range down to far lower levels than the table limits at a traditional casino. The marginal cost of opening each online table is so minuscule that on some gambling sites players can find limits as low as $.01–$.02. By comparison, at most brick and mortar establishments the lowest limits are often $1–$2.

[edit] Currency issues
One issue exclusive to online poker is the fact that players come from around the world and deal in a variety of currencies. This is not an issue in live poker where everyone present can be expected to carry the local currency. Most online poker sites operate games exclusively in U.S. dollars, even if they do not accept players based in the United States. There are two methods by which poker sites can cater to players who do not deal with U.S. dollars on a regular basis.

The first method is to hold players' funds in their native currencies and convert them only when players enter and leave games. The main benefit of this method for players is to ensures that bankrolls are not subject to exchange rate fluctuations against their local currencies whilst they are not playing. Also, most sites that use this method usually apply the same exchange rate when a player cashes out of a game as when he bought in, ensuring that players do not expend significant sums simply by entering and leaving games.

The other method is to require players to convert their funds when depositing them. However, some sites that use this policy do accept payments in a variety of currencies and convert funds at a lower premium compared to what banks and credit card companies would charge. Others only accept payment in U.S. dollars. One benefit of this method is that a player who constantly "tops up" his chip stack to a constant level (some poker rooms have an optional feature that can perform this function automatically) does not have to worry about rounding issues when topping up with a nominal sum – these could add up over time.

[edit] Poker tools
Various types of useful software applications are available for online play.

[edit] Bonuses
Many online poker sites offer incentives to players in the form of bonuses. Usually the bonuses are given after a certain number of raked hands are played. For example, a site may offer a player who deposits $100 a bonus of $50 once he plays 500 raked hands.

In addition, several online cardrooms have developed VIP programs to reward regular players. Poker rooms often offer additional bonuses for players who wish to top-up their accounts. These are known as reload bonuses.

See the online casino article for more on general information on bonuses.

[edit] Compatibility
Online poker rooms typically operate through a separate piece of software. This may be cross-platform, for example using a Java Applet, allowing the program to run equally well on various computer systems such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS. However, many online poker rooms offer downloadable programs designed only for Microsoft Windows which require a compatibility layer such as Wine to run on Macintosh or Linux computers. Some sites do make available clients that run natively on Mac or Linux.

Some mobile content providers have started offering poker on portable devices (mobile phones, PDAs). The functionality of mobile online poker software is much the same as computer-based clients, albeit adapted to the interface of mobile devices. The player must be able to receive a cell phone signal in order to play.]]>
Online venues, by contrast, are dramatically cheaper because they have much smaller overhead costs. For example, adding another table does not take up valuable space like it would for a brick and mortar casino. Online poker rooms also allow the players to play for low stakes (as low as 1¢/2¢)[3] and often offer poker freeroll tournaments (where there is no entry fee), attracting beginners and/or less wealthy clientele.

Online venues may be more vulnerable to certain types of fraud, especially collusion between players. However, they have collusion detection abilities that do not exist in brick and mortar casinos. For example, online poker room security employees can look at the hand history of the cards previously played by any player on the site, making patterns of behavior easier to detect than in a casino where colluding players can simply fold their hands without anyone ever knowing the strength of their holding. Online poker rooms also check players' IP addresses in order to prevent players at the same household or at known open proxy servers from playing on the same tables.

Free poker online was played as early as the late 1990s in the form of IRC poker. Planet Poker was the first online cardroom to offer real money games. The first real money poker game was dealt on January 1, 1998. Author Mike Caro became the "face" of Planet Poker in October 1999.

The major online poker sites offer varying features to entice new players. One common feature is to offer tournaments called satellites by which the winners gain entry to real-life poker tournaments. It was through one such tournament on PokerStars that Chris Moneymaker won his entry to the 2003 World Series of Poker. He went on to win the main event, causing shock in the poker world. The 2004 World Series featured three times as many players as in 2003. At least four players in the WSOP final table won their entry through an online cardroom. Like Moneymaker, 2004 winner Greg Raymer also won his entry at the PokerStars online cardroom.

In October 2004, Sportingbet, at the time the world's largest publicly traded online gaming company (SBT.L), announced the acquisition of ParadisePoker.com, one of the online poker industry's first and largest cardrooms. The $340 million dollar acquisition marked the first time an online cardroom was owned by a public company. Since then, several other cardroom parent companies have gone public.

In June 2005, PartyGaming, the parent company of the then largest online cardroom, PartyPoker, went public on the London Stock Exchange, achieving an initial public offering market value in excess of $8 billion dollars. At the time of the IPO, ninety-two percent of Party Gaming's income came from poker operations.

In early 2006, PartyGaming moved to acquire EmpirePoker.com from Empire Online. Later in the year, bwin, an Austrian based online gambling company, acquired PokerRoom.com. Other poker rooms such as PokerStars that were rumored to be exploring initial public offerings have postponed them.[4]

As of March 2008, there are fewer than forty stand-alone cardrooms and poker networks with detectable levels of traffic. There are however more than 600 independent doorways or 'skins' into the group of network sites.[5] As of January 2009, the majority of online poker traffic occurs on just a few major networks, among them PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the iPoker Network. The vast majority of high stakes action takes place on Full Tilt Poker, with the top ten winning players from 2008 all coming from this site.[6]

[edit] Legality
From a legal perspective, online poker may differ in some ways from online casino gambling. However, many of the same issues do apply. For a discussion of the legality of online gambling in general, see online gambling.

