Dice Setter Precision Shooter’s Newsletter: January  2013

Welcome All,

Oh my gosh what a quick year 2012 turned out to be. I don’t know about you, but it looks like 2013 is on the same fast track.

My trips to Las Vegas continued on a monthly basis and I am happy to report a better than average year for 2012. I don’t like to brag, but both my craps game and poker game netted a nice increase over 2011. Yea!

Looks like Ed is getting us going with a gambling tax article linked to another newsletter, and then he addresses a reader’s concern for the end of our game.

Thanks for being a loyal reader and supporter of DiceSetter.com.

Happy New Year!

Soft Touch

Gambling Income…

I am no tax authority however my accountant is. Richard publishes a monthly newsletter as a service to his clients. In the last issue I read a good article that explains gambling income and taxes. I have permission to share the link.

Gambling Income. The link expired

Ed

Turn Out the Lights… 

I received an email “demanding” that Dice Setter cease and desist from its Internet presents. The allegation proposed that DS.com was leading to the eventual demise of the game of craps. Chicken Little said it best…

Is the game of craps really in jeopardy simply because 1% to 5% of the dice players out there attempt to play with an “advantage”? I happen to think that notion is simply baloney. There are not too many craps players out there dice setting. The number is, in fact, very small in comparison. It’s more like a pimple on a rhino’s butt. So I’m going to make up a theory. Casinos do not fear us. The attitude, sometimes is directed to dice setters as “casino heat”, has more to do with players lacking the necessary skill, and incompetent players holding up the game. The rest of my theory combines a divorced pit boss, bored with nothing better to do, than to stand around in tight Italian slippers, in an Italian suit, while trying to look important. If they can find a player to hassle, then the game is on. (I can feel the hate mail already on its way. I should have left the Italian shoe makers out of this.)

Once up on a time, I was playing quarter blackjack at the Mirage. A “suit” was giving me the “where ya from, are ya staying here, bla, bla,” 20 questions routine. I placed my cards face down, stopping the game, while the pit boss went on doing his thing. When he noticed that his “little money machine” had stopped pumping oil, he told me, “Go on, keep playing.” “Oh, okay”, I said, “And would you mind getting me an orange juice, no ice, pleazze?” The last thing “Mr. Ego” wants to do is play a butler, fetching cocktails for a player. That ended his game of twenty questions. He left, and was not to be seen again. A cocktail waitress brought over the OJ. Although, I do not consider this a best example of casino heat, I share the story to support my theory of bored casino personnel.

Craps is an exciting, hand on experience for the player. (Remember? One hand on the dice.) The player is a dependant variable in order for the casino to have a game. Yes, I know that there are those hooky pop-up-dice games with monitors for the fad seekers. But, I say dice players play the game for a since of engagement by actually being involved in the game. Getting to roll the dice, the player is instrumental, and it is something not done in any other game…and that is to initiate the game.

The notion that dice influencing is such a threat to the casino, and it will close the games, opting instead for technology, is an illusion. For anyone that thinks the boxman will run the game from a Yatzee cup…that’s not happing either. Boys and girls, do you really think that true, blue, craps players, are going to continue to play craps, if they no longer get to touch the dice? I reference what happened to the blackjack game after E. Thorpe’s book came out, “Beat the Dealer”.  Casinos got scared, they screwed up the game with unnecessary rule changes, and players stopped playing blackjack. Of course the casinos eventually returned to the old rules after discovering that players were not reading Thorpe’s book, let alone hurting the bottom line.

Out of 1000 players, what percentage is really effecting any damage to the casino’s bottom line with dice setting? Besides, without some winners, there would be no casinos period. Casinos should be welcoming dice setters, and thanking them for all the damn free advertising promoting the game of craps.

Changing the rules of a blackjack game is relatively easy, and most players would never know from a dealer hitting a soft 17 from having to stand on all 17’s. But for casinos to mess with the rules and protocol of craps game…. They may as well place their order for the new slot machines that will fill the void, once they move out the empty craps tables.

Dice influencing, dice setting, or advantage play, is not wrecking the game. The sky is not falling. Casino dice games are here to stay. If it turns out that I’m wrong, the person that sent their demanding email, will likely get their wish. Hey buddy, do you want to make a bet on it? I didn’t think so.

There are over 1,700 pages published at Dice Setter. Keep reading, keep learning, and keep winning. Casinos depend on winners, and we are happy to meet their need.

Ed