The Gamblers Choice...News letter #4  Vol 1 issue 4

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Web TV The new Frontier of the Internet.
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Things are happening faster than any of us can possibly keep up with and so
it seems we must focus our attention to those things we enjoy and can 
manage to understand. Most of us already understand TV, remote control,
Sattelite dishes, Cable TV, and programming the VCR, at least to some
extent. The boys at R&D decided we didn't yet have enough on our 
smorgasborg of goodies so now they have added Web TV and with it a whole
new universe of technology. But as I said at the beginning we have to 
focus if we want to understand what's going on and our focus is how Web
TV interacts with on-line gambling.

First your access to the Web with "Web TV" can be set up through your ISP 
provider. Once you have established this communication you can access the
same sites as you can with a PC, you cannot, however download software 
since there is no hard drive to store anything on. This may be coming 
down the line, it seems that if we can think of it someone will surley
develop it at a reasonable cost. And cost is the big factor with web TV
the best I can gather on price is upwards of 300.00. As we learn more
about Web TV we will pass it on to you. 

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Loose slots and where to find them.
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Everybody wants to know, where are those loose slots. A question all slot
players would like answered but there really is no, one answer. Think of
all the questions that need to be answered before the location of loose
slots can be suggested. First we have hundrds of casinos with hundreds of 
floor plans that are constantly changing. We have thousands of slot machines
that are constantly being upgraded with new products. So the question
of where are those loose slots begins to get a little murky. Are you 
looking for loose slots at Caesars palace or Fitzgerals downtown. My
experience suggests that neither of these places have anything that 
resembles a loose slot machine. When a player encounters a "loose" slot
machine he/she has most likely hit a machine on a pay cycle and interpreted
this to be a loose slot. My personal opinion on "loose" slots is that 
there really is no such thing. And when we say loose do we mean that the
slot pays out more than it takes in or that the payout percentage is closer
to 100 % than most other slots. Consider this, if a machine "loose slot"
paid out more than it took in, when would a player decide to leave it? After
all the machine is giving money away, never happen.

It is true that some machines are set to payout more than the legal minimum
and payouts vary from casino to casino but generally fall into an average
payout, something just over 90% leaving something like 7 to 8% for the house.
Even these numbers will not remain constant over a period of time. One 
survey may show an average payout, of all machines and areas surveyed,
to be in the 93 to 94 % range. The next survey may show the range to be 
92 to 93 % amd yet another survey may come up with 94 tp 95 % which is
somewhat unlikely but you get the picture. The variation in payout from
Casino to Casino and from month to month is so little that it really makes
no difference to the average player if one Casino pays 94.3% and the other
one pays 93.8%. A half of one percent is miniscule in the scheme of things,
it's hardly within the margin of error the survey may produce.

Some books will tell you the "loose" slots can be found on the ends of the
aisles or near the door when you enter the casino or in plain sight of the
black jack players so they can see people winning and get itchy to play the
slots, that's all hogwash as far as I'm concerned. If anyone writing the 
and selling the books knows where the "loose" slots are and if this was in 
any way a great advantage to the player, I submit that they would be out 
there playing those "loose" slots. The truth is, there is no great advantage
in knowing where those loose slots are placed. Without advantage what's the
point. I would like to hear from anyone who found a "loose" slot and came
away a big winner.  Play the slots, enjoy the slots and if you win that's 
great but the main thing is to have fun and not get caught up in all 
this "loose" slot nonsense. That's my take on "loose" slots.

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Monte Carlo, Romatic hype, Princess Grace, Monaco.
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It's been some years since my last visit to Monte Carlo, the household
name in Casinos. I was somewhat unimpressed with the hype and the mystique
Monte Carlo. The building is impressive but the gambling was aimed
at the European audience. Royalty? The big game was Roulette and they
play it with a vengence, three to four deep around the table, two pit
men or dealers (croupiers) and an overseer who sits up in a large chair 
to arbitrate disputes. The way they play they have disputes. For openers 
everyone plays with the same house chips, on top of which you could have 
more than 30 players at the table, in American roulette five to six 
players are the norm. Mario Puzo wrote, in his book "Inside Las Vegas", 
that in Monte Carlo, your bet could be stolen by a someone with a minor 
Royal title, I can attest to this fact. I couldn't be sure about the
title but I did have a "player" try to scoop my winning bet. Lucky for
me the man in the chair gave me the nod as the winner. 

My second trip to Monte Carlo was not much better than the first. The 
first time we visited Monte Carlo they had about a dozen slot machines 
in a large room just outside the main casino. On my second trip they 
had enlarged the slot area to accommodate the "American" slot players. 
It was my impression that this was a grudging condescention to American 
players. The employees response to the players was one of disdain and 
very unlike the cordiality of Las Vegas. If this was their idea of class 
I hope they manage to keep it in Monte Carlo. In my opinion.  

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Comments on Sportsbooks
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A subscriber asked for some comments on Sports books and an explanaition
of "vigorish". The question was, are there some sports books paying 
better than others? I cannot comment from actual experience because
that would be a fairly large order considering the number of Sports
books on the market. In my opinion sports books use a fairly rigid
formula for determining odds and therefore they would be operting
from a similar odds paying base. An example of this would be in the
area of horse racing, these odds come from the track and are prety
the well same in all books. 

On the question of "Vigorish" simply stated "vigorish" is a 10% fee
charged on monies wagered. It's the way Books accept bets without fear
of getting killed in a sports upset. In the past Books have been known
to take a real beating, hard though that may be to believe.

Some recommended on line casinos.  (Commercial)
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Let me say right up front the casinos I am recommending are sponsors on
my web sites and as such I am prepared to stand behind my recommendations.
If you are inclined to gamble on the Web you might consider three casinos,
all can be found on my page; http:www.netcore.ca/~billk/vegas_casino.html
The casinos are, Starluck, Grand Dominican, River Belle. I am in constant
touch with the owners and know them to be honorable operators. As I said
if you're inclined to gamble on line, give them a try.

The concern of using a credit card and/or how winnings are paid
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Many of us are reluctant to give credit card numbers out over the net and
this is understandable. However, if you have gotten over this fear, on line
casinos will establish a credit using your card to the amount you authorize
and you can play untill such time as you are out of money (heaven forbid)
or when you want to quit playing. When you want to quit you can do one of
two things. you can ask to be cashed in or you can leave your account 
open for your next visit. If you cash in you will either have more money
than you authorized on your card or you will have less. In either case
the first thing the casino will do is apply your credit amount against
your original authorization. If it is less than the original authorization,
your credit card statement will reflect the difference as a charge to you.

If the anount of credit owing you is greater than the original 
authorization, the difference will be either sent via electronic means,
which is an expense to the casino and will be deducted from the amount
owed to you and you will receive the balance. Or you can opt to have a
cheque mailed to you for the full amount owing, keep in mind these
casinos are off shore and the mails are notoriously slow so plan on a
wait of from ten days (if your lucky) to a possible two weeks or more.
I waited for 17 days this past December. Patience is the name of the game.

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Correction from a subscriber
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Hi Bill!!  Thanks for the newsletters - I appreciate them.  One thing you
forgot to mention - and it is important to know - is that the pirate ship
attraction as well as many regular "shows" do not operate during the month 
of December. I found this out the hard way...Correction noted. 

Cheers and good luck to all until next time.

Bill Konrad