The Winner's Guide to Casino Gambling

INTRODUCTION

SINCE THE LAST revision of this book, gambling has exploded as a growth industry in America. Nearly all the states have gambling in one form or another, and many states now permit gaming on riverboats and casinos. Gambling also is booming on Native American reservations. I cover this phenomenon in detail in my chapter titled Gambling in America—an Overview.

With riverboat gaming, I go state by state in showing what is available, and in some states, county by county and town by town, so the reader has a full picture of what is happening, which boats sail, and which stay docked. I discuss the games offered on the riverboats, the betting and loss limits, if any, and the boarding fees, if any. I also cover the laws that affect this type of gambling, state by state.

With tribal land gaming, I give a broad overview of how this form of gambling began and what it means for the future. The casinos and games offered vary from state to state, and the situation is quite dynamic, with more and more Native American casinos coming online. I discuss what the giant Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, offers, as well as the smaller casinos in states like Minnesota and Oklahoma.

The landscape of gambling has certainly changed in the United States, but the sound principles of winning enumerated in this book are a constant. You can be comfortable knowing you will play like an expert, and playing correctly will give you the best chance of taking home the casino’s money. That is the sole purpose of this book—to make you a winner.

I also have a special section on the new atmosphere in Las Vegas, which has become the family resort destination for many Americans. I describe the new casinos that have been built and the ones that are to be built, with a brief description of my own feelings about them.

The chapter titled Keno—the Imported Game has been enlarged to include state keno games, which are rapidly growing in popularity. At the time of writing eight states have introduced the game, with others expected to follow. I point out the differences between the state game and the casino game, and list representative payouts. I also suggest which games to avoid playing.

I’ve not only enlarged and added chapters, I show you how the pros play. In researching this book, I’ve conducted interviews with experts who always are looking for an extra edge, and I reveal how you can get that edge. In addition, I show how I’ve played in certain situations, for I believe a reader can learn a great deal from proper play. I never play hunches and I always try to make the right play. I want you to be a winner, for winning is fun. It’s the ultimate enjoyment one gets out of gambling.

In this book the reader will get a rundown of all the casino games worth playing, plus the odds inherent in these games—whether those odds are neutral, favor the house, or favor the bettor. Obviously, the casino sets up its games to get an edge over the player. However, this doesn’t mean that the player can’t work out an intelligent method of play so that the edge can be neutralized. We show how this can be done in craps, for example, where the best bets and best play can lead to awesome wins.

Again, I want the reader to be a winner. That’s the main purpose of this book. And anyone who studies the strategies, theories of play, and winning approaches I suggest, and then plays according to these precepts, should be a winner.

Also included is a section on proper money management. This can be just as important as correct play. I have been very careful in formulating the way players should handle their money at the table. As a result, not only have my readers prospered, but I have been quoted as the ultimate authority on money management in other books. This is because my approach is always pragmatic. I’ve been there. I’ve put out my chips. And I have seen, through years of experience, just how treacherous a random approach to gambling can be, either in terms of play or money management.

I know there are other gambling books on the market, but I feel that they present only a narrow picture of the games themselves, and are difficult to follow. And more important, they don’t really discuss the psychology of the gambler and the actual conditions he or she finds when betting with hard cash at a casino table.

Knowing the rules and strategies of the games themselves is not sufficient. To enable players to take advantage of everything a casino offers, this book gives them a complete picture of what the casino is all about, describing the men and women who run it—the people who staff and service the games and with whom players will come in contact. Sometimes the difference between being a winner and a loser is how the casino personnel are handled by the player.

I go into detail not only on how to play the games correctly, but on how to establish credit at casinos and use that credit in the most effective manner possible. On the other hand, I show how misuse of this credit can be dangerous, for several states that permit legalized casino gambling have stringent laws regarding the failure of players to repay gambling debts to casinos. This may lead to criminal prosecution. I show the reader how to avoid this problem and how to find out the consequences of gambling debts before doing any playing in a casino.

A full chapter is devoted to casino credit and another to preferred treatment of gamblers. I show how players are rated, and how they can qualify for everything from a free meal to full RFB; that is, room, food, and beverages. The price of the book can easily be recouped by following the hints on how to get free meals, drinks, and even shows. Players may even be eligible to get their airfare reimbursed if they play at a high enough level. I show the pros and cons of getting comped, and the correct way to pick a hotel and casino. Most players don’t realize that their play can be monitored just by asking a floorman, who will make sure they’re eligible for a free meal, a show, or a reduced room rate. I discuss all these things at length.

I also discuss the use of casino membership cards offered by practically all casinos, and why these are valuable to the players of electronic games. I show how to get these cards and how to make the best use of them. These cards can be valuable tools in the player’s hands, and may qualify a player for reduced room rates and other benefits.

