Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with gambling

What is the game where you put a card on your forehead?

Wink Ricketts — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:32:23 -0800

What is the card game where everyone puts a card on their forehead? Everyone has a card on their head and you can see everyone else's, so you're trying to figure out your own card based upon how others are betting looking at it. Where can I find rules?

Daddy needs a new game of choice...

who else — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:45:07 -0800

On a single round of betting at a casino what is the best odds? (One that doesn't require skill such as BJ or Poker. Something where I can just walk up and put a chip(s) somewhere like Roulette or Craps.) I know nothing about gambling but I was recently in Vegas for the first time and I thought I had better not come all this way and not gamble. So I bet on red/black which pays 1:1, and I figured it ought to be close to 50/50 odds minus the 2 zeros which gives the house a slight edge. Then my friend told me that if I bet on 1-12 and 13-24 at the same time I've got 24 out of 38 numbers covered and the total payout will still be 1:1 if I win on one of them and lose on the other.
Anyway, what's the best bet I can make?

Why are so many contests limited to the continental United States?

yesno — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:49:51 -0800

Why are so many contests limited to the continental United States? For example check out these rules ([sic] on the misspelling in the URL) for the Conan O'Brien "Please Blow Up My Car" contest:

Open only to permanent, legal U.S. residents who are physically residing in one (1) of the forty-eight (48) continental United States or the District of Columbia (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands and other United States territories)

Now, I understand why you'd want to limit a contest to just the USA, and I can see that there might be legal reasons to limit a contest to states and not territories. But excluding Alaska and Hawaii, which are just as much part of the United States of America as Virginia, doesn't make sense to me.

Now, for this contest which involves moving cars around, you might think it has to do with saving money, but I can't see that moving a car from Juno would be all that much more expensive than moving one from western Maine.

Recovery of US casino jackpot tax withholdings

albertagirl — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:00:20 -0800

As a Canadian, how do I recover gambling tax withholding from winnings at Las Vegas casinos? I know there are plenty of companies out there who will recover withheld gambling winnings tax for a ridiculous cut of the rebate (30%), I used one the last time I had a jackpot win. Just wondering if there is a step by step way to do it myself? I already have my US Individual Taxpayer ID number (ITIN), what's next?

humiliating stakes for a friendly wager?

ames — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:57:14 -0800

i've been recruited to help set the stakes for a friendly wager on the ole miss / alabama game in october. while money can be involved, the bet should be more centered around humiliation of some sort. any ideas for an entertaining bet between an already-tough-to-embarrass male and female friend?

Fun Money Sites & Games For Kids

maryh — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:25:36 -0800

My 7 year old son has developed a passion for money. He enjoys collecting unusual coins and bills, spotting bargains at the grocery, playing 'store' and (yikes) making bets for cash. His favorite character is Mr. Crabs. Finance is not my specialty *snort* so any suggestions for age appropriate sites/activities that revolve around the wise use of filthy lucre will be appreciated. My husband and I are both artsy, broke dopes when it comes to anything financial, so we're not exactly the go-to grownups when it comes to teaching a kid about commerce. I'm impressed by the kid's grasp of monetary value- he's a pretty critical consumer for a first grader- but he's also a bit of a gambler and a wheeler-dealer. I've overheard him making bets with his friends (25¢ heads, double or nothing tails, that sort of thing). Another mom recommended investing websites, but it seems the ones I'm finding are either geared toward older kids or their parents. A good investment game simple enough for a second grader would be right up his alley, if one exists.
I know there are plenty of financial wizard mefites out there; what inspired you when you were a sprout?

Does free money = free money?

mudpuppie — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:43:50 -0800

Casino player's card free play: Is it actually possible to win any money? There's this casino in Reno that's had a huge crush on me ever since I stayed up until 8 a.m. that one time, throwing money away on the craps table. As I blearily headed back to my room, the pit boss signed me up for their VIP player's club. So instead of the regular player's club card, I have a special membership and am constantly getting pretty sweet come-ons from them.

So anyway, the basic question is, is $75 free play really like putting $75 of my own money in a slot machine? I know that, by law, slot machines are required to be randomized games of chance, and that no pull can be dependent on the outcome of the previous one. But with the free play, you have to insert your player's card into the machine, of course. And I can't help but wonder, does that slot machine know that I'm playing with the casino's money instead of my own? And does that somehow make the machine reluctant to pay out? (And it pays out in regular cash, right? Not in more free credits?)

This question is pretty much not Google-able because any search string with the terms 'casino' or 'slot machines' returns junk.

Oklahoma blackjack info?

