e-Craps at new Maryland Live casino

craps/roulette/bacaratt machine in the middle of the casino by the bar.

there are 4 islands arranged in a rectangle:
2 big islands @ 14 seats each
2 small islands @ 7 seats each.
16seats by one side of the bar

total 58 seats.

all are connected to the machines on the big islands.
one island has the craps/sic bo/roulette machines. the other has the bacarrat machine. you can play all 4 on any of these terminals.


anyway, here are the details:
3/4/5x odds, BUY 5% commission on win

big islands/bar have $5min/$2500 max, $0.50 denomination
small islands are $10 min


i popped in $80 just to see what the odds are because i couldnt tell by looking at the Help screen.
left at $120. 50% profit! wahoo. lol


Things about the casino:
1) i got there at 2:30pm. (grand opening was 10pm the nite b4.) lots of people.

the parking garage SUCKS! you turn to find parking near the elevator, and it's a dead end. there's barely enuf room to make a broken u-turn w/o hitting the parked cars. i saw others just go in reverse. i can see LOTS of problems here.

line for rewards card was insane. i didnt bother.
i hope they match rewards levels with competing casinos. (ie: gold/diamond level)

2) traffic lights are not timed correctly. i hit every red light to the casino after i exited the hwy.

3) construction everywhere:
- they were still doing the new ramps to/from the hwy to the casino -> single lane
- they were still pulling electrical wire around the perimeter of the casino
- lots of construction workers

4) high limits area has e-roulette and e-baracatt, but no e-craps :(

5) independent e-roulette island by the entrance of the casino.
6) electronic card game tables also near entrance. (i didnt look at what games were offered.)


i was planning on going Fri, but on a whim i decided to do a dry run today. (i didnt withdraw any $. only had $80 on me.)
as of now, i dont plan on going back fri or sat. i might go Sun morning at opening.


if i think of anything else, i'll update.


update 6/9:
even tho the min is $5, you can have $0.50 passline as long as the total amount on the table is at least $5.
so theoretically, you can have $5 pass/max odds then $0.50 Come bet.

points on rewards card: it seems $1 = 1point on bets that have a house edge.
ie: odds are not counted for points

$25max passline :(

32sec timer inbetween rolls. i think resorts world in NYC has ~20 sec timer?

playing at the bar does not give you comp alcoholic drinks. Did not ask about soft drinks.
(i dont think there are any comp alcohlic drinks even from waitresses.)


update 6/15:
max buy/place is $25 :(

why have a $2500 table limit if passline/come/buy/place are $25 max!?!?

and now $2 = 1 point :(

also cleaned up the my description of the e-craps layout.

Update 7/29:
update:
e-Craps now has a $500 limit for Pass/Dont Pass/Come/Dont come/Place/Buy/Lay.

up from the measely $25 limit.

First report! Thanks!

PS: questions:

the rolls are generated by this bubble thing? someone pushes a button or what?

what is the alternative to the parking garage?

update:

even tho the min is $5, you can have $0.50 passline as long as the total amount on the table is at least $5.
so theoretically, you can have $5 pass/max odds then $0.50 Come bet.

points on rewards card: it seems $1 = 1point on bets that have a house edge.
ie: odds are not counted for points

$25max passline :(

32sec timer inbetween rolls. i think resorts world in NYC has ~20 sec timer?

playing at the bar does not give you comp alcoholic drinks. Did not ask about soft drinks.
(i dont think there are any comp alcohlic drinks even from waitresses.)

Quote: odiousgambit

First report! Thanks!

PS: questions:

the rolls are generated by this bubble thing? someone pushes a button or what?

what is the alternative to the parking garage?

it is a bubble thing but in this version noone pushes a button. the computer jiggles the dice for a random amount of sec (and the jiggle strength is also random).

for parking, i guess you can also park in the mall itself then walk to the casino.
today is a HOT day (90F) so parking in the garage = cooler car when u leave (unless its at nite).

I'll be checking it out in a couple of weeks if not before.

Good to know some facts; if you go back to the beginning of the other thread on this, there was a discussion about whether or not there would be any kind of Craps, or just some phoney baloney slots stuff.

