Do Players Know the Edges?

Question from Henry:

Mr. Scoblete, first, I enjoy your articles and I have been reading you since the early 1990s – a long, long time ago. I was a young man then and I am an adult now with kids of my own. Whoosh! There goes time.

You never disappoint. Times have changed; some games have changed too but the casinos are our modern culture you might say, and they are everywhere.

There are so many advertisements now for casinos, casino games, sports betting, and gambling in general that when you watch a football game it seems as if it will soon be almost non-stop casino advertising or online advertising for gambling games. I don’t think I am wrong in this.

So here is my question to you. Do you think that the millions of people who are now gambling at casinos and online have any idea of how the casinos get the edge over them?

I actually don’t think they do. I think they know in a vague way that the casinos have “an edge” but I think most of them have a hazy feeling about this.

What do you think?
----Henry

Frank Responds:

I’ve been at this for almost four decades! Thank God I started as an infant.

I think you are right about most gamblers. They do have a hazy feeling that the casino gets its edge in some way but they don’t really ponder it for long.

Why should they?

They have fun placing their bets and they love winning and lament losing (which they all almost do far more times than they win). And off they go.

Here are two quotes for you, the first from my late mother (a truly sainted lady) and the second from a young friend of my grandson.

Mom: “Frankie, the casino wins because it is the casino.”

Grandson’s friend: “I’m up $900 right now. I think I have found the way to beat blackjack.”

My mother knew nothing about how the casino got its edges at the various games. Why does the casino beat you in roulette and the slots and blackjack and craps (and so forth)? She didn’t know how; she just knew they did and that was enough for her to steer clear of the games except on the “sometimes” when she went to the casinos and she played some slots for minor money.

My grandson’s friend is young, new to college, new to drinking, new to being a young man. Tough times for him as he tries to establish his identity and worth and something that sets him apart from his contemporaries. He thinks he can beat blackjack with a method he has developed. The poor kid hasn’t even thought about card counting or anything such as that. That is, after all, work.

The young man has a long way to go to get good. First he has to learn “basic strategy,” then he has to learn to count cards and get away with that in the casinos. Do I think he will? No. Too much work; too little reward.

Most players have little idea of a simple fact of casino-style gambling: More money goes into the machines than comes out of the machines; more money goes into the various table games than comes out of them; the “more” of the money is the casinos’ profit.

Yes, there are players who are well-versed in the reality of the casino games. The information is readily available. You can get it online, in books and articles. No one is hiding anything from anybody.

But my mother was right. The casino wins because it is the casino. If you remember nothing, remember that quote.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Frank Scoblete’s books are available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries, and bookstores.

This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.