The New Math of Gambling
The article "The New Math of Gambling" in Discover Magazine May 2000 was an article that shows the use of software, math and a few hours of time to beat the house when gambling. These life stories and achievements the individuals have are truly remarkable and real.
The article begins with Anthony Curtis who is a blackjack conqueror. He is a regular gambler at the Binion's Horseshoe tables in Las Vegas. He was once a rugby player turned publishing guru of the Huntington Press. He states right off that the dealers are crabby and tough in Vegas but this doesn't stop his science towards blackjack and his flirting with a cute dealer. He won the Match-Play Blackjack Championship in 1987 by card counting and having the ability to track many events going on at once.
"When an ace came up, he put his heel down…second ace, foot to the left…third ace, up on his toe and forth ace, foot to the right." Anthony then counted 2's and 8's as +1, 3's 4's 6's and 7's as +2, 5's +3, 9's --1, and 10's and face cards as --3. Whenever his count went positive he boosted his average bets and winnings.
Curtis found his gambling spirit after reading "How to win at Blackjack" and has read many other mathematical scientific techniques on winning in Vegas. The Baldwin Group, four army mathematicians, taught how to win and play each hand efficiently. This made blackjack the most profitable game in gambling. Other novels and even giving up a wrestling scholarship has led Curtis to win 101.1% return during his off hours.
Over the long haul of a normal gambling night, the house will win anywhere from 1 to 60 percent return on gambler's money. Americans lost $55 billion in 1998, and extreme losses have increased in recent years. Gambling is legal in all states but Hawaii, Utah and Tennessee.
The second success story comes from a video poker player named Jean Scott. Jean is the queen of Video Poker having been a blackjack counter for many years. An average hour for Scott is to play 600 hands and cycles going through $3000 like candy.
Scott is a minister's daughter who is "taking the money to God away from those evil casinos." She plays at the Orleans, a casino that attracts locals who prefer advantageous games.
The need among Americans to be diverted in ever more imaginative ways -- through high-thrill parks, virtual reality arcades, and theme restaurants, plays right into the hands of Dave Corriveau and Buster Corley, co-founders and CEO’s of Dave and Busters. The duo’s 50,000 square foot complexes include pool hall, an eye popping, cutting edge midway arcade, a formal restaurant, a casual diner, a sports bar and a nightclub rolled into one sprawling complex. In business since 1990, this is a high energy, highly efficient operation that’s comparable to a Vegas extravaganza. As a matter of fact there are even “for fun” cashless blackjack tables, with fake $10,000 chips. Pricey, but not outrageous, and you get value for your money.
The book Liar’s Poker begins in 1986, the first year of the firm Salomon Brothers decent, with Michael Lewis and the rest of the employees confused by the characteristics of their boss John Gutfreund. Gutfreund was known throughout the firm to bring a sudden chill to your bones or at Lewis put it “as same as the nervous twitch of a small furry animal at the silent approach of a grizzly bear” (Lewis 120). What had the employees confused was that Gutfruend usually hovered over everyone quietly with his cigar droppings all over; today however, he made a straight line toward the desk of John Meriwether. Meriwether was known as Salomon’s finest bond traders. Gutfruend went to him and whispered “One hand, one million dollars, no tears” (Lewis 127) what Gutfruend had whispered meant that he had challenged Meriwether to a betting game called Liar’s Poker. The game Liar’s Poker consist of a group of people, form a circle. Each player holds a dollar bill to their chest. Each player attempts to fool the others about the serial number printed on the face of their own bill. One trader starts by making his own bid, and attempts to guess a certain amount of a number consisting in every player’s dollar. An example from the book started the bid with three sixes. Counting every player plus himself each serial numbers contain at least three sixes.
“Recovering gamblers are encouraged to take themselves off mailing lists from casinos, to meet with a financial planner, to cancel all credit cards, and to turn over control of money to another person. Each behavioral interventions is designed to increase the difficulty of obtaining access to money to gamble”.
Weissman, Robert. A BAD BET Casino Economics and the Politics of Gambling [Online] Available http://prince.essential.org/monitor/hyper/mm1196.04. html,
...way free alcohol which impairs peoples judgement and sense of reality. It is assumed that the more drinks someone has, the more likely it is that they will stay and spend more money. The money spent by the casino on alcohol is more than made up by profits.
When you love someone, you 've gotta trust them. There 's no other way. You 've got to give them the key to everything that 's yours. Otherwise, what 's the point? And for a while, I believed, that 's the kind of love I had” (Casino). Casino centers on Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein, a gambler of legendary skill who is sent by the mob in the early 1970s to Las Vegas to manage its newly acquired Tangiers Hotel and Casino. Ace is an outsider among outsiders: a dispassionate, calculating, almost pitifully tender civilian among thugs. He’s a Jewish bookie sent by the mob to manage a Vegas casino and embezzle cash for the crime bosses back home. Even when he dons a flamboyant suit and runs patrol around the felt tables of his amoral arena, he looks unsatisfied.