I went to MD Live Casino over the weekend. I thought it was a nice facility, kind of reminded me of PARX up north of Philly in terms of the decor. Man, if you love themed slot machines, this is the place for you! They have just about everything you can imagine (Grease, Betty Boop, JAWS, more Sex and the City than I've ever seen in a casino, Wizard of Oz, tons of Wheel of Fortune 3-reels, the list goes on and on). The e-tables are cool, I got onto a $5 e-baccarat (dealt with the Organic Card contraption) while ShuffleMaster blackjack was $10-$15 minimums, with maybe one $5 table I saw.

The card conveyor belt can definitely build some suspense, especially as you're waiting for the draw card to come out. Overall, I thought it was cool. I didn't realize the bar terminals are cheaper than the ones in the "audience", interesting. I thought they'd just jacked up the mins.

The one thing that strikes me as odd about this place is by building it the way they did, the only possible expansion route would be to build further into one of the mall parking lots, which would be an interesting juggling act with mall owners. Granted, not everything is open...I think they said there are 3,200 terminals running right now, with another 1,500 coming by Halloween. I have to think though, that Cordish built with an eye toward table games, and I don't really see where a lot of them would fit in the current casino without major re-adjustments. So, I'll be interested to see if the additional wing left to open is very e-table heavy, which gives them a path to easily integrating table games should they be approved in MD. The ones Live did have (at least blackjack) were arranged in clusters that would easily translate to live tables.

jesus h christ... COLD e-craps machine.

$1000 playing 3point Betty ($10 passline + 2 come, all max odds):
lost $600 before hitting my 1st # :(
lost alll $1000 in under an hr hitting only 2 numbers total.
7's were flying left and right.

WOW!

yeah, u say i should have switched to the dark side.
last time i did that i lost the rest of my bankroll when the game went on for a 30min run :(
(at 1number/min, thats 30 numbers w/o a 7)

Please accept my sympathies. I've gone through some such sessions, albeit for lower amounts.

Quote: 100xOdds

yeah, u say i should have switched to the dark side.

I wouldn't say that. Hindsight is 20/20 But often when you fail to hit on the pass and switch to the don't, you'll start hitting points just then. The house edge for either side is enough to let the house make a profit.

oh.. updates:
max buy/place is $25 :(

why have a $2500 table limit if passline/come/buy/place are $25 max!?!?

and now $2 = 1 point :(

also cleaned up my description of the e-craps layout in my OP.

Quote: 100xOdds

oh.. updates:
max buy/place is $25 :(

why have a $2500 table limit if passline/come/buy/place are $25 max!?!?

also cleaned up the my description of the e-craps layout.

I must be missing something. You can bet $2500 on the proposition bets?

as far as your description of the layout, you mean you keep going back and editing post #1, right?

yes, cleaned up in my OP.
clarified my post

I finally went to Maryland Live Casino yesterday....won about $165. Overall it was just ok... :-/ However, as stated before, if you are a slot person this is the place for you! Slots as far as the eye can see. I have heard that tables are coming but for now it's just e-table games. Most disappointing is the e-craps. ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!! I'm not sure if anyone has played the e-craps in Vegas, but it is much better than Maryland Live. The whole excitement about craps is the fact that the player can have direct influence in the game of course by rolling the dice. The small popo-matic bubble at Maryland Live is a joke! I played the ones in Vegas and their dice and bubble are huge. And the shooter can decide when to push the button and send the dice into the air for a fair random landing. When I was in Vegas I went on a 30+ dice roll on their e-craps machine and won big. A big part of it was I was able to decide when to shoot the dice. Marlyland Live does not offer this and their dice are small and the bubble is even smaller. The computer decides when the dice are done shaking around and land. Good long profitable streaks are probably possible, but don't hold your breath. If you haven't seen the Vegas version....youtube it.

