Slot machines

Slot machines in the Trump Taj Mahal

A slot machine (American), fruit machine (British), or poker machine (Australian) is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed. Slots are also known as one-armed bandits because slot machines were originally operated by a lever on the side of the machine (the one arm) instead of a button on the front panel, and because of their ability to leave the gamer penniless. Many modern machines still have a legacy lever in addition to the button.

Slot machines include a currency detector that validates the coin or money inserted to play. The machine pays off based on patterns of symbols visible on the front of the machine when it stops. Modern computer technology has resulted in many variations on the slot machine concept. Slot machines are the most popular gambling method in casinos and constitute about 70 percent of the average casino's income.^[1] It is estimated that thirty percent or more of the profits from gambling machines come from problem gamblers.^[2]

References

1. ^ Cooper, Marc (December 2005). "How slot machines give gamblers the business". The Atlantic Monthly Group.
2. ^ Strickland, Eliza (2008-06-16). "Gambling with science: Determined to defeat lawsuits over addiction, the casino industry is funding research at a Harvard-affiliated lab". Salon.

Bibliography

• Brisman, Andrew. The American Mensa Guide to Casino Gambling: Winning Ways (Stirling, 1999) ISBN 0-8069-4837-X
• Grochowski, John. The Slot Machine Answer Book: How They Work, How They've Changed, and How to Overcome the House Advantage (Bonus Books, 2005) ISBN 1-56625-235-0
• Legato, Frank. How to Win Millions Playing Slot Machines! ...Or Lose Trying (Bonus Books, 2004) ISBN 1-56625-216-4

Links

• HowStuffWorks: Slot Machines
• How Slot Machines Work
• Slot Machines explained
• Slot Machines database from 1898 to today

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Roulette

Roulette is a casino and gambling game named after a French diminutive for "wheel". In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a number, a range of numbers, the color red or black, or whether the number is odd or even. To determine the winning number and color, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction, then spins a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular track running around the circumference of the wheel. The ball eventually loses momentum and falls on to the wheel and into one of 37 (in European roulette) or 38 (in American roulette) colored and numbered pockets on the wheel.^[1]

Notes

1. ^ "Expectations for Roulette" by Michael Schreiber, Wolfram Demonstrations Project.

Links

• Roulette at the Open Directory Project

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Poker

Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually (but not always) hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown (in some games, the pot is split between the high and low hands), limits on bets and how many rounds of betting are allowed. In most modern poker games, the first round of betting begins with some form of forced bet. The action then proceeds to the left. Each player in turn must either match the maximum previous bet or fold, losing all further interest in the hand. A player who matches a bet may also raise, increasing the bet. The betting round ends when all players have either matched the last bet or folded. If all but one player fold on any round, the remaining player collects the pot without showing his hand. If more than one player remains in contention after the final betting round, the hands are shown and the winning hand takes the pot.^[1]

Players feel that this betting system distinguishes poker from gambling games. With the minor exception of initial forced bets, money is only placed into the pot voluntarily by a player who, at least in theory, rationally believes the bet has positive expected value. Thus while the outcome of any particular hand is determined mostly by chance, the long-run expectations of the players are determined mostly by their actions chosen based on probability and psychology.

Notes

1. ^ David G. Schwartz, Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling, Gotham (2007), ISBN: 978-1592403165

Links

• Poker at the Open Directory Project
• Poker at the Yahoo! Directory

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Lotteries

National Lottery building located on Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City.

A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize. Some governments outlaw it, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments.

At the beginning of the 20th century, most forms of gambling, including lotteries and sweepstakes, were illegal in many countries, including the U.S.A. and most of Europe. This remained so until after World War II. In the 1960s casinos and lotteries began to appear throughout the world as a means to raise revenue in addition to taxes.

Lotteries come in many formats. The prize can be a fixed amount of cash or goods. In this format there is risk to the organizer if insufficient tickets are sold. More commonly the prize fund will be a fixed percentage of the receipts. A popular form of this is the "50-50" draw where the organizers promise that the prize will be 50% of the revenue. Many recent lotteries allow purchasers to select the numbers on the lottery ticket resulting in the possibility of multiple winners.

The purchase of lottery tickets by large numbers of people is arguably economically irrational. However, in addition to the chance of winning, the ticket may enable some purchasers to experience a thrill and to indulge in a fantasy of becoming wealthy. If the entertainment value (or other non-monetary value) obtained by playing is high enough for a given individual, then the purchase of a lottery ticket could, were one a subscriber to utilitarianism, represent a gain in overall utility. In such a case, the monetary loss would be outweighed by the non-monetary gain, thus making the purchase a rational decision for that individual.

Further reading

• A History of English Lotteries, by John Ashton, London: Leadenhall Press 1893
• Fortune's Merry Wheel, by John Samuel Ezell, Harvard University Press 1960.
• Lotteries and Sweepstakes, 1932 by Ewen L'Estrange
• The Lottery Encyclopedia, 1986 by Ron Shelley (NY Public Library)
• Fate's Bookie: How The Lottery Shaped The World by Gary Hicks, History Press 2009

Links

• World Lottery Association
• North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries
• Multi-State Lottery Association
• Euler's Analysis of the Genoese Lottery

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Dice games

Dice games are games that use or incorporate a die as their sole or central component, usually as a random device.

