I have an idea for a project, which I want to share with this forum. I think it would be very useful for players and inventors if there was a database showing every side bet and table game (including unique rules) at every casino. This will let people see what new games are out and see what pay tables are most popular, among other information.

Would anyone be interested in contributing information to my document?
Right now it is all kept in a Google Doc which only I can edit (so some troll doesn't vandalize or delete everything), but I am open to other suggestions.
Please let me know what you think. I know that a similar project exists solely within Vegas, but I would like to cover at least the Anglosphere or maybe the entire world one day.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Here's an alternative plan for you to consider:
1. Regular website, with a page for each casino.
2. You have an editor for each casino, someone who is local to the place. (An editor can have more than one casino page.) He has editing privileges for his pages and his job is to document everything available in that casino: table games, bets and limits available, slots, restaurants, entertainment, how much alcohol is in the drinks and how easy is it to get laid at the bar. This will be in a format that you choose.
3. Your first job- to create a searchable index of all games and bets. So I can be anywhere on the site and search for, say "Double Down Madness" and it will give me a list of all the pages for casinos where that is offered.
4. Your second job- put ads on all the pages. You and the editor for that page split the revenue. You'll also need a way for readers to report inaccurate information, in case you get as a casino editor some guy who puts BS just to get clicks.
Finding editors might be difficult. Any AP could be one, because we know what we are looking at in a casino, but I'm not sure that many other kinds of casino patrons would be diligent and accurate enough to report effectively.
Quote: acesideI agree with monkey and am able to serve as an editor of the east. However, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’d rather see a picture of the table payout than any wordy description of it.
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I have found that often, casinos will not let you photograph the tables, even if nobody is playing.
I'm not creating an entire site where people can edit their specific pages. It's a good idea but so not worth the time/accounting that would require.
I know that using Google Docs is not ideal, but you can just use ⌘F to search whatever game or casino you want already.
It might be easier to just have a form where anyone can submit new information. Even the average person is smart enough to be able to recognize what games and side bets are in a casino just by looking.
Quote: harrisReplying to AutomaticMonkey:
I'm not creating an entire site where people can edit their specific pages. It's a good idea but so not worth the time/accounting that would require.
I know that using Google Docs is not ideal, but you can just use ⌘F to search whatever game or casino you want already.
It might be easier to just have a form where anyone can submit new information. Even the average person is smart enough to be able to recognize what games and side bets are in a casino just by looking.
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What would stop a casino employee from posting that the casino has better games than they do, figuring that once a person travels to their casino, few will leave because the game is missing? Your site's reputation depends on accurate, verified information
On the flip side, if a casino has a great opportunity, many APs won't advertise it.
I recently learned of a database of all the blackjack games in America, which shows that such a project is feasible despite the potential interest of casinos and APs in obscuring that information
Quote: harrisI recently learned of a database of all the blackjack games in America, which shows that such a project is feasible despite the potential interest of casinos and APs in obscuring that information
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I believe I know which database you are talking about, but that information probably was accurate 10 years ago. If you need more updated input, just ask me.
First, is there an existing database of all the casinos? Including poker rooms? Is this only for the U.S.? Northern Canada may have some interesting games. And only the God of Gambling knows about the games and sidebets in Asian casinos. I used to have Asian customers who paid me to provide them spreadsheets for analyzing novel sidebets they were using in their casinos/poker rooms.
Getting information is not easy though. I wanted to include slot machines to make a master database all of gambles ever, but I could not even get a single response from slot machine companies. jerks.
My schema is fairly normalized. property table has location, operator is who runs it, casino is the actual operation itself with type, started, ended; games are broken into families, rules/variants are own table, and then games are linked to properties with their own first_seen and last_seen fields. but i am not a datascienceman and only barely know sql. i am sure you lot would have way more NFs than I do.
as currently designed, it could describe a game, link it to other games in same family (so blackjack, pontoon, and spanish 21 all appear under twenty-one-type games), show specific rules associated with a property, and when it started being played by those rules and under what names. when someone looks at a game variant for a specific property, they can answer yes/no/maybe to does the casino still offer this game.
it is not live, but the model is mostly complete. a few issues do exist, like dealing with same name but different game family (which is entirely possible, especially with foreign games). but, you know, so it goes.
I hope that we all can combine our efforts to make a free database for those interested.
