Casino Ology

This complete guide to casino operations covers facilities management, game protection, and table game management.

Is casino management an art? It is for the best casino managers! And Bill Zender knows the art of casino management. In addition to having worked in, managed, and owned casinos for decades, Zender has also been an enforcement agent for the Nevada Gaming Control Board, as well as spent time as an advantage player, exploiting the vulnerabilities of casinos from the civilian side of the tables. Today, he travels the globe consulting for the international casino industry. InCasino-ology, Zender argues against excessive card-counter and shuffle-tracker countermeasures in favor of hand production to increase profits, and concludes that rhythmic dice rollers aren't the threat they're made out to be. He details the dangers of customer-service breaches; ill-conceived non-negotiable-chip programs; and past-posting, marked-card, and false-shuffle scams. He addresses player tracking systems, 6-5 payouts for blackjacks, the subtleties of marketing to Asian customers, nuances of thederivative pit games, even the science of turning around a distressed casino. By challenging long-cherished conventions,Casino-ology provides contrarian and radical, but proven, solutions to common gaming issues, all in the service of refining the art of casino management.

Casino gambling has spread throughout the world, and continues to spread. As governments try to cope with fiscal pressures, legalized casinos offer a possible source of additional tax revenue. But casino gambling is often controversial, as some people have moral objections to gambling. In addition, a small percentage of the population may become pathological gamblers who may create significant social costs. The Economics of Casino Gambling is a comprehensive discussion of the social and economic costs and benefits of legalized gambling. It is the first comprehensive discussion of these issues available on the market.

Understand the Math Underlying Some of Your Favorite Gambling Games Basic Gambling Mathematics: The Numbers Behind the Neon explains the mathematics involved in analyzing games of chance, including casino games, horse racing, and lotteries. The book helps readers understand the mathematical reasons why some gambling games are better for the player

Beat the casinos at their own game! Casino gambling expert Bill Burton will teach you: The truth about the most popular casino bets How to find the best slot machines to play What games you should avoid at all costs The ten smartest bets in the casino The ten worst bets in the casino How to get the most bang for your buck—in the pit and all over the casino The basics of card counting, dice setting and other tricks of the trade How to make your money last When to play—and when to pack up and go home Master the winning game strategies the pros use

No matter which game you play, this is the only guide you need to maximize your odds in the casino. The Winner's Guide to Casino Gambling, long recognized as the definitive guide to the best strategies at the gaming table, is now completely revised and expanded to include new rules and strategies for every major game, including several popular new ones. This entirely updated fourth edition remains the most authoritative and comprehensive book in the field, bringing gambling expert Edwin Silberstang's professional secrets and expertise to the twenty-first-century casino.

Always a winner! Before you lay down a lot of money at the tables and machines in casinos, you should also consider all of the freebies you can get from simply being there. Casinos give away over one billion dollars a year in free stuff to valued customers. From the high-roller level of suites, meals, and credit to the small-time repeater gamblers with discounts on meals, transportation, and shows, there are hundreds of ways to make a visit to the casino profitable—without spending a dime. Dave Apostolico, poker and gambling expert, explains how gamblers can get paid to play, which casinos have the best comps, inside rules that work to your advantage, and the ideal games for comps, special promotions, discounts, and credit.

SURVIVE THE CASINO AND HAVE FUN! Casino gambling is the fastest growth industry in the U.S. As more and more states enact legalized gambling regulations in the pursuit of tax revenue, so there are more and more gamblers that are lured to casinos for entertainment and the chance to win big bucks. About 99 percent of gamblers lose money in the long run, unfortunately, and some become so addicted to gambling that they lose their homes, cars, friends and sometimes families. Dr. Crowder takes a look at the casino milieu, dangers and temptations lurking there, personality and emotional differences that impact gambling behavior, the effects of alcohol and prescribed and street drugs on gambling, how slot machines work, and the odds of winning and losing at available games. This is primarily a "How To" book: How to keep from losing your shirt, How to avoid crime and cheating, How to get your share of the billion or so dollars casinos give to gamblers each year, and How to play the most generous casino games.

Gambling, the risky enterprise of chance, is one of America’s favorite pastimes. Office March Madness brackets, a day at the race track, a friendly wager, the random ridiculous Super Bowl prop bet, bingo night, or the latest media frenzy over the Powerball jackpot—all emphasize the ubiquity of this major economic force and cultural phenomenon. Approximately 70 percent of Americans regularly engage in some form of betting, amounting to over $140 billion in combined casino and lottery revenue every year. A hundred years ago, however, legal gambling was a rarity in the United States. A fresh take on the history of modern American gambling, All In provides a closer look at the shifting economic, cultural, religious, and political conditions that facilitated gambling’s expansion and prominence in American consumerism and popular culture. In its pages, a diverse range of essays covering commercial and Native American casinos, sports betting, lotteries, bingo, and more piece together a picture of how gambling became so widespread over the course of the twentieth century. Drawing from a range of academic disciplines, this collection explores five aspects of American gambling history: crime, advertising, politics, religion, and identity. In doing so, All In illuminates the on-the-ground debates over gambling’s expansion, the failed attempts to thwart legalized betting, and the consequences of its present ubiquity in the United States.