Charitable Gaming: Roulette

Quote: Riva

I help run a licensed gambling activity for a local non-profit. They have about 20 events per-year to raise money for their organization. It is real-money wagering. I have a couple of questions as it relates to roulette, one of our most popular games. There was no forum for roulette so after posting a different thread yesterday, I figured you same good folks would be able to help me out on a few things.

Some background, roulette is gigantically popular at our events. So much so, that oftentimes players can not get on a table. That's not good as this is perhaps our most profitable game. Most would suggest that we should simply buy/rent more tables and wheels to meet the demand. That's not so easy because of the dealer/personnel issue. This requires at least 2 people per table and the dealers have to be somewhat skilled. Plus, players try to cheat.

So to address this issue, we built two, 20' roulette tables with custom layouts. There is a layout on each side with one wheel in the middle. The betting spots are JUMBO (to say the least) allowing for lots of action. There is one person on the wheel who also is the mucker and a dealer over each layout, right and left, for a total of three people. Now, nobody is pushed away from a table. Plus, with a dealer hovering right over each layout, there is absolutely no cheating.

Here's the issues and, some of you are going to say "oh my gawd!"

All the inside payouts are shaved by about 33%. So, a single number win pays $25, not $36. Players do not mind. In fact, most don't know any better. They are there to have a good time, drink beer and, are full of glee when $25 is pushed their way. All the outside bets pay normal payouts even money or 2 to 1, depending on bet. When I started volunteering there, the minimum and maximum bet was $1 on any bet, no matter if it was inside or out. So a player could literally put $1 on an inside number and $1 on "red" and play all night. It was torture.

I finally got the old timers (dealers) to agree that we need to raise our minimums and and make them apply to both inside as well as outside bets. The results were immediate and huge. Plus, the players are still happy and the game goes just as smoothly as before (there's just more stuff for the mucker to do now).

So now, our "inside" minimum is: $5 inside with a $5 maximum. Yes, same amount. However, the inside $5 can be broke up any way, all $5 on one bet, or any combination of $1 bets so long as it is not more than $5 on any single bet. For clarification, a player could cover all 36 numbers plus the zeros and have 38 $5 bets in action ($190)

On the outside, it's different. Each outside bet is $5. So, if a player wants to bet bet two outside bets, he/she has $10 in play.

Here's the first question....We're (I'm) thinking of raising the max to $10. I know that I can't get hurt too bad on the outside bets because they pay even money or 2 for 1 on some. That's livable. The issue is with the inside numbers. Even with the payouts shaved 33%, that still a big payout with a hit on a single number, that's a $125 payout on a $5 wager. If we make it $10, that's $250. Yes, it's more action but YIKES! Remember, state law stipulates that max winnings are limited to $500 so, a player would have to surrender anything in excess of $500. Most however, simply give the excess winnings to a pal to redeem or simply keep the chips until the next event. Thoughts on raising maximums to $10?

Now here's the "oh my gawd" part. Ready? --We don't use roulette chips! Rather, we simply use the same chips the players purchase at the cashier's table that players use for craps, blackjack, big 6, etc. These are custom chips we had made up for the school and are in $1, $5 and $10 denominations.

It's been this way for years and there is a lot of push back from some to go to a unique color chip system for roulette. Why the push-back? In short, it's a ton more work for somebody to muck chips all night long. That's it. There's no other reason! Currently, the mucker is sorting $1, $5 and $10 chips. Now, the mucker would be stacking up to 10 different colors. Yikes!

The net affect of all this is players only bet the minimums because there is nothing to distinguish one player's bet from the others as all chips are identical. The bottom line is players are not able to remember a multitude of bets so , they just bet a few and stare at it until it wins or loses. And those who do place multiple bets, often quarrel with the other players claiming that it was their bet. It's maddening!

It was no big deal when bets were limited to just $1 and a person would put our say, 4 different bets. But now, when you have $5 minimums on both the inside and outside, the problem becomes huge. The old timers know that colored chips is the right way to go, particularly with the increased wagering however, they bark that colored chips slow down the game. I agree in part.

I have a possible solution and I would certainly welcome any others that you may have. First, the state allows that a certain percentage of the dealers can be paid professionals. I can "rent" very capable professional roulette dealers for about $150 per 8 hour shift, per-dealer. So that's $450 per-table per-night and I have two tables. Plus the event runs for 4 days, so that's paying out $3600 total over 4 days--just to use colored chips. On the plus side, I get really good dealers and muckers for that $3600. I'm thinking, in light of all the factors, increased maximums, shaved payouts, smoother play, it's money well spent. i won't make any friends with the old timers because they will now be dealing blackjack, but what the heck. Thoughts? Thank you.