Mr. Justice — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:50:58 -0800

How can I find out which Indian casinos in Oklahoma do NOT charge an ante? Most of them charge an ante (a small per-hand fee, typically $1 or less), but a few have spans of hours or days every week in which they do NOT charge an ante. Can you tell me what times and which casinos these are?

Streak for the Math

rooftop secrets — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:43:33 -0800

Theoretically, what would be the best way to game the ESPN 'Streak for the Cash' game? (Note: I do not actually want to do this) ESPN recently introduced a game on their website called Streak for the Cash, which gives you a set of different picks every day that you can make on who will win a game or score more points or other 'prop' type bets. Each of these picks have odds right around the 50/50 mark, and in order to win the game you need to string together 27 corrects picks (I don't know the math exactly, but I know that's a very low probability of success-- although you can improve your odds slightly with some sports knowledge).

So the question is, how many people would you need and what strategy would you employ to effectively improve your odds to the point that you could win? Is it even possible, or would you need so many people that it wouldn't be feasible? (Again, I don't actually want to organize this, but I was having a conversation about it and am not smart enough to figure it out myself).

Key points:
- There are about 10-12 different 'bets' you can make per day in a variety of sports.
- You do NOT have to pick every day, and you can pick multiple bets per day as long as the prior game has finished. In other words, if you sat in front of the computer and picked the games furthest apart during the day, you could probably make up to 2-4 picks a day.

To what level was pinball banned in New York in the 1940s?

zacharyseibert — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:04:34 -0800

To what level was pinball banned in New York in the 1940s? I know pinball was considered illegal in New York at the time, but what I can't seem to find is whether or not it was strictly a commercial ban of pinball machines, or personal pinball machines were banned as well. I assume they were only banned in commercial locations because the root of the ban lies in the fact that pinball was believed to be more chance than skill, making it gambling. If the machine were for personal use, there would be no gambling involved.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

What should we do if the superbowl gets blown out?

jenkinsEar — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:38:48 -0800

What party games do you like to play during the superbowl? We're throwing a party, and I'm trying to hedge against a blowout. We're throwing a superbowl party, and I'm looking for ways to keep things interesting in case of a 63-3 blowout. We were planning on playing the superbowl squares game; any other suggestions for fun things to do? This will be a smallish party, with twelve adults.

Keeping my fingers crossed

mbd1mbd1 — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:30:26 -0800

Do I have to show up in person at a casino sportsbook to redeem a winning futures bet? Back in September, I placed a futures bet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. If my team wins the NCAA basketball tournament in April, will I have to fly back to Vegas to redeem my ticket in person? Or can I mail it in, or redeem it online, or something else? Googling for anything gambling related is next to useless. I got Duke at 10:1, by the way - Go Devils!

Math and Odds and Blackjack

gummo — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:50:03 -0800

What are the chances, in blackjack, that I will start with 15, and the dealer will be showing a 10 (or face card worth 10)? Despite the fact that my buddy thinks the odds of this are near 100%, I've tried to calculate the actual odds (assuming a single deck).

I've come up with 2.62% -ish. Not really sure if I'm right.

I started with all the possible hands I could have.
2652 (52 * 51)

Then I figured out how many hands would give me 15.

64 hands with a 10 (or equivalent) and a 5.
64 hands with a 5 and a 10.
16 hands with a 9 and a 6.
16 hands with a 6 and a 9.
16 hands with an 8 and a 7.
16 hands with a 7 and an 8.
16 hands with an ace and a 4.
16 hands with a 4 and an ace.

These fall into two groups, those that have a 10, and therefore deprive the dealer of one, and those that don't.

128 hands have a 10.
96 hands are 15 some other way.

If I have a 10, she has 15 cards left, out of 50, to get a 10.
If I don't she has 16 out of 50.

So my odds of making a 15 using a 10 (or face card) are 4.8%.
Her odds of then having a 10 showing are 30%.

So we have a 1.44% chance of that happening.

-Plus-

Me making 15 some other way: 3.7%.
And her having a 10 showing: 32%.

Gives us 1.18% for that second scenario.

So 2.62% of my having 15 and the dealer showing a 10 or face card.

Two questions.
Assuming a single deck, is this correct?
Assuming multiple decks, what changes (if anything)?

If I'm wrong, where did I go wrong? (It would help my brain to have a combination of english and math to explain where I went wrong, rather than just something like "you should have used a factorial for possible hands 52!-4!", etc...)

Thanks.

Obama assassination : 1 in 55?

zaebiz — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:00:32 -0800

Does the fact that the betting markets still give Hillary Clinton a 1 in 55 chance of being President in 2008, mean that that is a reasonable estimate of the chance that Obama is assassinated before the election? What else could justify those odds now?