Online poker is legal and regulated in many countries including several nations in and around the Caribbean Sea, and most notably the United Kingdom.

In the United States, the North Dakota House of Representatives passed a bill in February 2005 to legalize and regulate online poker and online poker cardroom operators in the state. The legislation required that online poker operations would have to physically locate their entire operations in the state. Testifying before the state Senate Judiciary committee, Nigel Payne, CEO of Sportingbet and owner of Paradise Poker, pledged to relocate to the state if the bill became law.[7]

The measure, however, was defeated by the State Senate in March 2005 after the U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to North Dakota attorney general Wayne Stenehjem stating that online gaming "may" be illegal, and that the pending legislation "might" violate the federal Wire Act. However, many legal experts dispute the DOJ's claim.

In response to this and other claims by the DOJ regarding the legality of online poker, many of the major online poker sites stopped advertising their "dot-com" sites in American media. Instead, they created "dot-net" sites that are virtually identical but offer no real money wagering. The sites advertise as poker schools or ways to learn the game for free, and feature words to the effect of "this is not a gambling website."

On October 13, 2006, President Bush officially signed into law the Safe Port Act, a bill aimed at enhancing security at U.S. ports.[8] Attached to the Safe Port Act was a provision known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). According to the UIGEA, "unlawful internet gambling" means to place, receive, or otherwise knowingly transmit a bet or wager by means of the internet where such bet is unlawful under any law in the State in which the bet is initiated, received, or otherwise made. Thus, the UIGEA prohibits online gambling sites from performing transactions with American financial institutions. As a result of the bill, several large publicly traded poker gaming sites such as PartyPoker.com, PacificPoker.com and bwin closed down their US facing operations. Some operations have not closed and it is still possible for some American players to play online for real money and even sign up for new accounts. The UIGEA has had a devastating effect on the stock value of these companies.[9]

Since its passage, several members of the United States Congress have introduced bills to overturn or revise the UIGEA.

Following passage of UIGEA, former U.S. Senator Al D'Amato joined the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Part of the PPA's mission is to protect and to advocate for the right of poker players to play online. Sen. D'Amato's responsibilities include Congressional lobbying. In April 2008 the PPA claimed over 1,000,000 members.[10][11] The organization claimed just over 800,000 members in October 2007.[12]

Other grassroots organizations, including the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, have formed in opposition to UIGEA, to promote the freedom of individuals to gamble online with the proper safeguards to protect consumers and ensure the integrity of financial transactions.

On November 27, 2009, Department of the Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke announced a six month delay, until June 1, 2010, for required compliance with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). The move blocks regulations to implement the legislation which requires the financial services sector to comply with ambiguous and burdensome rules in an attempt to prevent unlawful Internet gambling transactions.

[edit] How online poker rooms profit
Typically, online poker rooms generate the bulk of their revenue via four methods. First, there is the rake. Rake is collected from most real money ring game pots. The rake is normally calculated as a percentage of the pot based on a sliding scale and capped at some maximum fee. Each online poker room determines its own rake structure. Since the expenses for running an online poker table are smaller than those for running a live poker table, rake in most online poker rooms is much smaller than its brick and mortar counterpart.

Second, hands played in pre-scheduled multi-table and impromptu sit-and-go tournaments are not raked, but rather an entry fee around five to ten percent of the tournament buy-in is added to the entry cost of the tournament. These two are usually specified in the tournament details as, e.g., $20+$2 ($20 represents the buy-in that goes into the prize pool and $2 represents the entry fee, de facto rake). Unlike real casino tournaments, online tournaments do not deduct dealer tips and other expenses from the prize pool.

Third, some online poker sites also offer games like blackjack or side bets on poker hands where the player plays against "the house" for real money. The odds are in the house's favor in these games, thus producing a profit for the house. Some sites go as far as getting affiliated with online casinos, or even integrating them into the poker room software.

Fourth, like almost all institutions that hold money, online poker sites invest the money that players deposit. Regulations in most jurisdictions exist in an effort to limit the sort of risks sites can take with their clients' money. However, since the sites do not have to pay interest on players' bankrolls even low-risk investments can be a significant source of revenue.

[edit] Integrity and fairness
[edit] Randomness of the shuffle
As with other forms of online gambling, many critics question whether the operators of such games - especially those located in jurisdictions separate from most of their players - might be engaging in fraud themselves.[citation needed]

Internet discussion forums are rife with allegations of non-random card dealing, possibly to favour house-employed players or "bots" (poker-playing software disguised as a human opponent), or to give multiple players good hands thus increasing the bets and the rake, or simply to prevent new players from losing so quickly that they become discouraged. However, there is no more than anecdotal evidence to support such claims, and others argue that the rake is sufficiently large that such abuses would be unnecessary and foolish. Any attempt at manipulative dealing would run a significant risk of third party detection due to increasingly sophisticated tracking software that could be used to detect any number of unusual patterns.[citation needed]

Many players claim to see lots of "bad beats" with large hands pitted against others all too often at a rate that seems to be a lot more common than in live games. However, this might actually be caused by the fact that online cardrooms deal more hands per hour. Since online players get to see more hands, their likelihood of seeing more improbable bad beats or randomly large pots is similarily increased.[citation needed]

Many new players fail to understand that there is a great deal of variation in poker (like most card games) whether the game is played live or online. For every hour of play the standard deviation even for the best players can be fifty times the expected hourly profit or even more, meaning that even the best players will inevitably go on lengthy losing streaks. On the other hand, newcomers who experience a run of bad luck are more likely to suspect foul play when simple variance is the most likely cause.[citation needed]

Many online poker sites are certified by bodies such as the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and major auditing firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers to review the fairness of the random number generator,[13] shuffle,[14] and payouts for some sites.

