WSJ Win Big then Quit

Datasets of European gambling sites show that many casinos make a major portion of their income from a very few players.

And I thought most gamblers break even......at least that is what they always tell me!

Thanks for the article, very interesting.

"Now, thanks to an unprecedented trove of public data detailing the behavior of thousands of Internet gamblers over a two-year period, The Wall Street Journal can provide some answers".

They could'a asked me and gotten the answer a lot faster.

Most of the money casinos win is due to player stupidity. Just a couple of weeks ago, I watched some yutz rack up a huge $30,000+ win at a Craps table across from the Blackjack pit where I was playing. Lots of yelling, screaming, etc. Guy's racks were overflowing with $100 and $500 chips. Lots of "fire bets" won.

Took him about 45 minutes, I'd guess, to unload all of it and walk away with nothing! How stupid is that? A lot of folks work all year and don't make $30,000 before taxes, let alone after. Maybe, once or twice, have I ever seen a big winner at Craps walk with most of it intact.

Speaking of Blackjack, our esteemed web master made a You Tube vid wherein he claimed 1.0% of players knew Basic Strategy. I dispute that claim, as I don't think it's that high. Remember, the 50th anniversary of Thorpe's Beat the Dealer has come and gone, and the most popular Blackjack "strategy" remains: "Whudidowiddishand"

I knew the rough ratios of all this already, but always good to try to promote awareness of it. Playing - EV games long term just keeps digging a bigger hole for gamblers.

And ironically I was in Tunica gambling when this first was posted...lol

Quote: Impmon

Most of the money casinos win is due to player stupidity.

Well... let's call it less than optimal decision making, that sounds so much nicer. Alcohol, ignorance, greed, emotions... what do think that festive atmosphere and loud music is there for?

> Just a couple of weeks ago, I watched some yutz rack up a huge $30,000+ win at a Craps table
>Took him about 45 minutes, I'd guess, to unload all of it and walk away with nothing! How stupid is that?
I don't know how stupid it is, but its quite common. And not just for thirty grand. In the sixties an out of work laborer on his way to a possible new job played in Vegas and took the casino for over 80,000 dollars... worth far more back then. The CM gave him a free room for the night ... at 11:00am the player checked out of the hotel carrying his own bags because he knew he couldn't tip the bellman. The casino did give him a bus ticket though.


> Maybe, once or twice, have I ever seen a big winner at Craps walk with most of it intact.
Casino mythology (current version) is that only Chinese females take a big win and actually walk with it.

>Speaking of Blackjack, our esteemed web master made a You Tube vid wherein he claimed 1.0% of players knew Basic Strategy.
Heck, about 80 percent of them know Basic Strategy. Just ask them. THEN watch them try to apply it even while sober. I watched one woman whom I absolutely knew was indeed playing BJ with her mortgage money. She was at a 6:5 table even though she was occasionally betting far more than the minimum for her to play 3:2 BJ about twenty feet away. I learned a few months later that her "revised" basic strategy was to drop non to subtle hints about her having a room a few blocks away. (And, yes... the bank foreclosed on her home).