Tax me on the River

Christ, what an asshole — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:14:06 -0800

Gambling and the IRS: I've been honing my poker skills and I think I'm ready to take my game to the next level: professionally. If I begin making gains at both casinos and online, what is my duty in terms of declarations and bookkeeping while filing my taxes?

Should I cancel my health insurance and invest the money instead?

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:59:31 -0800

Is cancelling my health insurance and investing the money instead a good bet, or a foolhardy risk? I'm young, in good health, and have no chronic health conditions. And compound interest means that I'd have hundreds of thousands of dollars more at the end of my life. I'm currently paying over $200 a month for an excellent health insurance plan that includes doctor's visits, prescriptions, and low to no deductible for most things. However, I'm living more or less hand-to-mouth. I'm 25 years old and work as a freelance writer, which makes it very difficult to invest any amount of money -- there is simply nothing else in my budget I can cut. If I cancelled the health insurance or downgraded to an emergency-room-only health insurance plan, and invested the money instead, I'd have a few thousand dollars in savings a few years earlier, which would give me a lot more financial stability and flexibility. (Hey, I can buy a car / move to a new city / travel now!) Or, heck, I could just keep saving that money -- the effect of starting a few years early would exponentially increase the longer I left that money invested.

Now: I'm healthy -- I an ex-smoker and run frequently, and have no chronic health complaints, and haven't been to the doctor for an illness in years.

Looking at the problem in terms of risk or reward, I am currently paying $200 a month to guard against a (relatively) low risk of have to pay a lot more in the case I become ill. Now, if I invested the money instead, I'd be taking on that risk, but for a substantial payoff -- a few thousand dollars a year, which could become hundreds of thousands by the end of my lifetime. Essentially, investing my health insurance money guarantees me a large payoff, but I take on a risk of large expense.

Let's posit that I do get any medical help I need, I just pay for it out of pocket, but drift a little more towards poverty. Let's also assume that I'll do this for only two years, by which time I'll have saved a few thousand dollars and will be earning more money. And, remember, I'll have emergency room insurance, so if I'm hit by a car I'll be covered.

So: is this a foolish risk to take, given the payoff, or not? If you were to run this scenario ten thousand times, would you come out ahead, or would the house win? And given that I can only run the scenario once, is it still a good bet? If this were Deal or No Deal, would you take the deal?

(posting anonymously because of all the personal financial information. thanks for the advice, everyone!)

Living the clean life. Both clean from religion and clean from vice!

sixcolors — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:14:57 -0800

I would like others to explain to me why some non-Christian people abstain from certain “sinful” activities…and how to interact with them. For those who do not know my background, I grew up really sheltered and associated mostly with religious people. A little bit over a year ago, I started questioning my religion (Christianity), and started hanging around people who have different belief systems than mine. Some are atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, wiccan, and some are non-practicing Christians or Jews. It’s not just the people I hang around who have diverse beliefs, many of my classmates in grad school are non-Christians, and if they are they are mostly non-practicing.

I grew up around many people who abstained from sex, alcohol, drugs, using profane language, gambling, and violence. The first 15 years of my life, I went to a Pentecostal church, we were told flat out we would burn in hell if we engaged in the above. From age 16 on, I attended a non-denominational church, while it was more liberal than the first church, the message we received was “if you engage in sinful behavior, it will ruin your relationship with Jesus Christ, and you will become miserable”.

Well, since I became less religious, I’ve been enjoying many “worldly” activities. I no longer avoid alcohol, sexual related activities, cursing, playing poker, and watching violent movies or listening to violent music in fear of being bathed in fire and brimstone when I die. The biggest shock that came to me within the last year, is that some non-Christian people do not live the same lifestyle I do, and is more in line with the lifestyles of the people I grew up around.

An example…in one of my grad school classes we had a debate on whether there should be condom dispensers in resident halls on college campuses. There were some who students who said “no”, I was expecting most of them to be strict Christians (or Jewish or Muslims), but most of them weren’t religious of all. I’ve learned from other classroom discussion that some of those students were plain anti-sex.

Another example…I have a few friends who are pretty anti-alcohol and especially anti-drug…yet, again, non-Christian. They won’t drink even a sip, they stay far away from bars and nightclubs, and leave parties early where there’s a lot of drinking. They won’t date drinkers either. On occasion, they try to discourage US from drinking.