I’ve also included several new games in this book. In new chapters, I’ve dealt with what are known as carnival games, and I introduce two new ones: Three-Card Poker and Casino War. I discuss the odds inherent in these games, together with the best playing strategy. In the chapter on video poker, I’ve enlarged the section on Jacks or Better, and added two games, Deuces Wild and Bonus Poker. To make the reader a winner, I’ve carefully analyzed best play and give many examples of correct strategies.

There have also been dramatic developments in the number and variety of slot machines, several with enormous, million-dollar jackpots. I discuss these games and guide the reader into understanding which might be worth playing. My main focus when I first wrote this book, and through several revisions since, has been to make the reader a winner. In order to do this, I have attempted to keep the reader informed and aware of developments not only in the games, but in every aspect of the gaming industry itself.

All of these new chapters and sections bring the book right up to date. They give an overview of the new look of gambling in America and provide the reader with all the information he or she needs to deal with the new games. I’ve covered gaming from coast to coast, from the riverboats rolling down the great rivers of the United States to the small gaming towns in the Plains States, from the giant Native American casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, to the small tribal clubs in the Southwest. It’s all here for the reader.

1

GAMBLING IN AMERICA—AN OVERVIEW

AT ONE TIME, the only state in America where gambling was legal was Nevada. This situation remained in effect for many years, and although there was sporadic gambling in other jurisdictions, such as the draw poker clubs in California and lotteries in certain states, it wasn’t until Atlantic City legalized gambling that Nevada had any competition in the way of full-fledged casinos offering games such as craps, blackjack, roulette, and baccarat, as well as slot machines.

One of the rationales for legalizing gambling in Atlantic City was to use the tax money engendered from gambling to improve the city. But that didn’t happen. The millions of dollars spent in the casinos, or should I say, billions, didn’t improve the city one whit. While the number of pleasure palaces of gambling rose, Atlantic City remained a festering slum. As it is today. The tourists go to the casinos and occasionally walk on the boardwalk, but they don’t venture into Atlantic City proper.

Still, there were mighty revenues that could be taxed by the municipality, and other jurisdictions took note of the frantic pace of building and the millions of tourists who poured into the New Jersey resort. After all, the leaders of these states and cities argued, everyone likes to gamble, and they do gamble illegally. So why not legalize it and cash in on these millions of dollars? The floodgate was opened, and gambling, which in puritan America had remained a hidden and illegal vice, was now thrust into the open in state after state. The money it poured into state and municipal coffers was used for a variety of causes, including education. With that rationalization, the state governments could pat themselves on their backs and overlook the fact that these millions of dollars were dollars lost to the casinos or to lotteries or whatever gambling was legalized. Someone was paying for all this, and it was the general public who patronized the casinos or bought lottery tickets, or sat down to a game of cards at a legalized card club.

Let us therefore divide this chapter into five sections dealing with the burgeoning world of American gambling. First, the status of gambling in general. Second, the state lotteries. Third, the American Indian reservation gambling. Fourth, riverboat gambling. Finally, the changing character of Las Vegas itself.

GAMBLING IN GENERAL IN AMERICA

At the present time, there is some form of gambling, whether it be lotteries, Indian reservation gaming, riverboats or card clubs, or straight casino gambling, in forty-eight of the fifty states. Perhaps all the states eventually will have gambling; all signs point to this happening. What at one time caused moral indignation is now commonplace. People are willing to wager money on some form of gaming, and the states and municipalities, hungry and desperate for infusions of tax money, are willing to provide their citizens with the opportunity.

Nevada is still the leading state as far as gaming is concerned. You can wager on anything here, but the state doesn’t have a lottery. It doesn’t need one. Games such as Quartermania and Megabucks provide the players with opportunities to make millions by risking several coins or dollars.

Atlantic City, New Jersey, when it first legalized gambling, was thought of as a serious competitor to Nevada, especially Las Vegas, but since gambling has been introduced in the Garden State, Nevada has experienced an explosive growth in gaming. Atlantic City is an example of a community that hasn’t benefited at all from gambling. The influx of customers has merely lined the pockets of the casino owners who put up sumptuous palaces to attract them. Still, more casinos are going up, and business continues to increase in A.C. A lot of jobs have been created, but the city is still a slum, and the tourists stay in the hotels or venture along the boardwalk, and that is it.

There are a dozen casinos in Atlantic City, and the most recent is the Borgata, which is a joint venture between MGM Mirage and Boyd Gaming. Since opening in July 2003, this 200,000-square-foot hotel and casino has had a dramatic effect on the revenues generated by all the A.C. properties. For example, in February 2003, gaming revenues were up 30.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

The comparison between the gambling revenues of Atlantic City and the Las Vegas Strip is quite interesting in showing how these two markets compete closely for the gamblers’ dollars. The following is a rundown of those revenues.