The blackjack e-table at Maryland Live stays packed for the most part. Nothing fancy though. Of course I've seen much better e-blackjack games in Vegas. When I was there yesterday the minimum was $15. I'm not sure if this goes up on weekends or does it stay consistenly at $15. To me $15 isn't high and it isn't low for the average blackjack gambler, so I would call it fair. Of course this is where I won my money. I'm only an hour away so I probably will go back eventually, but I will not be a frequent visitor until the tables come. For such a brand new establishment I was quite disappointed in the e-table games, they could have done so much better with providing a more attractive e-game display. The surrounding are is very nice with places to eat, and go shopping. But in my opinion Maryland Live has ALOT of room for improvement.

Vito4,

the problem w/the e-craps tables in Vegas are the low maximums you can have on the table.
ie: $500 max total of all bets

I've maxxed it several times starting at $5passline/5x odds. frustrating when you cant add more $ on a hot roll.

the e-craps in NYC's Resorts world is $3000 max. I've gotten up to $1500 on there starting at $10passline/max odds.

unfortunately, even tho Maryland Live's e-craps says $2500 max, you cant get that with just passline/come/place/Buy because the limit for those is $25 :(

doing the math:
$25 4+10 w/max odds = $200
$25 5+9 w/max odds = 250
$25 6+8 w/max odds = 300

Place $25 on each # = 25*6 =150 (yuck placing 4,5,9,10)
Buy $25 on each # = 150 (Yuck buying 6,8)

total: $1050

but thats still higher than the $500 limit in Vegas


edit:
instead of placing the 4,9,10 i'd probably max out the Field first.

Rewards system:
slots: $1 in = 1 point
table games: $2 in = 1 point (no idea if odds counted since the actual point total lagged while i was playing)

also no idea if 600 points = $1 free slot/table play/comp at bar

I had like 6000 points when i left last time.

i got a mailer for a one time $85 freeplay.
when i got there today, i had $130 on my card . But only 16 points left.

no idea where the extra $45 came from or how 6000 points converted to $45.
133 points = $1 freeplay?!?!


edit:
according to this site (http://www.americancasinoguide.com/slot-machine-payback-statistics.html#Maryland), slots in Md have a min 87% payback.
NY has a 90% payback.
And Atlantic City has 90-92% payback in 2011, depending on casino

update:
e-Craps now has a $500 limit for Pass/Dont Pass/Come/Dont come/Place/Buy/Lay.

up from the measely $25 limit.

Table limit is till $2500. (total amount on table.)

so theoretically, if the point is 6, you cant have $500 pass/$2500 odds since thats over the $2500 limit

Quote: 100xOdds

Rewards system:
slots: $1 in = 1 point
table games: $2 in = 1 point (no idea if odds counted since the actual point total lagged while i was playing)

also no idea if 600 points = $1 free slot/table play/comp at bar

I had like 6000 points when i left last time.

i got a mailer for a one time $85 freeplay.
when i got there today, i had $130 on my card . But only 16 points left.

no idea where the extra $45 came from or how 6000 points converted to $45.
133 points = $1 freeplay?!?!

The thing I was handed definitely said 600 pts=$1 free slot play or comps; I wonder if your generous treatment is coming from a desire to be more generous than obligated, since they themselves have clearly 'hit the jackpot' there with this new venture?

I have been getting emails from them indicating my account... via the player's card... has been loaded with $20 in freeplay. To put this in perspective, the action they saw from me was something like 200 rolls of the dice; with betting on the DC this couldn't have translated to more than 100 $5 bets, plus a few 50 cent bets, from me at the most... all on the line darkside. The EV of that action was then about minus 7 dollars max. Yeah, I managed to lose more than that by quite a bit, by losing free odds bets, but if they know what they are doing, they shouldnt factor that... yet they do to some degree when tallying the points, as you also have noted.

Anyway the bottom line is they are returning losses at a better than posted rate it seems. Looks like I'll get a chance to stop by there in a week or so, if they keep comping me more than my action deserves then maybe I should just keep seeing just what they will do... until it proves otherwise.

Meanwhile not-as-nearby Harrington has sent me some pretty lame coupons, including one coupon permitting one surrender while playing Blackjack. Whoop-de-do. Love the real Craps tables there though, and the laid-back nature of the place. But Maryland is making their offers look pretty bad.