Minimum on lay bets

One of our listeners was playing craps at the Hard Rock Casino in Lake Tahoe. The table minimum was $10.

He tried to make a lay bet against the 4 for $20 (plus $1 for the vig). This would appear to be the minimum you could lay against the 4 because the winning payout would be $10.

However, he was told by the dealer that the minimum for a lay bet against the 4 was $40 (plus $1 vig). Now, while that's a much better bet than the $20 lay (because you're paying 5% vig instead of 10%), it doesn't seem to me it should be the minimum on a $10 table.

Was the dealer wrong? Or are the places where they really won't book a lay against the 4 for less than $40, even at a $10 table?

Most places won't let you lay for an amount that will win you less than $20.

I remember asking about buying 4/10 for $15 once at Harrington, DE casino and was told they weren't legally allowed to accept that bet. I said "yet you have big 6 and 8 on the felt?" The box just shrugged her shoulders...

Quote: YouCanBetOnThat

Was the dealer wrong? Or are the places where they really won't book a lay against the 4 for less than $40, even at a $10 table?

If some putzer wants to pay 10% vig instead of 5%, the house would be crazy to deny him that ill-thought-out venture. Maybe there were some other circumstances affecting the action.

I have a few guesses. The first is, like wudged said, perhaps they require a lay bet to win at least $20. I've never heard of this before, but, I know different houses have different (and weird) rules.

Perhaps the dealer was confused [if he's new...but I kinda doubt that]. His thought process could have been something like: "Table minimum is $10. $10 on the 4 wins $20 [less the vig]. So the table minimum [on the 4] you have to bet enough to win $20. Therefore, the minimum lay is $40." Or maybe he's been dealing for years and had one of those brain-fart moments when you can't figure out what the simplest bet pays.

It has to do with breakage on the big. The minimum you can lay is enough to win an amount they can charge at least $1 vig without rounding. Thus, you have to lay at least $40 on the 4/10 so the 5% vig will be exactly $1. They will not round up on the vig.

Quote: RS

Perhaps the dealer was confused [if he's new...but I kinda doubt that]. His thought process could have been something like: "Table minimum is $10. $10 on the 4 wins $20 [less the vig]. So the table minimum [on the 4] you have to bet enough to win $20. Therefore, the minimum lay is $40." Or maybe he's been dealing for years and had one of those brain-fart moments when you can't figure out what the simplest bet pays.

That occurs often enough. But the box or floor would normally step in and straighten out the problem.

True. But I believe harrah's casinos don't have boxmen sitting, unless there's a big game going on.

Quote: RS

True. But I believe harrah's casinos don't have boxmen sitting, unless there's a big game going on.

Yes. That is an annoying fact of life at Harrah's, one that is often the subject of complaints right here about indecisiveness, wasted time and extra workload for the dealers. But the floor supervisors typically hover around anything approaching out-of-the-ordinary action.

Quote: SanchoPanza

Yes. That is an annoying fact of life at Harrah's, one that is often the subject of complaints right here about indecisiveness, wasted time and extra workload for the dealers. But the floor supervisors typically hover around anything approaching out-of-the-ordinary action.

@ SanchoPanza,

Did you see this? http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/150318-don-quixote-cervantes-tomb-madrid/

"Don Quixote’s sidekick, Sancho Panza, expresses well in Cervantes’s novel: “Well, there is a remedy for all things but death, which will be sure to lay us flat one time or other.”

apologies if OT

Quote: petroglyph

“Well, there is a remedy for all things but death, which will be sure to lay us flat one time or other.”

That, sir, despite all the variances of our lives, is the ultimate house advantage. Talk about the long run!

min lays have been 41 no 4/10.....31 no 5/9....25 no 6/8 forever at most places....like the man said above you have to lay at least an amount to make the vig a buck.