Note how closely the revenues are between these two major gambling markets. As measured in the billions of dollars, it points out the insatiable interest in gambling among Americans, a phenomenon that is reflected throughout the country as more and more gambling venues open up, while those already in existence continue to expand. Revenues have been stagnant for the 2001-2003 period due primarily to the effects of 9/11 but have picked up since then. A new hotel—Steve Wynn’s Las Vegas—and the expansion of several Strip hotels will surely increase that revenue. The Borgata’s success may spawn other hotel construction in the A.C. market.

Mississippi, with its liberal riverboat laws, has moved into prominence in American gambling. It now ranks third in revenues, an amazing situation for a conservative, rural, and Bible Belt state. Tunica, once the poorest county in America, now boasts nine huge casinos. Vicksburg has four, Natchez one, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast has, as of this writing, twelve.

Mississippi’s neighbor to the west, Louisiana, permits gambling in Baton Rouge, Charenton, Harvey, Kenner, Kinder, Lake Charles, Marksville, New Orleans, and Shreveport–Bossier City. Among other southern states, both North and South Carolina have limited gambling venues. The signs are there—the sunny South will eventually be a hotbed of gambling.

In the heartland of America, other states along the Mississippi and Great Lakes have jumped into riverboat gaming with both feet, such as Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois, with others ready to take up gaming’s cause. The future will have more and more states ready for casino gambling in a big way.

Washington State and Colorado haven’t been shy about making various forms of gambling available. Montana has legalized certain table games. A backwater like Deadwood, South Dakota, has brought itself national attention by legalizing gambling and, in the process, pushed real estate values to the sky in that small, isolated community. Gambling does that. Towns magically rise up when gambling becomes big business. A good example of this is in Laughlin, Nevada, where Mr. Laughlin named a city after himself and built a casino on the Colorado River. In the space of a few years, this has become one of the meccas of gambling in Nevada.

Indian reservation gaming, emboldened by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, has been involved in an explosion of gaming. A successful operation such as Foxwoods in Connecticut is spawning other casinos in the Nutmeg State, with Greenwich the next possibility. State legislatures are falling all over themselves to get on the gaming bandwagon.

Usually, a referendum is needed to legalize gaming. It can be done statewide, as in Florida, or county by county, as in Mississippi. New York, which for years flirted with legalized gaming in Sullivan County, may now allow gaming in the empty shells of hotels in Monticello, New York, which once was a resort hub.

In the last edition of this book, I wrote that the big cities of America were ripe for legalized gambling. And this certainly has come to pass. In Illinois, Isle of Capri Casinos have been given the green light by the Illinois Gaming Board to build a huge gambling facility in Rosemont, which is just west of Chicago and near O’Hare International Airport. This property is expected to generate $2.6 billion in revenue over its first five years. This will be the tenth casino to operate in Illinois. Only Illinois’s heavy gambling tax has discouraged other casinos from being built.

In Michigan, there are several casinos in and about Detroit. In other states, casinos are found in New Orleans, near Phoenix, and close to San Diego. The list goes on and on. The push remains to legalize gaming in major cities, which can easily support new casinos with their tremendous population centers. The momentum keeps building, and the irresistible lure of gaming will win the hearts of legislators and citizens in more and more communities.

It is not only the casinos that benefit from legalized gaming. A whole support industry has sprung up to feed their insatiable needs. Riverboat design and manufacture, once a moribund industry that had seen its best days in the nineteenth century, is now alive and perking. Manufacturers of equipment such as electronic games are also benefitting, the two leaders being International Game Technology and Bally Gaming, a division of Alliance Gaming.

Surveillance equipment manufacturers, change-maker manufacturers, interior designers, lighting and carpeting specialists, card manufacturers, dice and chip manufacturers, are all grabbing a piece of the pie. And let’s not forget the makers of roulette wheels and craps and blackjack tables. At the gaming conventions in Las Vegas, we see a whole corporate structure offering its goods and services. They realize that this is an explosive growth industry just waiting to take off.

Whole industries have sprung up or been invented to feed the casinos. And then there are the employees of the casinos, thousands and thousands of them, getting jobs that previously didn’t exist. Dealers, change persons, cocktail waitresses, waiters, busboys, floor-persons, pit bosses, hotel clerks, maids, and dozens of other job categories are there to service gamblers while they play or rest. The list goes on and on.

What is obvious is the fact that people want to gamble. No one has to throw a net out to pull in players—they are there clogging the casino aisles. When the first casino, Resorts International, opened in Atlantic City, there were huge lines of gamblers waiting to get in, then waits of an hour or more to get to the tables. Players came in droves and couldn’t wait to get their money on the tables. As the riverboat operators have found out, their customers will pay for the right to gamble on a cruise. If there was no gambling on these riverboats, who would go on them but for a few tourists wishing to look at scenery on the Mississippi? It is the same question one can ask about racetracks. Who would pay admission to watch horses run ten races if no betting was allowed? The crowd would probably number about a hundred, most of them owners of horses.

