Paying 25¢ to play at the $1 BlackJack table

What did bj's pay on that game? At MGM Detroit they pay EVEN MONEY on that $1 bet on top of the 25 cent vig.

The last time I played at the Hollywood in Tunica they had advertised $1 (No disclaimer or anything), so I figured I'd make my first stop there and play some cheap hands. Of course when I got there I realized it was a $.25 commission, but you didn't have to pay if you bet $5 or more. Needless to say I used my free play, got a comp drink and walked next door to The Resorts to play $2 8 deck and $5 DD with no commission to be seen. They just lost my play.

Quote: jlnoble2400

You cant beat this game if you are paying a fourth of the wager in a non refundable tax. They pay tax on wagers in oklahoma and what i have seen it is a tenth of what the wager rounding up in the nearest increments of fifty cents. This adds a ten percent losing rate to the payer it makes it impossible to buck ten percent player disadvantage I would avoid these games completly. The highest advantage a player can get through card counting in an unusual circumstance is seven percent that still doesnt beat the ten percent you are out yet alone twenty five percent

At least in Oklahoma, you get some incredibly player friendly rules that, without the vig, would make the game a player-advantage game (i.e. BJ in a certain suit get 2:1, instead of 3:2 like all others; 6-7-8 and 7-7-7 gets 3:2, suited 2:1; BJ promotions as well). The vig washes away all the player edge EXCEPT at the few where they either pay the vig or have promotional times. Granted, the promotions aren't usually that good, but the rules are about as player friendly as they get (S17, RSA, no Surrender, DAS, DA2) (8-deck and double deck).

A/C and the places that have it don't have those rules at all, so it's MUCH worse.

Quote: rebelaccountant

The last time I played at the Hollywood in Tunica they had advertised $1 (No disclaimer or anything), so I figured I'd make my first stop there and play some cheap hands. Of course when I got there I realized it was a $.25 commission, but you didn't have to pay if you bet $5 or more. Needless to say I used my free play, got a comp drink and walked next door to The Resorts to play $2 8 deck and $5 DD with no commission to be seen. They just lost my play.

To be fair, they DO have a disclaimer, even on the signs, but they are written in such a small print you can't see them, even if you stop. The print ads are a bit more clear about this. Why Hollywood is even going after that customer is a shock to me. Tunica is known for low-rolling deals, and frankly, Resorts has MUCH more at stake than they do (as in, their business is crumbling before their eyes). If you want to talk about deceptive, Resorts advertises $1 craps, but only offers 2x odds. So on points of 6-8 you're going to be better of not taking the odds! I figured they'd at least offer 10x odds, but when I saw the 2x I refused to put a dollar out on any of their tables.

Hollywood used to have the BEST drink... a version of an orange julius. It was basically OJ and whipped cream, but after my first trip to Tunica, I decided it was my favorite place to go because of that drink!!!!!

Thanks for the clarification on the Hollywood. I stand corrected. I used to be a Hollywood regular, but I missed a few regular trips because of flood, and the mailouts have never caught up sense.


I totally agree with the craps table being horrible at Resorts, but I really enjoy the guys in the pit at the blackjack tables, overly nice and anytime I've seen problems at the table they go out of the way to keep the players happy. And you can't beat the 1 comp buffet!

Quote: Tiltpoul

If you want to talk about deceptive, Resorts advertises $1 craps, but only offers 2x odds. So on points of 6-8 you're going to be better of not taking the odds! I figured they'd at least offer 10x odds, but when I saw the 2x I refused to put a dollar out on any of their tables.

What's unfair or deceptive about only offering 2x odds? You're being given a very low-cost game at $1 and effectively $3. But to prevent $10 customers from just playing $1 with 10x odds, they capped it. It's still the cheapest game in the house.

This comes back to the entire gambling for fun versus seriously trying to give yourself the best possible chance to NOT lose your money. I usually do everything possible to play the best game odds wise, yet in the long run, still lose. For smaller stakes, I wonder how much extra stress and pressure we put on oursleves in what should be, a relaxing time? If someone plays a bad game, loses something they can afford and doesnt feel bad about it, more power to them. Isnt that what a vacation should be??