Dice games

The following are games which largely, if not entirely, depend on dice:

Backgammon
Balut
Catan Dice Game
Cee-lo
Chingona
Cho-han bakuchi
Cosmic Wimpout
Craps
Crown and Anchor
Dice 10000 / 5000 / 1000
Dudo
Farkle
Greed
Hazard
High Rollers
Jacquet
Kismet
Kitsune bakuchi
Kuriki
Liar's dice
Mexico (game)
Mia (game)
Mr. Three
Perquackey
Phase 10 Dice
Pig
Poker dice
Ship, Captain, and Crew (a.k.a. Six Five Four)
Shoot the Moons
Shut the box
Strat-O-Matic
Swipe
Tabula
The Game (Das Spiel)
Three's Out
To Court the King
Under Over
Yahtzee
Zonk

Collectible dice games

Patterned after the success of collectible card games, a number of collectible dice games have been published. Although most of these collectible dice games are long out-of-print, there is still a small following for many of them.

Some collectible dice games include:

• Diceland
• Dragon Dice (SFR, Inc.)

Links

• Dice Play - rules and more for many dice games

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Blackjack

Blackjack (also known as Twenty-one, Vingt-et-un (French for Twenty-one), or Pontoon, is the most widely played casino banking game in the world.^[1] Much of blackjack's popularity is due to the mix of chance with elements of skill, and the publicity that surrounds card counting (calculating the probability of advantages based on the ratio of high cards to low cards). The casino version of the game should not be confused with the British card game Black Jack (a variant of Crazy Eights).

Notes

1. ^ Scarne's New Complete Guide to Gambling, p. 342

Sources

• Beat the Dealer : A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One, Edward O. Thorp, 1966, ISBN 978-0-394-70310-7
• Blackbelt in Blackjack, Arnold Snyder, 1998 (1980), ISBN 978-0-910575-05-8
• Blackjack: A Winner’s Handbook, Jerry L. Patterson, 2001, (1978), ISBN 0-399-52638-8
• Ken Uston on Blackjack, Ken Uston, 1986, ISBN 978-0-8184-0411-5
• Knock-Out Blackjack, Olaf Vancura and Ken Fuchs, 1998, ISBN 978-0-929712-31-4
• Luck, Logic, and White Lies: The Mathematics of Games, Jörg Bewersdorff, 2004, ISBN 978-1-56881-210-6, 121-134
• Million Dollar Blackjack, Ken Uston, 1994 (1981), ISBN 978-0-89746-068-2
• Playing Blackjack as a Business, Lawrence Revere, 1998 (1971), ISBN 978-0-8184-0064-3
• Professional Blackjack, Stanford Wong, 1994 (1975), ISBN 978-0-935926-21-7
• The Theory of Blackjack, Peter Griffin, 1996 (1979), ISBN 978-0-929712-12-3
• The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic, Richard A. Epstein, 1977, ISBN 978-0-12-240761-1, 215-251
• The World's Greatest Blackjack Book, Lance Humble and Carl Cooper, 1980, ISBN 978-0385153829

Regulation in the United Kingdom

• Statutory Instrument 1994 No. 2899 The Gaming Clubs (Bankers' Games) Regulations 1994
• Statutory Instrument 2000 No. 597 The Gaming Clubs (Bankers' Games) (Amendment) Regulations 2000
• Statutory Instrument 2002 No. 1130 The Gaming Clubs (Bankers' Games) (Amendment) Regulations 2002

Links

• BlackjackinColor

Blackjack calculators

• Server based calculator
• Browser based calculator (using JavaScript)
• Card-counting.com - Multiple calculators and charts

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: How to Play Basic Blackjack : Basic Terms for the Game of Blackjack

Bing Bing! Bingo

Developer(s) KSS[1]
Publisher(s) KSS[2]
License Commercial[1]
Engine Proprietary
Platform(s) Super Famicom[2]
Release date(s) JP December 22, 1993
[3]
Genre(s) Bingo board game[2]
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer (up to 2 players)
Rating(s) CERO: n/a (not rated)
Media 8-megabit Cartridge[1]
System requirements No Special Requirements
Input methods Super NES/Famicom controller(s)

Bing Bing! Bingo (ビンビン！ビンゴ, "Sweet! Bingo")^[4] is a Japanese Bingo game released on December 22, 1993 for the Super Famicom system. The player can play Bingo through a slot machine, while skydiving, and he or she can even play a game of Bingo with Santa Claus. And there's a special added bonus: There is also an option to play Bingo on a pirate ship. There is also arm wrestling and betting on horse racing modes available in case the player does not like Bingo. A party mode is present for two players.

This game was never scheduled for a North American release, due to the fact that video games over there at that time were made for adolescent males. This specific demographic of players in North America had a strong preference towards action games and sports games. Releasing a Bingo game in the North America would have been considered to be committing financial suicide. There was a Bingo-like Game Boy game called Panel Action Bingo which was a puzzle/action game where a bird has to avoid a cat.

Gameplay

However, the numbers are announced in Japanese rather than English, so knowledge of Japanese numbers is vital for multiplayer action. Full card Bingo is mandatory for single player games but party games can use any variation of Bingo that the players consent to.

References

1. ^ "Additional release information". Camya.
2. ^ "Release information". GameFAQs.
3. ^ "Release date reference". All Game.
4. ^ "Japanese title". JPSnes.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.