Casino Player November 2022

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Casino Player America’s Premier Gaming Magazine print • mobile • online VOLUME 33 • ISSUE 6 P R E S I D ENT & CH I E F E X E CU T I V E OF F I C E R Derek James P UB L I S H E R & E D I TOR I A L D I R E C TOR Lisa Robertson-Dziedzic P R O D U C T I O N D I R E C T O R Diane Stevens-Gillan S E N I O R E D I T O R S Sean Chaffin

PLAYERS TALK

Attendants and Tips I love reading both your magazines; keep up the great work! There have been a lot of questions about slot attendants losing tips if Congress votes to increase the reportable slot jackpot to $5,000. (Currently, the casino is required to issue a W-2G form for any slot win of $1,200 or more.) The casinos could keep the hand-pay limits the same on all the machines. If the jackpot is $1,200 or more it would still be a hand pay, but when it's over $5000, then the casino must issue the player aW-2G.It is up to the Jackpot winner to pay the taxes. Does this sound like a rea sonable fix? —Rick Via the Internet It sounds like a very reasonable fix, Rick. It also sounds like something you shouldn’t hold your breath waiting to happen.Casinos, like any other business, are all about low costs and high profits.When ticket in/ticket out operation took the place of coins, it meant a lot lower labor costs for casinos, since players simply printed out tickets for wins under $1,200, where with coins, hand-pays were almost always required for anything approaching that. The machines would run out of coins before that many coins could be distributed, which meant attendants were required to refill the hopper, even if a tax form was not required. Don’t expect casinos to rehire slot attendants who are no longer needed. Not in this life time, anyway. Sequential or Random? My question concerns this scenario:You’re dealt five cards in video poker and keep three.Are the next cards already behind the two discard windows, or is there a random

Changing Craps I was in Harrah’sAtlantic City,and I noticed a change on the craps layout.The Bonus Bet— in which the shooter has to roll all small 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 or large 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 before rolling a 7, had a payout of 34-to-1. Harrah’s changed it to 30-to-1. Also, the payout for rolling all 10 numbers before rolling a 7 changed from 175-to-1 to 150-to-1. (I note that Ocean Casino and Borgata stayed with the higher payout. I did not go to any of the other casinos.) Does this mean that all three Caesars casinos decided that they must increase their bottom line at any cost when other casinos are satisfied as is? Is Harrah’s also decreasing the slot payouts, hoping no one realizes it? Shame on them. You should warn players about this additional 14 percent casino takeout the way you advise players not to play the 6/5 payout for blackjack. —Ken K. New Jersey While we can’t point to specific information on the slot returns, Harrah’s change to the Bonus Bet on craps tables is indicative of a general tightening-up of odds since the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020. For in stance, pre-pandemic, there were at least two casinos in Atlantic City where one could always find a $5 craps table. Since they reopened following the Covid shut downs, the lowest minimum to be found on any craps table in town has been $15. It’s a good thing that you can even still find craps with the Bonus Bet nowadays. But yes, our advice would be to stick to the tables with the higher payouts.And yes, if Harrah’s has the lower payouts, it’s a good bet Caesars and Tropicana have the same.

Karrie L. Zukowski C O P Y E D I T O R Lon Rozelle

Jack Clayton John Grochowski Steve Kieva Frank Legato Kara Miller Jack Clayton John Grochowski Steve Kieva Frank Legato Kara Miller

Patrick Roberts Frank Scoblete Jerry “Stickman” Stich Tim Wassberg Sharon Harris-Zlotnick Patrick Roberts Frank Scoblete Jerry “Stickman” Stich Tim Wassberg Sharon Harris-Zlotnick

C O N T R I B U T I N G W R I T E R S

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