Archive for June, 2007
by Simon Dexter Monday, June 4th, 2007
Japan is the latest economy to appreciate how much legalised gambling can do for its tourist industry.
With the nation keen to expand the number of visitors visiting the islands, the Liberal Democratic Party has put legislation in place to liberalise its gambling laws.
The move comes as similar laws in Singapore will allow more tourists to spend an evening playing poker, roulette or keno.
In an interesting move, the government is believed to be thinking about making local people pay a fee to enter the casino in order to discourage lower earning gamblers from using the facilities, although tourists would get in for free.
The new gambling initiative comes as Japan faces a declining population and the resultant decline in tax revenues. The new casinos are seen as a way of revitalising economic blackspots – similar to the way the super casinos where supposed to help rundown areas of the UK.
It is hoped Japan can attract tourists from nearby China and Russia who are both experiencing relative economic booms.
Meanwhile, the man behind the success of Macau’s booming casino business, (it recently surpassed Las Vegas in revenues) Stanley Ho, has been in the news for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, the billionaire has paid nearly £1 million for an Imperial throne which went up for auction recently in Hong Kong.
Ho, 85, made the winning bid by phone for the five-panel, gilt-incised, lacquer throne dating from the reign of the Qing Dynasty emperor Kangxi.
The throne is expected to make its way to one of Ho’s casinos in Macau from where the tycoon amassed most of his wealth having been awarded a casino monopoly in the 1960s.
Ho, who was awarded an OBE by Margaret Thatcher for his philanthropy, next made the news after giving the single biggest cash award to Oxford University.
He has donated £2.5 million for improving Chinese history research and teaching at Pembroke College.
Oxford University’s press release described him as “Dr Ho”, although it is believed he is a Hong Kong University dropout. His spokeswoman said that he was forced to give up his studies by the Japanese occupation but was awarded an honorary doctorate by Macau University in 1984.
by Simon Dexter Monday, June 4th, 2007
A lack of sleep results in people making silly decisions because it affects a “gambling casino” in the brain, scientists have found.
The brains of volunteers were scanned while they gambled using a computer programme that simulated every day decision making.
The experiment centred around the part of the brain known as the nucleus accumbens which regulates the anticipation of reward. All volunteers were deprived of sleep and then set the scientist’s test.
The volunteers who had been deprived of sleep began to make rash decisions in the anticipation of a higher, though much riskier, reward.
The findings add to previous research showing that those volunteers deprived of much needed shut eye did not give a proverbial toss about the outcome of the results.
The standard psychological test employed two decks of cards – one good and one bad set.
Although the players know that the good deck will eventually give them a small reward, they are still tempted by the bad deck, which although sometimes paying out higher, will eventually lead to a loss.
Most volunteers undergoing the experiment start by picking cards from either deck, but after about 30 selections tend to choose the better deck. The people with the more risk-taking nature are unable, especially when tired, from taking rash decisions which end up costing them money.
It is recommended that any gambler should take between 8 and 10 hours sleep per evening in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Casino’s do not just offer a place to gamble these days, they are centres for entertainment and special events and one of the most bizarre is happening at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas.
The casino is staging the world’s biggest (and most important) auction of Michael Jackson memorabilia.
Over 1000 original Michael Jackson costumes will be on sale to the general public along with other oddities.
The goods had originally been bought as part of a bankruptcy sale of Jackson’s belongings and although the singer tried to stop the sale - things were settled out of court – the sale will go ahead.
Some of the most popular items that will be offered at the casino auction are:
Bill Whitten-designed militaristic red coat with gold rope that belonged to Michael Jackson
The 1987 contract detailing his $30 million purchase of the California ranch now known as “Neverland.”
A good luck telegram from another famous recluse, Marlon Brando, before an 80’s show.
by Simon Dexter Monday, June 4th, 2007
Roulette is certainly the oldest and possibly the most popular of all the casino games and it is its simplicity that has made it the number one choice for most gamers.
The name roulette is of French origin and is translated as ‘small wheel’. The object is to predict where the ball will land once the wheel stops.
There are three main versions of the game French Roulette, American Roulette, and British Roulette.
In the game, a casino employee, known as a croupier, spins a wheel in one direction, then releases a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted spherical surface running around the edge of the wheel. The ball eventually falls onto the wheel and into one of 37 (for European Roulette) or 38 (for American Roulette) black or red and numbered chambers on the wheel.