In his book “Bringing Down The House”, Ben Mezrich tells the true story of six M.I.T. students who secretly learned how to count cards in the popular Vegas game Blackjack. He exposes how the previously oblivious nature of casinos gradually shifted to that of paranoia because of card counters like these students. Mezrich’s story focuses on Kevin Lewis, an Asian-American student at M.I.T., who gets dragged into living a double life involving millions of dollars. Kevin experiences the all time highs and lows of gambling while managing to keep it a secret from his close friends and family. Throughout his thrilling experience Kevin comes to recognize the dangers of what he has gotten himself into, and wonders
He was then ready to make his first trip to Las Vegas. The team leader, Micky, provided most of the capital for the team to play, which was usually about $600,000. Since he was the newest member of the team, Lewis played as a spotter, who found the best places for the “Big Players” to play and bet at higher stakes. Over the next few months, the team was successful, and Lewis became one of the “Big Players,” who won the most money for the team. During this time, he struggled with balancing his normal life of school and family, with his second life of playing blackjack in Las Vegas every weekend. Because of the lucrative winnings the team had experienced in the past summer, they looked to expand the team by adding more spotters, so three members were added. Martinez and Fisher were looking to make bigger profits, but the amount of money they could invest in the team was restricted by the team leader Micky, and his silent investors. The rest of the team voted, and Micky was kicked off the team. They continued to have success for the next six months. While playing at the MGM Grand, Lewis discovered that there was another card counting team from MIT playing there, which made them nervous about what other competition they had in the card counting
Over the past couple decades, sports gambling has become a growing industry and a hotly debated topic. Sports gambling is the act of placing a monetary wager on a sporting event for a specific outcome to happen. Daniel P. Connaughton claims sports gambling has always been an attractive medium for betting because the outcome of the games is unknown and so many factors go into a sports game (436). But currently as it stands in the United States, people may only bet on sports in Nevada. Yet the industry continues to expand and according to Jeffrey Roske, “Americans wager over $500 billion per year on sports. Of this staggering total, only $2-$3 billion per year are gambled legally within the state of Nevada…” (463). Roske’s evidence brings up
The gambling industry grasps a hold of everyone’s attention. Lotteries appeal to the low economic levels of society as a way to change their lives forever. One pull of the lever on a slot machine can make you an instant millionaire. On the flip side, there are those who gamble for excitement and entertainment reasons. They create a lifestyle of risk taking and chance, often ending up with making the wrong decisions. Most People like the thrill of sitting down in front of a slot machine and pulling the lever in hopes of winning a bundle. The opportunities are endless. So, what does the gambling tell us? A dollar and a dream, that’s all it takes. The gambling industry has grabbed a hold on our society.
Casinos have developed formulas to calculate the “predicted lifetime value” of any individual gambler. Gamblers are assigned value rankings based on this amount; the biggest losers are referred to as “whales.” These gamblers become the casinos’ most sought-after repeat customers, the ones to whom they market most aggressively with customized perks and VIP treatment. (Rosengren,
Gambling has been around since 2300 B.C. It has its positive and negative effects; it also has somewhat of a positive impact on the economy. It stimulates most communities by creating jobs and generates tax revenue for state and local governments. The gambling industry in “2002 and the commercial casino industry provided 350,000 jobs in the United States” (americangaming.org). Even though gambling can bring a lot of economic growth to the economy there is still an argument going on today whether it is a great choice to legalize it everywhere.
The Gambling industry attempts to win support with misleading information in its promotions. For example, gambling is said to help stimulate the economy by providing more jobs. According to the American Gaming Association study, "In 1995, the casino industry recorded $25 billion . . . and paid only $7 billion in wages" (Arthur Anderson). Also according to Maura J. Casey, there is high unemployment rates around casinos. (Casey 37) With people's losses and by encouraging workers to believe in cheating customers, casinos focus on gaining more and more money for their n...
Gambling is described as the betting of money or property on the result of an event or game that is mainly random with the desire to win more money or gain additional property. The industry or sector created by the activity of legal gambling is referred to as gaming. Since inception, gambling and gaming has continued to develop to an extent that it worth more than $335 billion across the globe. Most of the revenues obtained in this industry are generated by casinos and lotteries. In the past few years, gambling and gaming have attracted significant concern and controversy, especially with regards to the morality of the practice and whether its financial benefits outweigh the damage. While proponents of gambling
In conclusion, many “house advantages” exist in gaming today which makes it unfair. Gaming overall has taken a great toll on American society. Recently, gambling has been made legal in several states nationwide, this will eventually cause more issues with economy and bankruptcies all across the nation. Many factors play a role in these bankruptcies, for example probability. Many people have suffered and will continue suffering from gambling. The new laws passed indirectly encourage citizens around the nation to gamble, which will cause many future problems for our nation.