[edit] Insider cheating
Insider cheating can occur when a person with trusted access to the system (e.g. an employee of the poker room) uses his position to play poker himself with an unfair advantage. This could be done without the knowledge of the site managers.

Perhaps the first known major case came to light in October 2007, when Absolute Poker acknowledged that its integrity had been breached by an employee, who had been able to play at high stakes while viewing his opponents' hidden "hole" cards.[15] The cheating was first brought to light by the efforts of players, whose saved histories of play showed the employee was playing as only someone who could see their opponents' cards could. [16]

In 2008, UltimateBet became embroiled in a similar scandal, with former employees accused of using a software backdoor to see opponents' cards. UltimateBet confirmed the allegations on May 29.[17][18] The Kahnawake Gaming Commission announced sanctions against UltimateBet as a result.[19]

[edit] Collusion
More mundane cheating involves collusion between players, or the use of multiple accounts by a single player. Collusion is not limited to online play but can occur in any poker game with three or more players. Most poker rooms claim to actively scan for such activity. For example, in 2007, PokerStars disqualified TheV0id, the winner of the main event of the World Championship of Online Poker for breaching their terms of service.[20]

[edit] Differences compared with conventional poker
There are substantial differences between online poker gaming and conventional, in-person gaming.

One obvious difference is that players do not sit right across from each other, removing any ability to observe others' reactions and body language. Instead, online poker players learn to focus more keenly on betting patterns, reaction time, speed of play, use of check boxes/auto plays, opponents' fold/flop percentages, chat box, waiting for the big blind, beginners' tells, and other behavior tells that are not physical in nature. Since poker is a game that requires adaptability, successful online players learn to master the new frontiers of their surroundings.

Another less obvious difference is the rate of play. In brick and mortar casinos the dealer has to collect the cards, shuffle, and deal them after every hand. Due to this and other delays common in offline casinos, the average rate of play is around thirty hands per hour. However, online casinos do not have these delays. The dealing and shuffling are instantaneous, there are no delays relating to counting chips (for a split pot), and on average the play is faster due to "auto-action" buttons (where the player selects his action before his turn). It is not uncommon for an online poker table to average ninety to one hundred hands per hour.

There are many ways in which online poker is considerably cheaper to play than conventional poker. While the rake structures of online poker sites might not differ fundamentally from those in brick and mortar operations, most of the other incidental expenses that are entailed by playing poker in a live room do not exist in online poker. An online poker player can play at home and thus incur no transportation costs to get to and from the poker room. Provided the player already has a somewhat modern computer and an Internet connection, there are no further up-front equipment costs to get started. There are also considerable incidental expenses once on a live poker table. In addition to the rake, tipping the dealers, chip runners, servers and other casino employees is almost universally expected, putting a further drain on a player's profits. Also, whereas an online player can enter and leave tables almost as he pleases, once seated at a live table a player must remain there until he wishes to stop playing, or else go back to the bottom of the waiting list. Food and beverages at casinos are generally expensive even compared to other hospitality establishments in the same city (let alone compared to at home) and casino managers feel little incentive to comp poker players.[citation needed]

In the brick and mortar casinos, the only real way a player can increase his earnings is to increase his limit, likely encountering better opponents in the process. In the online world players have another option: play more tables. Unlike a traditional casino where it is physically impossible to play at more than one table at a time, most online poker rooms permit this. Depending on the site and the player's ability to make speedy decisions, a player might play several tables at the same time, viewing them each in a separate window on the computer display. For example, an average profit around $10 per 100 hands at a low-limit game is generally considered to be good play. In a casino, this would earn a player under $4 an hour. After dealer tips, the "winning" player would probably barely break even before any other incidental expenses. In an online poker room, a player with the same win rate playing a relatively easy pace of four tables at once at a relatively sluggish 60 hands per hour each earns about $24/hour on average. The main restriction limiting the number of tables a player can play is the need to make consistently good decisions within the allotted time at every table, but some online players can effectively play up to eight or more tables at once. This can not only increase winnings but can also help to keep a player's income reasonably stable, since instead of staking his entire bankroll on one higher limit table he is splitting his bankroll, wins and losses amongst many lower limit tables, probably also encountering somewhat less skilled opponents in the process.

Another important difference results from the fact that some online poker rooms offer online poker schools that teach the basics and significantly speed up the learning curve for novices. Many online poker rooms also provide free money play so that players may practice these skills in various poker games and limits without the risk of losing real money, and generally offer the hand history of played hands for analysis and discussion using a poker hand converter. People who previously had no way to learn and improve because they had no one to play with now have the ability to learn the game much quicker and gain experience from free-money play.

Finally, the limits associated with online poker range down to far lower levels than the table limits at a traditional casino. The marginal cost of opening each online table is so minuscule that on some gambling sites players can find limits as low as $.01–$.02. By comparison, at most brick and mortar establishments the lowest limits are often $1–$2.