Quote: P90

What's unfair or deceptive about only offering 2x odds? You're being given a very low-cost game at $1 and effectively $3. But to prevent $10 customers from just playing $1 with 10x odds, they capped it. It's still the cheapest game in the house.

20x odds is the standard in Tunica. There are a few places that offer 10x odds (Resorts being one of them) and 100x odds (Horseshoe). IMO, it's deceptive in the way Hollywood offers $1 BJ, where you still have to pay the quarter. They advertise $1 craps all over the place, but there's no small print that says only 2x odds. If you offer 10x odds on the "big game," then you're essentially offering worse rules.

Its always a question of small print versus large print.

When you get to the club will you be seeing the sign about 99 beautiful women and 3 ugly ones for the first time? Or will that sign also be in the advertisement? How large do they have to make the sign when they make the photo of the beautiful women five feet tall?
A strip club wants to emphasize beauty not the technical possibility of ugly women.

A casino want to push their craps game... not emphasize the 2x odds.
A casino wants to push their one dollar BJ... not the casino's virtually confiscatory and pleasure dampening surcharge.

Yet customers expect a certain amount of disclosure of salient features. If everybody in town is generous odds on craps, a casino that is a stingy 2x odds had better own up to it. If everybody in town is offering bottom dollar blackjack but one place imposes a surcharge that annoys many players, there should be some sort of disclosure.

I don't know where the lines should be drawn but casinos may well find out that their customers know!!

Quote: Tiltpoul

20x odds is the standard in Tunica. There are a few places that offer 10x odds (Resorts being one of them) and 100x odds (Horseshoe). IMO, it's deceptive in the way Hollywood offers $1 BJ, where you still have to pay the quarter. They advertise $1 craps all over the place, but there's no small print that says only 2x odds.

There is no print that says there are free odds at all, while at that. If you want to play dice with $1 on the line, here you go. Offering any free odds with that was generous already.
If they offered 100x odds, no one would need the "big game" - why bother, just bet $1 and take free odds. Even at 10x odds, it would kill $10 games; $5 plus 10x odds roughly equals $10 plus standard 3x4x5x odds, at half the price. At 2x odds it's already the best option for betting any less than $30/roll.

The game costs you only $0.014 to play at minimum, less than one a pull of a quarter slot. At 30-40 bets resolved per hour, you're paying about $0.5/hour if you play $1+2x odds pass or don't pass only; that's versus $1.25/hour on a nickel slot at a slow 300 spins per hour. Add an occasional $0.5 bet for the dealer and you come to about even with a nickel slot - for a live game with real dealers, chips and dice, that's as cheap as it gets.

Limited odds are just a cannibalization protection so that if you want to bet bigger, you go to the normal table. I don't justify a lot of things "the dark side" does, but in this instance, the advertisement is for $1 craps, not for an opportunity to act smart and just play the minimum plus odds for your desired bet size. I see such a promotion as being aimed at novice or short-stacked players who are intimidated by $10 bet minimum, rather than at medium-rollers looking for the cheapest game.

I'll give you a little bit; maybe deceptive isn't the right word for the $1 craps. Truth be told, they could offer 20x odds on the table and they'd still be making money on hops, horns and big reds. People will continue to make those bets and that's where they get the long term money anyways....

That being said, when I went over to Resorts to play $1 craps, and saw the 2x odds, I was so turned off I didn't play table games there period. I honestly figured they would have at least 10x odds, more like 20x odds, where I would have played come and odds and those bets like crazy.

Overall, the $1 player doesn't care about odds (and probably doesn't know about them), but the advertisements and such really irk players who, like me, expect the odds to be similar to other games. Trump Plaza in AC has $3 craps with 10x odds, which is both a lower minimum and higher odds offering than many other AC casinos. You don't see them going out of... business... well...