How can you improve your chances of leaving Vegas with money in your pocket? Jenny Southan hits the tables to find out.
Las Vegas is home to 17 Michelin-starred restaurants, some of the world’s biggest convention facilities and a fantasy-land of attractions. But since gambling was legalised here in 1931, it’s the casinos that have made the city what it is – and you can’t ignore them. Once you have checked into your hotel, it’s not possible to reach your room without passing banks of slot machines. And on a break from your conference, it’s all too tempting to pass the time with a few hands of blackjack.
Vegas is designed to ensure that no one leaves without gambling – according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the average person gambles over US$500 in a single trip. But although gaming revenue reached almost US$6.1 billion on the Strip last year, trade has taken a hit since the economic downturn. People have less disposable income, which means taking calculated risks is more important than ever.
So what’s the key to getting more out of your gambling experience? Arnie Cope, vice-president of casino operations at the Luxor, says: “If you go to bed with the same amount of money you woke up with, it has been a good day.” The best approach is to focus on ways of reducing your chances of losing. Work out some simple strategies, decide what you are prepared to lose, make a note of how much you’re winning and losing, and don’t waste money on games with a high house edge – ones where you have less chance of winning because the casinos do not pay bets according to their true odds.
If you decide to hit the tables, take note of the stakes you are playing for. During the week, minimum bets for roulette and blackjack are usually no less than US$5 at casinos on the Strip, but on Friday to Sunday it will usually be US$10. Scott Ghertner, director of sports and promotions for MGM Mirage, says: “Our signs automatically change – if a table says US$25 but no one is playing, it might go down to US$10. But then you have the high-limit areas – walk into any of the bigger casinos and you can bet US$15,000 on one hand of baccarat. Sometimes you see players betting US$150,000 in a single go.”
Whatever bet you place, work out your potential return on investment. Everyone knows the house always wins eventually, but the odds vary depending on the game, and the edge the casino has can be reduced to almost nothing if you know what you are doing.
SLOT MACHINES
Slots make up about 70 per cent of Vegas’s gaming revenue, and there are over 150,000 of them in the city. Walk into any casino and the first thing you notice is their flashing lights and melodic tinkling. (The jangle of coins in metal trays has all but gone in the main casinos, as winnings are printed on a ticket.) As alluring as they are, seasoned gamblers argue slots are a mug’s game, as some have up to a 25 per cent edge, and the chances of hitting the jackpot are very small.
Particularly tempting are the “wide area progressives”, slots linked to machines across the city or state. Walk down the Strip and you may see a display for the state-wide Megabucks game – when I left the jackpot was more than US$32 million. “That’s why a lot of people from England like to play slots,” says Eric Pearson, director of slot operations at the Luxor. “At home the most they could win is £500, but here you can win millions.”
As well as the lure of big prizes, Cope says a lot of people play slots because they are intimidated by table games. But there is no need to be, as most casinos offer free lessons. “Most dealers are also very friendly, so if there is a game you don’t know how to play, they will help you,” he says.
CRAPS
This game is easy to identify as there are usually crowds of people gathered around the table cheering as someone tosses a pair of dice. It offers varied odds – betting on someone throwing two sixes pays 30 to one (the house has 14 per cent edge), but a typical starter bet on the “pass line” (see picture below) pays even money, and the house has only a 1.4 per cent edge.
Cope says: “Craps is probably the most intimidating game as it looks the most complicated, but there is one bet that you can make in any casino on which the house has almost no advantage – the ‘odds bet’. Just ask, and any good dealer will explain.”
Craps also works like a team game, with people betting for or against the “shooter” (the person throwing the dice), so it’s great to play with colleagues or new-found friends.
KENO
One of the least exciting games, and the one with the most outrageous house advantage, is keno. It’s essentially a lottery with 80 numbers, 20 of which are selected per game. Players can decide how many numbers they want to bet on and for how much. I gave it a punt in the casino at Treasure Island, choosing six numbers and betting US$1. I didn’t hit a single one, but if by a miracle all six had come up – a 7,500-to-one shot – I would have left with only US$1,500.
ROULETTE
You’ll notice that in the US, in addition to the 36 red and black numbers on a roulette wheel, there is one single and one double zero. When you bet on a single number you have a choice of 38, yet when you win, you only get paid 35 to one.
At a UK casino, there is only a single green zero on the wheel, which makes the odds slightly better. Cope explains: “The percentage of people who have visited a casino in the UK is about 3 per cent, so they tend to be very knowledgeable gamblers. If you put a double-zero roulette table in an English casino, they will probably lynch you. But the people who come to Vegas from all around the US are mainly recreational gamblers, and they don’t know any better.”
The Monte Carlo, the Luxor and the MGM Grand, three of the MGM Mirage conglomeration’s 11 casinos, have a couple of single-zero roulette wheels, but as Cope says, these are for the big guns. “Higher-limit players know the odds – they are more savvy. So these wheels normally have a US$100 minimum bet.”
BLACKJACK AND POKER
If you want to familiarise yourself with card games such as blackjack, a good way is to play the video versions, which have better odds than the slots. And as they involve an element of skill, the house edge can be reduced. Here you can practise your strategy and learn the values of card combinations without the pressure of sitting with other players.
Still, nothing beats the thrill of the table. Don’t waste your time on live games such as Texas Hold’em Bonus poker against the dealer – one kindly old croupier relieved me of US$50 in a single hand, with nothing more than a “Welcome to Las Vegas, honey”. In traditional Texas Hold’em, the official game of the World Series of Poker, players bet against each other with either a percentage of each pot going to the casino, or about 10 per cent of your buy-in if you are playing in a tournament.
Almost all casinos in Vegas have a poker room, with a selection of ongoing cash tables (where you leave whenever you want) and daily tournaments (where you get a set number of chips and once you have lost them you are out of the game). Unless you are familiar with the basics of poker, it’s not advisable to play in a casino. Get some practise first online – popular sites are pokerstars.com and fulltiltpoker.com – or with friends at home.
For a taste of the real deal, hit the Bellagio, home of the World Poker Tour and Bobby’s Room, the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker room. But if you want to play, make sure you have a spare US$20,000 in your pocket in cash first, as this is the minimum buy-in.
The Strip is undoubtedly the most convenient place to try to win your fortune, and with no dress code to worry about and smoking permitted, unlike in many European casinos, you can walk freely between them 24 hours a day. The downside is that the stakes are higher, so you might prefer Downtown’s “Glitter Gulch” for old-school classics such as Binion’s Horseshoe and the Golden Nugget, or one of the smaller out-of-town joints where you’ll meet all sorts of characters playing US$1 roulette. In Vegas, everyone’s a winner.