[edit] Currency issues
One issue exclusive to online poker is the fact that players come from around the world and deal in a variety of currencies. This is not an issue in live poker where everyone present can be expected to carry the local currency. Most online poker sites operate games exclusively in U.S. dollars, even if they do not accept players based in the United States. There are two methods by which poker sites can cater to players who do not deal with U.S. dollars on a regular basis.

The first method is to hold players' funds in their native currencies and convert them only when players enter and leave games. The main benefit of this method for players is to ensures that bankrolls are not subject to exchange rate fluctuations against their local currencies whilst they are not playing. Also, most sites that use this method usually apply the same exchange rate when a player cashes out of a game as when he bought in, ensuring that players do not expend significant sums simply by entering and leaving games.

The other method is to require players to convert their funds when depositing them. However, some sites that use this policy do accept payments in a variety of currencies and convert funds at a lower premium compared to what banks and credit card companies would charge. Others only accept payment in U.S. dollars. One benefit of this method is that a player who constantly "tops up" his chip stack to a constant level (some poker rooms have an optional feature that can perform this function automatically) does not have to worry about rounding issues when topping up with a nominal sum – these could add up over time.

[edit] Poker tools
Various types of useful software applications are available for online play.

[edit] Bonuses
Many online poker sites offer incentives to players in the form of bonuses. Usually the bonuses are given after a certain number of raked hands are played. For example, a site may offer a player who deposits $100 a bonus of $50 once he plays 500 raked hands.

In addition, several online cardrooms have developed VIP programs to reward regular players. Poker rooms often offer additional bonuses for players who wish to top-up their accounts. These are known as reload bonuses.

See the online casino article for more on general information on bonuses.

[edit] Compatibility
Online poker rooms typically operate through a separate piece of software. This may be cross-platform, for example using a Java Applet, allowing the program to run equally well on various computer systems such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS. However, many online poker rooms offer downloadable programs designed only for Microsoft Windows which require a compatibility layer such as Wine to run on Macintosh or Linux computers. Some sites do make available clients that run natively on Mac or Linux.

Some mobile content providers have started offering poker on portable devices (mobile phones, PDAs). The functionality of mobile online poker software is much the same as computer-based clients, albeit adapted to the interface of mobile devices. The player must be able to receive a cell phone signal in order to play.]]> http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Types-of-online-casino Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:51:06 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Types-of-online-casino Online casinos can be divided into two groups based on their interface: web-based and download-only casinos. Some casinos offer both interfaces.

Some casinos offer 'Live gaming', either exclusively, or as part of a wider online casino offering. Live casinos may be web or download based. In live online casinos, popular casino games such as roulette and blackjack are dealt by real dealers in casino studios, in an attempt to convey more of the atmosphere of a physical casino. Player actions (including chat) such as 'hit' in the game of blackjack may be transmitted to the dealer; in some online casinos more than one player may 'sit' at a particular 'seat' on the table, and in this case there is no interactivity between player and dealer, the question of which player(s) requested the extra card that the dealer dealt and which chose to 'stand' will be handled by the software. It is usual for players to be able to observe a video feed of the action, and equally common for players to opt to turn it off, if they lack the bandwidth - as the cards are read by OCR and other technology, the video feed is only ever a visual cue.

[edit] Web-based online casinos
Web-based online casinos are websites where users may play casino games without downloading software to the local computer. Games are mainly represented in the browser plugins Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Shockwave, or Java and require browser support for these plugins. Also, bandwidth is needed since all graphics, sounds and animations are loaded through the web via the plugin. Some online casinos also allow gameplay through a plain HTML interface.

[edit] Download-based online casinos
Download-based online casinos require the download of the software client in order to play and wager on the casino games offered. The online casino software connects to the casino service provider and handles contact without browser support. Download-based online casinos generally run faster than web-based online casinos since the graphics and sound programs are located within the software client, rather than having to be loaded from the Internet. On the other hand, the initial download and installation of a download-based online casino client does take time. As with any download from the Internet, the risk of the program containing malware does exist.

[edit] Games offered
A typical selection of gambling games offered at an online casino might include:

Baccarat
Blackjack
Craps
Roulette
Online slot games
Online poker
[edit] Bonuses
Many online casinos offer signup bonuses to new players making their first deposit, and often on subsequent play as well. These bonuses are a form of marketing that may incur a cost (potentially justifiable in order to attract a new player who may return and deposit many more times), since the casino is essentially giving away money, in return for a commitment from the player to wager a certain minimum amount, usually a multiple of the deposit and/or bonus credited to the player's account. Since all casino games have a house edge, the wagering requirements ensure that the player cannot simply walk away with the casino's money, and indeed if the wagering requirements are sufficiently high, he may in fact have a negative expectation, exactly as if he had deposited without any bonus.

Casinos may choose to restrict certain games from fulfilling the wagering requirements, either to restrict players from playing low-edge games, or to restrict 'risk-free' play (betting for instance both red and black on roulette, thereby completing the wagering requirement with a guaranteed profit, after the bonus is taken into account.[1]

[edit] Non-cashable bonuses
Non-cashable bonuses may be called "sticky" or "phantom" bonuses".[2] In both cases, the bonus forms a part of the player's balance, but cannot be cashed out. The difference comes at cashout time. A phantom bonus disappears when the player cashes out, while the sticky bonus 'sticks' to the player's account until it is lost.

