Gambling Guide
Ask the Wizard #100
One Asian female dealer where I work regularly does $200 or more a night in tips. She has done this dozens and dozens of times. I have done it once or twice. Is she doing something so completely different than what I do? I hardly think so. In fact I know so because she and I both worked at another casino where I was a floor supervisor and she dealt (we both deal at the casino where we are now) and she didn’t do anything special. In fact she hardly said anything at all to the players!
"Anonymous" .
You make a good point. However I could argue that is violates open market economics to have women subsidizing men or Asians subsidizing Caucasians. That is essentially what is happening by tip sharing, by your own argument. As one white male to another I sympathize with your situation but I am also against institutionalized favoritism according to race or gender. So I believe that tip sharing should be optional.
"Anonymous" .
The easy way to solve the problem is that the probability the first pile has three aces is (4/52)*(3/51)*(2/50) = 1/5525. However each pile has an equal probability of having three aces so we multiply by 6, yielding 6/5525 = 0.001086
"Anonymous" .
Thanks for the compliment. This is a good problem. The probability that exactly one employee will be in the bottom 5% is 5*(.05)*(.95)4 = 0.203627. Given that one employee is in the lowest 5% the probability of exactly one in the next 20% is 4*(.2/.95)*(.75/.95)3 = 0.414361. Given these two underachievers the probability of exactly one in the next 50% out of the remaining 75% is 3*(.5/.75)*(.25/.75)2 = 0.222222. The probability that one of the remaining two falls in the lower 20% of 25% is 2*(.2/.25)*(.05/.25) = 0.32. Taking the product of all these probabilities we get 0.006, or 3/5 of 1%.
Mike S.
Another Mike S., what are the odds? Lots of racetracks permit what is called "class 2" gaming, which must be lottery or bingo based. The way to offer slots under this rule is to have a lottery or bingo game going on behind the scenes and the outcome is displayed in the form of a slot machine win. For example if the lottery game determines that you win 20 times your bet it will display whatever slot machine symbols pay 20. So it is a clever illusion.
"Anonymous" .
The various house ways are all very similar and only differ in rare or borderline plays. I have often heard dealer’s comment that their casino uses a conservative house way that tries to balance the hands, resulting in more pushes. However I would doubt if anyone has ever done a comparison study.
"Anonymous" .
Zero. You can not deduct a net loss at all. However if you have some W2G forms (generally given on wins of $1200 or more in slots, video poker, and keno) then you can deduct other losses against these wins. You should keep documentation for any losses you claim. You may be thinking of deducting losses on stocks. There you can deduct up to $3000 a year, and can carry over amounts larger than that to the next year. I’m still carrying over losses from the tech crash in 2000.
"Anonymous" .
This is getting outside my area of expertise so I bounced your comments off of my father, who has a Ph.D. in physics. Here is what he says:
"He may be right. Ozone (O3) does have a distinctive smell. And yes, it is a "form" of oxygen. He may have inside information that ozone generators were being used in the Renton WA casino. There is nothing illegal or dangerous about generating ozone in small quantities to "freshen" the air. It can make it smell like the air after a lightning storm, which some might find stimulating, especially if there is smoking going on in the room. Like many deodorants, its main effect may be to mask other odors. As a strong oxidizer, it may also react with some odorous hydrocarbons and help to get rid of them faster. Manufacturers make claims about supposed benefits of ozone, but I do not believe there is any proven effect on health or "happiness". You may quote me if you like. Also check this out: IAQ Publications - Ozone Generator Fact Sheet" - William L. Shackleford.
So you are probably right that ozone is pumped into some casinos. However as the urban legend goes casinos pump oxygen to keep players awake and euphoric, which is not the motive with ozone. As to the question posed by a writer of "Are you supposed to tip the person who pays you if you hit a slot machine for an amount not paid by the machine itself?....", you stated " If you just hit a jackpot over $1200 requiring a hand pay then it is proper etiquette to tip...." I think a qualification is in order. I had to wait 38 minutes to get a hand pay. It probably would have been a longer wait had I not seen a lady in the cleaning crew and asked if she could find a floor person for me. She did. I didn’t tip the person paying but I did give that cleaning lady a $20.
Point taken. I probably would have done the same. My statement was more of a generality.
"Anonymous" .
Thanks for using the Amazon link. That is an easy for anyone to support the site. I’ve noticed that lots of hotels everywhere have buffets. They serve a need to get guests fed quickly who would rather be doing other things (like gambling). Also, foreign guests may not be familiar with American food and not know what to order from a restaurant. With a buffet what you see is what you get. So I would argue that the ratio of total buffet meals served to total hotel guests is not that disproportionate in Vegas. There are lots of buffets simply because there are lots of rooms.
R.S. from Dallas
Consider it done! Yes, this is my 100th column. Four years and two months ago I started it as a way to freshen up the site and to show the content is not stagnant. As evidenced that it has gone on this long I think it was one of my better ideas.