I’m confused about this behavior, if you don’t fear eternal punishment for drinking and fucking or whatever, then what motivates them to avoid activities that many people deem as pleasurable? I’ll be honest, the first thing I think is that they are just prudes, but I don’t want to be insensitive. I’d rather understand people before judging them, because I know that are many different things that drives behavior and some aren't obvious. And, to avoid conflict, because I seem to get into a lot of conflicts about this. I would like know some concrete reasons why some non-religious people avoid things that will bring them pleasure. Maybe if I can identify the real reasons, I will know how to handle them better in the future.

Help me learn to play craps!!

nataliecay — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:55:38 -0800

Where can I find a craps table felt tablecloth in/around Dallas, Texas by Friday? We're taking a girls trip to vegas and in an effort to not embarrass ourselves we would like a brush up on our gambling skills. We're not playing for money or anything, just for fun.

Thanks!!

What should my bankroll be?

samph — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:12:03 -0800

How much money would it take to deal blackjack for a night? I've been asked if I want to deal and be "the house" at blackjack at a party. Assuming a $5 max bet for the first few hours and a $10 max bet for the last couple, what's a reasonable estimate for the amount of money I should have in order to cover winnings? I don't expect to have a full table the whole time, probably full every once in a while and empty others. If it's easier to estimate we can just assume two players the whole time.

What was the payout on this wager?

zembla3 — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:24:09 -0800

Belmont Stakes question: What was the payout on a 2 dollar exacta box (24 dollar total wager because the box had four horses) that included Da'Tara and Denis of Cork?

I bet you I was a liberal arts major

Blandanomics — Fri, 23 May 2008 06:48:39 -0800

As mentioned before in this post, my house is running a jello wrestling night. Now that we have the logistics set up, I would like to make some extra cash on taking bets. What is the best way to do this? I have been crunching numbers trying to figure out the best way to make this work. Traditional horse racing betting can only make the house money if there are more than two parties to bet on. While just saying "The winner will get 1.5 return on a winning bet" implies that the number of bets on the two wrestlers is even.

So what is the best way to do this?

Ideally I could sit with a laptop and a spreadsheet and enter in people betting amounts and have it change the odds which I can "lock" right before a match. And of course, the house (us) would take a cut.

Has anyone ever done something like this?

Coin Flipper Arrested

Tube — Sat, 03 May 2008 16:00:34 -0800

How popular is "Coin Flipping"? Recently a friend of mine in Las Vegas sent me this flyer, which detailed the arrest of a man charged with "Coin Flipping". I can understand why running your own game inside a casino might be illegal, but I want to know more about "Coin Flipping". Is there something more going on here than just betting on heads or tails? Are people betting on runs of the same result? Is this the Three-card Monte of the 21st century? How does this game work?

I'd Wager that A Lot of Money Was Bet on March Madness

sjuhawk31 — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:49:38 -0800

Sports Betting Filter: How can I determine approximately how much money was bet on the NCAA (men's basketball) tournament last year and where that ranks on the most gambled-upon sporting events of the year? I'm doing an article on the NCAA tournament and one of the angles I want to use is the amount of time and money people devote to it.

Affordable accommodations in Vegas?

chinese_fashion — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:56:45 -0800

Can any of you recommend a cool, affordable hotel in Las Vegas? My girlfriend and I are going to a wedding in Vegas, staying 3/21 and 3/22. The wedding has booked rooms at the Bellagio -- because it will be at the Bellagio -- but we're wondering if we can't find something cheaper that's walkable.

We're interested in seedy older vintage Vegas, love rockabilly/Nashville/authentically cool kitschy Americana. We don't need ultimate luxury, but would like to avoid roaches and semen stains.

Can any of you MeFites recommend something walkable to the Bellagio that beats $299 a night?

And while you're at it, recommend anything "can't miss" that's under the radar and really, really cool? Like cool dives, live rock bands, etc.?

math-and-logic-filter: only two more floors - I'm almost there! or am I?

krautland — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:27:19 -0800

math-and-logic-filter: only two more floors - I'm almost there! or am I? I currently reside on the 23rd floor of a 50-floor apartment building. my elevators are slow and I am notorious for my tardiness. so every other morning I find myself staring at the little digits counting down the floors as I decent into the lobby. "8..7..6..almost there." I think to myself, "surely nobody will stop the elevator NOW."

but do my chances of making it to the lobby without being stopped actually increase with every floor I pass (because there are less people who could stop the elevator with every floor)? or do they stay exactly the same (1:2) because just like the dice, the game starts over again with every new floor?

I'm almost ashamed to post this question since it will undoubtedly reveal that a gerbil on vicodin has a better grasp of basic math or logic problems than I do. my stalker would almost certainly like to assure you I have plenty of redeeming qualities.