[edit] Comp points
Main article: Comps (casino)
Comps are commonly available at land-based casinos, but also exist online. Comp points can usually be exchanged for cash, prizes, or other comps. The amount of cash given per wager is usually very small and often varies with game selection. A casino might offer three comp points for each $10 wagered on slots and one comp point for each $10 wagered on blackjack. The casino might give $1 for each 100 comp points. This example is equivalent to returning 0.3% of wagers on slots and 0.1% of wagers on blackjack.

[edit] Bonus hunting
Bonus hunting (also known as bonus bagging or bonus whoring) is a type of advantage gambling where turning a profit from casino, sportsbook and poker room bonus situations is mathematically possible. For example, the house edge in blackjack is roughly 0.5%. In the example above, $5000 in wagering with a house edge of 0.5% will result in an expected loss of $25. Since the player received a $100 signup bonus, after subtracting the expected loss of $25, the player has an expected gain of $75.

[edit] Bonus disputes
A large portion of online casino disputes relate to bonuses.[3] Casinos may label players who win using bonuses as "bonus abusers." Both players and casinos may commit fraud. An example of player fraud is creating multiple accounts and using the accounts to claim a sign-up bonus several times. An example of casino fraud is changing terms of a bonus after a player has completed the wagering requirements, then requiring the player to meet the new bonus terms.[citation needed]

[edit] Fraudulent online casino operator behavior
Fraudulent behavior on the part of online casinos has been documented. The most commonly reported behaviors are refusal to pay withdrawals or cheating software with rigged payouts. An online casino with multiple confirmed cases of fraudulent behavior is often called a rogue casino by the online casino player community.[4]

One commonly reported behavior related to refusal to pay withdrawals is the refusal to pay withdrawals promptly. A rogue casino may intentionally delay a withdrawal in hopes that the player will continue gambling with the money in the account and lose it all back. Other rogue online casinos attempt to not pay their customers by retroactively applying unfair terms to their house rules.

Cheating software appears to be less common than payout problems.

Some casino software has been mathematically proven to cheat, such as Elka System/Oyster Gaming and Casino Bar.[5] Screen shots from the back office of an older brand of software indicated the odds could be adjusted by the operator.

Many casino gambling portals and player forums maintain blacklists of rogue casinos.[4][6] While some carry more authority than others, most blacklists constitute individual webmaster and player opinions rather than anything official from any type of regulating body.]]> Online casinos can be divided into two groups based on their interface: web-based and download-only casinos. Some casinos offer both interfaces.

Some casinos offer 'Live gaming', either exclusively, or as part of a wider online casino offering. Live casinos may be web or download based. In live online casinos, popular casino games such as roulette and blackjack are dealt by real dealers in casino studios, in an attempt to convey more of the atmosphere of a physical casino. Player actions (including chat) such as 'hit' in the game of blackjack may be transmitted to the dealer; in some online casinos more than one player may 'sit' at a particular 'seat' on the table, and in this case there is no interactivity between player and dealer, the question of which player(s) requested the extra card that the dealer dealt and which chose to 'stand' will be handled by the software. It is usual for players to be able to observe a video feed of the action, and equally common for players to opt to turn it off, if they lack the bandwidth - as the cards are read by OCR and other technology, the video feed is only ever a visual cue.

[edit] Web-based online casinos
Web-based online casinos are websites where users may play casino games without downloading software to the local computer. Games are mainly represented in the browser plugins Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Shockwave, or Java and require browser support for these plugins. Also, bandwidth is needed since all graphics, sounds and animations are loaded through the web via the plugin. Some online casinos also allow gameplay through a plain HTML interface.

[edit] Download-based online casinos
Download-based online casinos require the download of the software client in order to play and wager on the casino games offered. The online casino software connects to the casino service provider and handles contact without browser support. Download-based online casinos generally run faster than web-based online casinos since the graphics and sound programs are located within the software client, rather than having to be loaded from the Internet. On the other hand, the initial download and installation of a download-based online casino client does take time. As with any download from the Internet, the risk of the program containing malware does exist.

[edit] Games offered
A typical selection of gambling games offered at an online casino might include:

Baccarat
Blackjack
Craps
Roulette
Online slot games
Online poker
[edit] Bonuses
Many online casinos offer signup bonuses to new players making their first deposit, and often on subsequent play as well. These bonuses are a form of marketing that may incur a cost (potentially justifiable in order to attract a new player who may return and deposit many more times), since the casino is essentially giving away money, in return for a commitment from the player to wager a certain minimum amount, usually a multiple of the deposit and/or bonus credited to the player's account. Since all casino games have a house edge, the wagering requirements ensure that the player cannot simply walk away with the casino's money, and indeed if the wagering requirements are sufficiently high, he may in fact have a negative expectation, exactly as if he had deposited without any bonus.

Casinos may choose to restrict certain games from fulfilling the wagering requirements, either to restrict players from playing low-edge games, or to restrict 'risk-free' play (betting for instance both red and black on roulette, thereby completing the wagering requirement with a guaranteed profit, after the bonus is taken into account.[1]

[edit] Non-cashable bonuses
Non-cashable bonuses may be called "sticky" or "phantom" bonuses".[2] In both cases, the bonus forms a part of the player's balance, but cannot be cashed out. The difference comes at cashout time. A phantom bonus disappears when the player cashes out, while the sticky bonus 'sticks' to the player's account until it is lost.

