27% payoff. "He would begin with the $100 and get back $93.27 (theoretically) the first time he ran his money through the machine. If he continued to play until his $100 bankroll was gone, he would have put his money through the machine 71 times for a total of 1,967 plays on the machine" (7). The gambler's total wager (handle) would then be $1,475; however, the win (gambling revenue) for the casino would be $100, the amount of the player's original bankroll (Barker & Britz 2000). According to the International Gaming and Wagering Business (IGWB, 1998, 5), a player could statistically generate a handle of $10,000 at a table game with a casino advantage of 1% before losing a bankroll of $100 (in Barker & Britz 7). This casino advantage is known as the "vigorish," which is discussed further below. Vigorish. John Winn is credited with inventing the book, the quarter charge that evolved into the 5% charge, and is responsible for the game of open craps (the Vigorish 2002). Because the 5% charge resulted in such dependable revenues, and was.".. so strong, gamblers took the word 'vigor,' added a syllable of jargon as they have a habit of doing when they would rather the laymen couldn't follow their conversation, and called it 'The Vigorish'" (the Vigorish 2002). Video gaming machines are able to be fine-tuned to accommodate different levels of vigorish, but on table games, the vigorish is set and the gambler must take advantage of improved mathematical odds whenever they are available - because they are; for example, there are a wide range of different bets than can be made on the...

"That's why it is the exciting game that it is. However, only the pass line and come bets are truly recommended" (the Vigorish 2002).
Finally, it is widely recognized that in most casinos today, the game of blackjack provides gamblers with the most opportunities to win, or at least to prolong losing, over other forms of casino gambling: "Strategies that do work are very rare and hard to find and sometimes even harder to utilize. Certain strategies in blackjack have been found to yield positive expected gains" (Coyle & Wang 1993:109).

Conclusion

The research showed that they call it gambling for a good reason: even in the best of circumstances, the average gambler is going to lose in the long-term because the casino, or house, has a known advantage in the form of the amount of vigorish it applies to its video gaming machines, and what internal policies are used to administer the various table games that allow for manipulation of the odds in favor or against the players. In the final analysis, casino games should be regarded for what they seem to do best, which is to provide entertainment so long as it is understood that the player is probably going to lose, but you never know

Works Cited

Barker, Thomas and Marjie Britz. Jokers Wild: Legalized Gambling in the Twenty-First Century. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000.

Casinos. (2004). Encyclopedia Britannica.com [premium service].

Coyle, Cynthia a. And Chamont Wang. (1993). Wanna Bet?: On Gambling Strategies That May or May Not Work in a…