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Can you make money playing video poker? — 9 Comments

  1. As it happens, I am sitting right now in a hotel room on the 19th floor of a huge hotel/casino on the Las Vegas strip (here for a short conference). Looking out of my window I an see more than a dozen similar establishments.

    This level of infrastructure is not the product of an industry that gives clients an even chance to win. They win — they HAVE to win — so they can stay in business. And they stay in business because they do win.

    It is true they only need to take a small percentage of the very large amount of money that passes through their hands in any given day, but they have that advantage at all times.

    Paddock might have “broken even,” and he might have got a lot of “comps” because he played a lot. But the house still needs to retain some of every dollar that they handle or they cannot keep up this large infrastructure.

  2. F:

    There is no question that the casinos make sure they turn a profit.

    But it is also possible that a person with the math skills and the obsessive patience could (particularly a few years ago) come out somewhat ahead. The vast vast majority of people were never going to do that, so the casinos were always safe.

  3. Neo:

    No argument to the idea that some people come out ahead, but after living in NV for a dozen years now I consider gambling losses a sort of “stupid tax”. Fortunately, it is largely paid by out of staters. I, surrounded by gambling machines even in the supermarkets where I buy my daily sustenance, have never given so much as a dime to what the state calls the “gaming industry”.

  4. Neo:
    The odds are actually not too bad to at least break even if and only if you know what you’re doing and have a lot of patience.

    Uh huh, sure they are. Neo, please for your own sake stay away from casinos.

  5. The Other Chuck:

    Did you even read the article? It explains how it works.

    About one person in a billion would have the requisite characteristics and motivation. Maybe fewer.But they certainly exist. There are so few of them, however, that the casinos have no reason to worry.

    I didn’t make this up.

  6. I read the LA Times article and understood it but disagree with the premise because of the same doubts that F voiced above. He may have had a hobby that he funded by his real estate income and investments. But if he actually made money gambling over a 20 year period, it was because the casinos let him. Which I find highly improbable.

  7. Is the $5 million gross or net?
    Suppose he gambled that amount and won that amount, coming out even, more or less. Could that be called, “winning” as if he had five mill more than when he started?

  8. First they need to figure out if it is money laundering, before anyone can say what he won or lost.

    the fact that the “lone shooter” is doing business with ISIL and giving them weapons or buying enough weapons to outfit a death squad from Islamic jihad… too many connections that are unexplained.

  9. The feds also change their stories about as often as they did for Waco 1 and Waco 2. Another cover up.

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