[edit] Comp points
Main article: Comps (casino)
Comps are commonly available at land-based casinos, but also exist online. Comp points can usually be exchanged for cash, prizes, or other comps. The amount of cash given per wager is usually very small and often varies with game selection. A casino might offer three comp points for each $10 wagered on slots and one comp point for each $10 wagered on blackjack. The casino might give $1 for each 100 comp points. This example is equivalent to returning 0.3% of wagers on slots and 0.1% of wagers on blackjack.

[edit] Bonus hunting
Bonus hunting (also known as bonus bagging or bonus whoring) is a type of advantage gambling where turning a profit from casino, sportsbook and poker room bonus situations is mathematically possible. For example, the house edge in blackjack is roughly 0.5%. In the example above, $5000 in wagering with a house edge of 0.5% will result in an expected loss of $25. Since the player received a $100 signup bonus, after subtracting the expected loss of $25, the player has an expected gain of $75.

[edit] Bonus disputes
A large portion of online casino disputes relate to bonuses.[3] Casinos may label players who win using bonuses as "bonus abusers." Both players and casinos may commit fraud. An example of player fraud is creating multiple accounts and using the accounts to claim a sign-up bonus several times. An example of casino fraud is changing terms of a bonus after a player has completed the wagering requirements, then requiring the player to meet the new bonus terms.[citation needed]

[edit] Fraudulent online casino operator behavior
Fraudulent behavior on the part of online casinos has been documented. The most commonly reported behaviors are refusal to pay withdrawals or cheating software with rigged payouts. An online casino with multiple confirmed cases of fraudulent behavior is often called a rogue casino by the online casino player community.[4]

One commonly reported behavior related to refusal to pay withdrawals is the refusal to pay withdrawals promptly. A rogue casino may intentionally delay a withdrawal in hopes that the player will continue gambling with the money in the account and lose it all back. Other rogue online casinos attempt to not pay their customers by retroactively applying unfair terms to their house rules.

Cheating software appears to be less common than payout problems.

Some casino software has been mathematically proven to cheat, such as Elka System/Oyster Gaming and Casino Bar.[5] Screen shots from the back office of an older brand of software indicated the odds could be adjusted by the operator.

Many casino gambling portals and player forums maintain blacklists of rogue casinos.[4][6] While some carry more authority than others, most blacklists constitute individual webmaster and player opinions rather than anything official from any type of regulating body.]]> http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Slot-Machines-never-pay Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:47:40 +0000 http://allaboutcasinos.org/Thread-Slot-Machines-never-pay Slot machines are typically programmed to pay out as winnings 82% to 98% of the money that is wagered by players. This is known as the "theoretical payout percentage" or RTP, "return to player". The minimum theoretical payout percentage varies among jurisdictions and is typically established by law or regulation. For example, the minimum payout in Nevada is 75%, and in New Jersey, 83%. The winning patterns on slot machines – the amounts they pay and the frequencies of those payouts – are carefully selected to yield a certain fraction of the money played to the "house" (the operator of the slot machine), while returning the rest to the players during play. Suppose that a certain slot machine costs $1 per spin. It can be calculated that over a sufficiently long period, such as 1,000,000 spins, that the machine will return an average of $950,000 to its players, who have inserted $1,000,000 during that time. In this (simplified) example, the slot machine is said to pay out 95%. The operator keeps the remaining $50,000. Within some EGM development organizations this concept is referred to simply as "par". "Par" also manifests itself to gamblers as promotional techniques: "Our 'Loose Slots' have a 93% payback! Play now!" It is worth noting that the "Loose Slots" actually may describe a very few anonymous machines in a particular bank of EGMs.

A slot machine's theoretical payout percentage is set at the factory when the software is written. Changing the payout percentage after a slot machine has been placed on the gaming floor requires a physical swap of the software or firmware, which is usually stored on an EPROM but may be loaded onto non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) or even stored on CD-ROM or DVD, depending on the capabilities of the machine and the applicable regulations. Based on current technology, this is a time-consuming process and as such is done infrequently. In certain jurisdictions, such as New Jersey, the EPROM has a tamper-evident seal and can only be changed in the presence of Gaming Control Board officials. Other jurisdictions, including Nevada, randomly audit slot machines to ensure that they contain only approved software.

The return to player is not the only statistic that is of interest. The probabilities of every payout on the pay table is also critical. For example, consider a hypothetical slot machine with a dozen different values on the pay table. However, the probabilities of getting all the payouts are zero except the largest one. If the payout is 4,000 times the input amount, and it happens every 4,000 times on average, the return to player is exactly 100%, but the game would be dull to play. Also, most people would not win anything, and having entries on the paytable that have a return of zero would be deceptive. As these individual probabilities are closely guarded secrets, it is possible that the advertised machines with high return to player simply increase the probabilities of these jackpots. The casino could legally place machines of a similar style payout and advertise that some machines have 100% return to player. The added advantage is that these large jackpots increase the excitement of the other players.

