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Of course, players have control over how much ãadmissionä they allow the casinos to charge them. Certain games and bets have a higher casino advantage than others. It behooves players, therefore, to cut the cost of admission as much as possible by making only those bets with the lowest casino advantage.
Is that all thatâs required to become a successful gambler? Not really. The other not-so-obvious casino advantage is the one engineered by the casinos to ãpsycheä players into losing.
Since casinos have the mathematical edge over most players, they know that as long as they can keep players making bets on their tables or putting coins in their slot machines, they will ultimately win money, and players will conversely lose money. The trick is to do this in a subtle way, so that players do not feel bad about losing and will return again to potentially lose more. Remember that casinos live or die on their ability to attract repeat customers!
The 24-hour, non-stop party atmosphere is designed to make it easy for players to part with their money. Think about it. In a casino, the player is king and will be treated like royalty. The casino environment almost requires you to drop your inhibitions and have a ball. As Marvin Karlins aptly described in his classic book Psyching Out Vegas, ãThere is no room for party-poopers in the manufactured gaiety of the casinos. Winners are heralded by the ringing of bells and the shouts of the dealers· this is a world where everything goes, itâs fast, itâs fun and itâs loose, so visitors Îlet it all hang out.â Unfortunately, what usually hangs out is Îthe playerâs pants pockets,â the white flag of surrender.ä
The psyching effect continues as you make your first bet. We donât use real currency to make bets in a casino. Instead, we use casino chips. Why? Itâs easier for a dealer to collect losing bets and pay off winning bets with chips rather than currencybut casino managers also know that using chips encourages a player to bet more. Chips create the illusion that a player isnât really losing anything at all.
To further devalue the green chips, casinos refer to them as ãquarter chips,ä just as red $5 chips are referred to as ãnickels.ä And in the mere act of converting cash to chips, as Olaf Vancura astutely points out in his book Smart Casino Gambling, ãa player psychologically has already been parted with his or her money.ä He doesnât even get to see where his money went. The bottom line is that the simple act of converting currency to chips encourages a looser betting style in most players.
What happens when a gambler gets thirsty? No problem, drinks are on the house. In fact, all you can drink is yours for the asking. The fact that it might mar your playing judgment or your ability to act rationally is your problem, not the casinoâs. Itâs psychology at its best. After all, have you ever met a player whoâs had a few too many, whoâs capable of making logical playing and betting decisions? Be wary of the ãfreeä drinks. Itâs just another potential way of casinos psyching players into losing more.
Players get hungry, too, and casinos have a solution for that. Itâs called the comp. Sure, weâll let you eat for free, but only if you play a little while longer. Comps tend to encourage gamblers to play longer, and many ãfree lunchesä have cost players dearly. You should by all means get your fair share of comps for your level of betting. But donât get psyched into betting more or playing longer for the sake of the comp. |