Does your database include side bets and pay tables?
Quote: harrisThat is great Jeff,
I hope that we all can combine our efforts to make a free database for those interested.
Does your database include side bets and pay tables?
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Good question and it creates an opportunity for me to clarify an old assumption. I've seen the same game (like Ultimate Hold'em) at various casinos and there are different side bet options and bet limits. Where the side bets differ, the payout tables and bet limits seem to be different, too.
I always just assumed the casinos set the pay tables and limits based on which betting options existed to make sure that side bonus bet wins wouldn't offset the House Edge for the main game.
Does anyone know if this is the case?
Might be easier if you just give me a reference for the 95% claim?
Look at any side bet on the Wizard of Odds website other than PairPlus in 3 Card Poker or Big 8 in Dakota Duel Draw, and you will see that the side bet has a much higher house edge than the main game.
Quote: harrisThe casino picks the table based on how much money they want to make (higher house edge), but the casino also doesn't want it to be too high or people won't play it for long.
Look at any side bet on the Wizard of Odds website other than PairPlus in 3 Card Poker or Big 8 in Dakota Duel Draw, and you will see that the side bet has a much higher house edge than the main game.
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My question is more related to the payout odds of side bets and the maximums that are allowed for those bets
It's been my experience that the odds and the limits are different from casino to casino.
I get that the size of the casino can have an impact on max bet limits, but there also seems to be a relationship to the side bets that are offered.
Quote: harrisThat is great Jeff,
I hope that we all can combine our efforts to make a free database for those interested.
Does your database include side bets and pay tables?
link to original post
The model can be adjusted to include anything. Here is basic how it look:
TABLE: property
pid
property_address JSON (not ideal as should be queriable, so mebs not?)
date_open
date_closed
TABLE: casino
cid
casino_name
pid
first_seen
last_seen
TABLE: operator
oid
operator_name
operator_info JSON
first_seen
last_seen
TABLE: casino_operator_history
cid
oid
start_date
end_date
TABLE: game
gid
game_name
game_family_type
game_desc
TABLE: game_family
game_family_type
family_name
TABLE: property_type
type_id
type_name
type_desc
TABLE: property_type_history
pid
type_id
start_date
end_date
TABLE: property_game_xref
pgid
pid
gid
start_date
end_date
TABLE: paytable
paytable_id
pgid
version
start_date
end_date
payout_structure JSON
TABLE: rules
rule_id
pgid
rule_set_name
start_date
end_date
rule_data JSON
TABLE: side_bet
sidebet_id
pgid
sidebet_name
start_date
end_date
payout_structure JSON
TABLE: machine_instance
machine_id
pgid
manufacturer
cabinet_type
serial_number
start_date
end_date
TABLE: notes
note_id
entity_type
entity_id
timestamp
note_text
again though, i am bad at SQL so this schema might be horrific. as it exists though, games can be attached to properties and then rules added. each can have start and end dates. and like there could also be photos attached to pgid's as "evidence" of games or rules existing.
A centralized database would be incredibly useful for advantage players looking for specific pay tables, casual players wanting to find their favorite side bets nearby, and game inventors tracking where their games are placed.
The challenge will be keeping it updated. Casinos change floor layouts constantly, and side bets come and go without announcement. You'd probably need a community-driven approach where players report what they see, similar to how slot players track machine locations.
Some suggestions if you move forward with this:
Include the pay table details, not just "casino X has Dragon Bonus." The 8-to-1 versus 7-to-1 payout difference matters for anyone calculating edge.
Add date stamps so people know how recent the information is.
Maybe start with one region and expand. Trying to cover every casino globally from day one would be overwhelming.
Would definitely contribute sightings if this becomes a real project. Good luck with it.
Sadly I cannot contribute as there are no table games in my city of New York City. I know there will be one soon but I cannot gamble there because of work conflicts so I don't really feel like going. It would be like going to a barbecue just to watch other people eat lol. However I can contribute when I go to other places with casinos on my travels.
Does anyone else live in a city with lots of casinos that they go to?
Maybe this site can give you some ideas on how to set it up and manage it.
http://www.vpfree2.com
However I do not really feel like setting up and managing another site for free. I already do that with my "Table Games Academy" site :)
I think that this could just be in the form of a long text document with some hyperlinks with an email for submitting new information, to be honest.