The table of probabilities for a specific machine is called the Paytable and Reel Strips sheet, or PARS. The Wizard of Odds revealed the PARS for one commercial slot machine, an original International Gaming Technology Red White and Blue machine. This game, in its original form, is obsolete, so these specific probabilities do not apply. He only published the odds after a fan of his sent him some information provided on a slot machine that was posted on a machine in the Netherlands. The psychology of the machine design is quickly revealed. There are 13 possible payouts ranging from 1:1 to 2,400:1. The 1:1 payout comes every 8 plays. The 5:1 payout comes every 33 plays, whereas the 2:1 payout comes every 600 plays. Most players assume the likelihood increases proportionate to the payout. The one midsize payout that is designed to give the player a thrill is the 80:1 payout. It is programmed to occur an average of once every 219 plays. The 80:1 payout is high enough to create excitement, but not high enough that it makes it likely that the player will take his winnings and abandon the game. More than likely the player began the game with at least 80 times his bet (for instance there are 80 quarters in $20). In contrast the 150:1 payout occurs only on average of once every 6,241 plays. The highest payout of 2,400:1 occurs only on average of once every 643=262,144 plays since the machine has 64 virtual stops. The player who continues to feed the machine is likely to have several midsize payouts, but unlikely to have a large payout. He quits after he is bored or has exhausted his bankroll.[15]

Despite the fact that they are confidential, occasionally a PARS sheet is posted on a website. They have limited value to the player, because usually a machine will have 8 to 12 different possible programs with varying payouts. In addition, slight variations of each machine (i.e. with double jackpots or five times play) are always being developed. The casino operator can choose which EPROM chip to install in any particular machine to select the payout desired. The result is that there is not really such a thing as a high payback type of machine, since every machine potentially has multiple settings. From October 2001 to February 2002, columnist Michael Shackleford obtained PAR sheets for five different nickel machines; four IGT games Austin Powers, Fortune Cookie, Leopard Spots and Wheel of Fortune and one game manufactured by WMS; Reel 'em In. Without revealing the proprietary information, he developed a program that would allow him to determine with usually less than a dozen plays on each machine which EPROM chip was installed. Then he did a survey of over 400 machines in 70 different casinos in Las Vegas. He averaged the data, and assigned an average payback percentage to the machines in each casino. The resultant list was widely publicized for marketing purposes (especially by the Palms casino which had the top ranking).[16]

One reason that the slot machine is so profitable to a casino is that the player must play the high house edge and high payout wagers along with the low house edge and low payout wagers. In a more traditional wagering game like craps, the player knows that certain wagers have almost a 50/50 chances of winning or losing, but they only pay a limited multiple of the original bet (usually no higher than three times). Other bets have a higher house edge, but the player is rewarded with a bigger win (up to thirty times in craps). The player can choose what kind of wager he wants to make. A slot machine does not afford such an opportunity. Theoretically, the operator could make these probabilities available, or allow the player to choose which one so that the player is free to make a choice. However, no operator has ever enacted this strategy. Different machines have different maximum payouts, but without knowing the odds of getting the jackpot, there is no rational way to differentiate.

In many markets where central monitoring and control systems are used to link machines for auditing and security purposes, usually in wide area networks of multiple venues and thousands of machines, player return must usually be changed from a central computer rather than at each machine. A range of percentages is set in the game software and selected remotely.

In 2006, the Nevada Gaming Commission began working with Las Vegas casinos on technology that would allow the casino's management to change the game, the odds, and the payouts remotely. The change cannot be done instantaneously, but only after the selected machine has been idle for at least four minutes. After the change is made, the machine must be locked to new players for four minutes and display an on-screen message informing potential players that a change is being made.[17]

[edit] Linked machines
Often machines are linked together in a way that allows a group of machines to offer a particularly large prize, or "jackpot". Each slot machine in the group contributes a small amount to this progressive jackpot, awarded to a player who gets, for example, a royal flush on a video poker machine or a specific combination of symbols on a regular or nine-line slot machine. The amount paid for the progressive jackpot is usually far higher than any single slot machine could pay on its own.

In some cases multiple machines are linked across multiple casinos. In these cases, the machines may be owned by the manufacturer, who is responsible for paying the jackpot. The casinos lease the machines rather than owning them outright. Megabucks may be the best known example of this type of machine. Megabucks Nevada starts at $10,000,000 after a jackpot. (Prior to September 2005, Megabucks Nevada reset to $7,000,000.) The new penny Megabucks video game also has a jackpot that starts at $10,000,000.]]> Slot machines are typically programmed to pay out as winnings 82% to 98% of the money that is wagered by players. This is known as the "theoretical payout percentage" or RTP, "return to player". The minimum theoretical payout percentage varies among jurisdictions and is typically established by law or regulation. For example, the minimum payout in Nevada is 75%, and in New Jersey, 83%. The winning patterns on slot machines – the amounts they pay and the frequencies of those payouts – are carefully selected to yield a certain fraction of the money played to the "house" (the operator of the slot machine), while returning the rest to the players during play. Suppose that a certain slot machine costs $1 per spin. It can be calculated that over a sufficiently long period, such as 1,000,000 spins, that the machine will return an average of $950,000 to its players, who have inserted $1,000,000 during that time. In this (simplified) example, the slot machine is said to pay out 95%. The operator keeps the remaining $50,000. Within some EGM development organizations this concept is referred to simply as "par". "Par" also manifests itself to gamblers as promotional techniques: "Our 'Loose Slots' have a 93% payback! Play now!" It is worth noting that the "Loose Slots" actually may describe a very few anonymous machines in a particular bank of EGMs.

A slot machine's theoretical payout percentage is set at the factory when the software is written. Changing the payout percentage after a slot machine has been placed on the gaming floor requires a physical swap of the software or firmware, which is usually stored on an EPROM but may be loaded onto non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) or even stored on CD-ROM or DVD, depending on the capabilities of the machine and the applicable regulations. Based on current technology, this is a time-consuming process and as such is done infrequently. In certain jurisdictions, such as New Jersey, the EPROM has a tamper-evident seal and can only be changed in the presence of Gaming Control Board officials. Other jurisdictions, including Nevada, randomly audit slot machines to ensure that they contain only approved software.