The game is one of the most social and exciting to play and contrary to popular belief the rules are very simple.
The main pockets are numbered from 1 to 36 alternating between red and black, but the chambers are not in the proper numerical order around the wheel, and there are some instances of consecutive numbers being the same colour. There is a green chamber numbered 0, and in American Roulette there is also a second green pocket marked 00 or double zero.
Players can place a variety of ‘outside’ bets and ‘inside’ bets. The payout odds for each type of bet is based on its probability. An outside bet includes guessing the colour of the chamber the ball will fall into, whether it will be odds or evens and on which particular cluster the ball will come to rest.
In playing the Roulette game, your objective is to pick the winning number that will appear on the Roulette wheel.
Always check the rules regarding minimum bets either for outside bets and inside bets. Usually there is a higher minimum for outside bets – your bet will be void if it is below the minimum for outside bets.
United States Roulette Rules
Bet Pays Probability (Implied percentage chance)
Red 1:1 47.37
Black 1:1 47.37
Odd 1:1 47.37
Even 1:1 47.37
1 to 18 1:1 47.37
19 to 36 1:1 47.37
1 to 12 2:1 31.58
13 to 24 2:1 31.58
25 to 36 2:1 31.58
Any one number 35:1 2.63
Probability
Red
1:1
47.37%
Black
1:1
47.37%
Odd
1:1
47.37%
Even
1:1
47.37%
1 to 18
1:1
47.37%
19 to 36
1:1
47.37%
1 to 12
2:1
31.58%
13 to 24
2:1
31.58%
25 to 36
2:1
31.58%
Any one number
35:1
2.63%
Two number combination
17:1
5.26%
Three number combination
11:1
7.89%
Four number combination
8:1
10.53%
Six number combination
5:1
15.79%
0,00,1,2,3 combination
6:1
13.16%
by Simon Dexter Monday, June 4th, 2007
It’s quite possible that the term roulette is the most common analogy used by sub-editors striving for a catchy headline for the usually dull pieces they have to enliven.
A quick search recently brought forth an array of subjects, none of which had the slightest thing to do with casinos, roulette or indeed gambling.
Smokers play roulette with ingredients in contraband cigs
No, it’s not possible to swap your ciggies for roulette chips. This is an article from a Canadian website warning of the dangers of buying under-the-counter tobacco. Apparently insect eggs, dead flies, mould, even human faeces has been found in these illegal products. If you are a non-smoker then you are probably saying ‘serves them right’, if you are a smoker then it may alarm you a little bit. There’s a wonderful quote in this story from a Canadian mountie. “You never know what you’re smoking, people think cigarettes are cigarettes are cigarettes. That’s not true.” It turns out later in the article that the main thrust of his complaints is not about people’s health but the loss of revenue to the government. “The lost tax revenues from the sales of illegally obtained and sold cigarettes have a significant impact on our Canadian and provincial social programs and infrastructures,” he said.
Finding a cottage…without web-search roulette
Is searching the web so much like roulette? Perhaps to the inexperienced but this article from the Telegraph made little sense in relation to the headline. The writer mentioned a family-run business that provides holiday cottages in Cornwall for rent. A well-written piece though let down by the pompous phrase: “The guest book, typically the repository for whingers, was nothing short of ecstatic.”
So what about the web search roulette? “I’ll just take the odds numbered results.” Not a mention. The website address of the company the writer was talking about was given. However, if anyone doing an internet search for say “holiday cottages in Cornwall” would have found the company sitting at number 3 in the listings in the largest search engine. So much for web search roulette.
Russian roulette? No, London should be proud to be a casino
Hope at last that this could be a genuine article about casinos, roulette or at least something related to gambling. Not a chance. The topic of this high brow offering from the Business Online was the London Stock Exchange. With the recent news that some companies are withdrawing from the Aim (the junior LSE) because of a lack of regulation and monitoring, the article argued that any company should be allowed to float on this market as long as they had the money to do so. “London shouldn’t allow a business built on stolen assets and controlled by the Russian government to list, it was alleged.” - the articles says referring to the flotation of a Russian oil company last year The fact that the share price had increased seems all well and good for the writer. The fact the article had nothing to do with roulette seemed ok for the sub-editor as well.
