Subject: Casinos and magic Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 18:12:19 -0400 From: dweiss@systemsoft.com (David Weiss) To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Ever been to a casino? If you are a semi intelligent magic player, the whole idea of casino gambling seems insane. Logically, how can a casino stay in business? They will pay you when you win, and take your money when you lose. That is the premise to all gambling. Why do casinos make SOOOOOO much money? It isn't even close on their bottom line. Casinos are one of the most profitable business ventures ever. So why am I talking about this? Well the simple fact is that Casinos work because the business of casino is insurance. Every thing they do, every person that works there and every tiny rule and regulation is ensuring that the casino will win money in the end. Do you think you are a good blackjack player? So does everyone who bets at the casino. How come most people lose? Because that is the design of the game. The House will beat the above average player 53.5 out of 100 hands. That is a fact. Regardless of luck or whatever. That is as close as the player will ever get to even at a casino. All the other games are much higher weighted towards the house. Even Roulette, the simplest game in the casino is not so simple. For example, you can bet on red or black...50/50 right. Wrong there are 38 spaces on the wheel, two are green (0 and 00). However the odds are 1:1. The player gets screwed out of 5.2% of their money if they win. So it is easy to see that the games are designed for you to lose. Another major part of Casinos success as a business is security. Unlike Magic, Casinos don't need judges. The rules are you vs. Them and they are almost always right. They have competant dealers that handle the games and money, and they have tons of floor personnel to watch for strange things. Strange things....Hmm that sounds like cheating to me. The fact is that almost 4 out of 10 people at a casino are employees. That's right. 1000 gamblers, 350 employees. Some are dealers, some are waitresses, some are hidden behind one way glass, but they all are they for one reason; to make the casino make money. People have tried to cheat casinos out of money ever since the first one opened. Why not? If we persue the popular debate of ethics, who would feel bad taking money from the evil casino? No one. That is why they are more proficient at cheating themselves then any player could be. There is an interesting story about a idiot savant that could count cards. He could count a deck of 52 cards so well that he could tell you the next card almost all the time. He was not a cheater, just incredibly attentive to patterns of the same cards. This person could have a field day at a Pro Tour. It was because of him that casinos went to multiple deck shoes. Now a casino has 6 to 8 decks in a shoe for blackjack. However they still monitor winning players for card counting. The whole point is that ethics is a nice thing to discuss and hope that everyone plays nice in the sandbox. Just take a lesson from the casino. The house need to have the advantage so that the average tourist can have fun. If the casino didnt make all that money, do you think they would stay in business? Wizards of the coast needs to take the casino approach, if they want to maintain integrity and attendance at the Pro Tour. I dont know about you but 150 grand is alot of cash to just give away to players of a card game without strict regulation of substandard behavior. If you are caught cheating in a casino you can go to JAIL! That is right. You are stealing money! It is called Racketeering and extortion. I am not saying that Nate Clarke should get 7 to 10 at Leavanworth (he would be someone's girlfriend in a hurry), but something has to be done along those lines. Banning is like Magic jail. That sounds fair to me. It is up to the WOTC to provide a level playing field, not the dojo and our discussion. The world is full of instinctual creatures. Selfishness is an instinct we all possess. Some people take it to higher extremes. We call that cheating and scamming. WOTC should too. HEY WIZARDS OF THE COAST.... GET ON THE BALL. YOUR PRESCIOUS GAME IS BEING DESTROYED. YOU HAVE TAKEN OUR MONEY FOR YEARS FOR CARD AND MAGAZINE SALES. PUT SOME BACK INTO THE GAME IN THE RIGHT PLACE. GET SOME SECURITY AT THE PRO TOUR AND PAY YOUR JUDGES TO GIVE A SHIT. LAY DOWN THE LAW FOR CHEATING. DO SOME RESEARCH INTO THE TYPES OF CHEATING THAT RUN RAMPANT THROUGHOUT THE SANCTIONED WORLD. GIVE ALL THE PLAYERS THE SAME CHANCE. REGULATE TEAMS AND SPECTATORS. BAN PEOPLE FOR CHEATING. PUT FEAR IN THE HEARTS OF THESE SNOT NOSED GENIUSES. MAKE A STATEMENT!!! David Weiss -------------------------------------- I won a PT qualifier once - I must have cheated.