The return to player is not the only statistic that is of interest. The probabilities of every payout on the pay table is also critical. For example, consider a hypothetical slot machine with a dozen different values on the pay table. However, the probabilities of getting all the payouts are zero except the largest one. If the payout is 4,000 times the input amount, and it happens every 4,000 times on average, the return to player is exactly 100%, but the game would be dull to play. Also, most people would not win anything, and having entries on the paytable that have a return of zero would be deceptive. As these individual probabilities are closely guarded secrets, it is possible that the advertised machines with high return to player simply increase the probabilities of these jackpots. The casino could legally place machines of a similar style payout and advertise that some machines have 100% return to player. The added advantage is that these large jackpots increase the excitement of the other players.

The table of probabilities for a specific machine is called the Paytable and Reel Strips sheet, or PARS. The Wizard of Odds revealed the PARS for one commercial slot machine, an original International Gaming Technology Red White and Blue machine. This game, in its original form, is obsolete, so these specific probabilities do not apply. He only published the odds after a fan of his sent him some information provided on a slot machine that was posted on a machine in the Netherlands. The psychology of the machine design is quickly revealed. There are 13 possible payouts ranging from 1:1 to 2,400:1. The 1:1 payout comes every 8 plays. The 5:1 payout comes every 33 plays, whereas the 2:1 payout comes every 600 plays. Most players assume the likelihood increases proportionate to the payout. The one midsize payout that is designed to give the player a thrill is the 80:1 payout. It is programmed to occur an average of once every 219 plays. The 80:1 payout is high enough to create excitement, but not high enough that it makes it likely that the player will take his winnings and abandon the game. More than likely the player began the game with at least 80 times his bet (for instance there are 80 quarters in $20). In contrast the 150:1 payout occurs only on average of once every 6,241 plays. The highest payout of 2,400:1 occurs only on average of once every 643=262,144 plays since the machine has 64 virtual stops. The player who continues to feed the machine is likely to have several midsize payouts, but unlikely to have a large payout. He quits after he is bored or has exhausted his bankroll.[15]

Despite the fact that they are confidential, occasionally a PARS sheet is posted on a website. They have limited value to the player, because usually a machine will have 8 to 12 different possible programs with varying payouts. In addition, slight variations of each machine (i.e. with double jackpots or five times play) are always being developed. The casino operator can choose which EPROM chip to install in any particular machine to select the payout desired. The result is that there is not really such a thing as a high payback type of machine, since every machine potentially has multiple settings. From October 2001 to February 2002, columnist Michael Shackleford obtained PAR sheets for five different nickel machines; four IGT games Austin Powers, Fortune Cookie, Leopard Spots and Wheel of Fortune and one game manufactured by WMS; Reel 'em In. Without revealing the proprietary information, he developed a program that would allow him to determine with usually less than a dozen plays on each machine which EPROM chip was installed. Then he did a survey of over 400 machines in 70 different casinos in Las Vegas. He averaged the data, and assigned an average payback percentage to the machines in each casino. The resultant list was widely publicized for marketing purposes (especially by the Palms casino which had the top ranking).[16]

One reason that the slot machine is so profitable to a casino is that the player must play the high house edge and high payout wagers along with the low house edge and low payout wagers. In a more traditional wagering game like craps, the player knows that certain wagers have almost a 50/50 chances of winning or losing, but they only pay a limited multiple of the original bet (usually no higher than three times). Other bets have a higher house edge, but the player is rewarded with a bigger win (up to thirty times in craps). The player can choose what kind of wager he wants to make. A slot machine does not afford such an opportunity. Theoretically, the operator could make these probabilities available, or allow the player to choose which one so that the player is free to make a choice. However, no operator has ever enacted this strategy. Different machines have different maximum payouts, but without knowing the odds of getting the jackpot, there is no rational way to differentiate.

In many markets where central monitoring and control systems are used to link machines for auditing and security purposes, usually in wide area networks of multiple venues and thousands of machines, player return must usually be changed from a central computer rather than at each machine. A range of percentages is set in the game software and selected remotely.

In 2006, the Nevada Gaming Commission began working with Las Vegas casinos on technology that would allow the casino's management to change the game, the odds, and the payouts remotely. The change cannot be done instantaneously, but only after the selected machine has been idle for at least four minutes. After the change is made, the machine must be locked to new players for four minutes and display an on-screen message informing potential players that a change is being made.[17]

[edit] Linked machines
Often machines are linked together in a way that allows a group of machines to offer a particularly large prize, or "jackpot". Each slot machine in the group contributes a small amount to this progressive jackpot, awarded to a player who gets, for example, a royal flush on a video poker machine or a specific combination of symbols on a regular or nine-line slot machine. The amount paid for the progressive jackpot is usually far higher than any single slot machine could pay on its own.

In some cases multiple machines are linked across multiple casinos. In these cases, the machines may be owned by the manufacturer, who is responsible for paying the jackpot. The casinos lease the machines rather than owning them outright. Megabucks may be the best known example of this type of machine. Megabucks Nevada starts at $10,000,000 after a jackpot. (Prior to September 2005, Megabucks Nevada reset to $7,000,000.) The new penny Megabucks video game also has a jackpot that starts at $10,000,000.]]>