Legislators also realize that the taxes they take in from gaming is a hidden revenue. People who lose don’t think of their money going toward taxes. They win or they lose. But tax these same individuals for purchases they make at the grocery store and there’d be hell to pay. After all, the solons state, the citizens want to gamble, and we’re simply providing the means. Nobody gets hurt, and everybody benefits. As gambling fever spreads in America, the crowds get bigger and bigger, and the casinos grander and grander. It’s the new American growth industry, and it will continue to grow and grow.

When I write about gaming revenue, the figures I use are in the hundreds of millions and even billions. Where is that money coming from? It’s coming from the people who go to casinos to gamble. It is their losses. This money, the states suggest, goes to good causes because a small percentage is used by various states to pay for services such as education and roads. But the money lost goes mostly to the casinos and to the industries gambling supports. And it is money that the citizens frequenting the casinos can ill afford to lose. They get nothing for the cash they leave there. Casinos are not department stores where at least the purchaser, in turning over his hard-earned cash, gets something to take home—a garment, furniture, something. Losers at gambling leave with nothing to show for their losses except headaches and a bad taste in their mouths.

What I suggest is that this new horde of unsophisticated gamblers learns to play correctly, that they not go into a casino figuring that they will lose money. We want them to go in and play with a winning attitude. Each game has certain odds built into it, and gamblers should learn the correct odds, which games to avoid and which to play, and how to make the best bets. Gambling, after all, is done with real money, and real money is lost. What I attempt to do in this book is protect players by showing them how to gamble in a sane and knowledgeable manner, so that they become winners. There is an enormous choice out there, and many temptations. I want my readers to end up as winners.

The Lotteries

At one time in America, lotteries were rampant in all the big cities where the Mafia held sway. The lotteries were known as the Italian Lottery or given other names, such as the numbers racket. They were particularly popular among the poorest sections of the population, African Americans and the working poor, for the lottery promised a big jolt of money for a minuscule investment–as little as a nickel. The payoff for the lotteries was generally 500-1. In order to win, a player had to pick three numbers out of 999. If the number came up, you got paid 500-1. On any given day, you could play the lottery. Let’s assume you picked 764. The odds against this number coming up were 999–1, because the number 000 was a live one as well. You got 500–1 if you won. This meant that the operator of the lottery was working close to a 50 percent profit margin.

How did you know if you had a winner? Many of the lotteries were tied to a series of numbers. For example, if there was a racetrack nearby whose total tote or complete betting revenue was listed in a newspaper, then the last three digits of that revenue was the number for the day. Let’s assume that Belmont track in Elmont, New York, was in operation. And let’s assume that at the end of the eight or nine races in those days the total tote shown after the last race was the complete monies bet that day and was $2,544,701. Then 701 was the number for that day, and anyone betting it would win 500-1.

These lotteries ran deep into the hearts of the various poorer communities. They not only gave the occasional winner some quick money, but supported a whole network of working poor–people who were runners, and those who worked in offices run by the local syndicate, which was eventually beholden to the Italian Mafia. It was a sweet deal for the Mafia. Their profit margin was immense, and as long as all kinds of numbers were bet, they stood to make a gigantic profit. They would sweat out certain days such as July 4, when a lot of people patriotically bet 776 as in 1776, but other than those situations, the money poured in. As talk in the state capitals turned to legalized lotteries, the Mafia saw their income threatened.

Eventually, the states began their own lottery systems. These weren’t the nickel-and-dime operations of the illegal syndicates; no longer could you bet just five or ten cents as in the old days. Inflation and the very pragmatic considerations of income forbade that. The minimum bet was $1, and payoffs of more than 500-1 were promised. Now that dollar ticket could win a lucky holder millions of dollars. And no longer did he or she have to select just three numbers—the new norm was six numbers. Pick all six and win the big jackpot, which could be upward of $10 million! Now we were talking big bucks.

To make sure that everyone could make a bet, the lottery commissions didn’t limit the lottery to just a pick of six numbers out of forty-nine or more possibilities. They allowed pick 3s, with the old Mafia 500-1 payout. They also had pick 5s and all kinds of daily picks. Anything to fill the coffers and get the money out of the hands of the taxpayers, or perhaps the nontaxpayers, for these lotteries were attracting people who were willing to part with their money at horrendous odds in the hope of getting a big payout. The poor were once more heavily involved, and state government leaders told the public in self-aggrandizing ways that the new lotteries were there to promote education because after all the expenses were deducted, the money left over would improve the schools in the state.

Not only was there a lottery involving three, four, five, or six numbers but there were also scratch-off tickets. And you didn’t need to read the paper or watch television to see if you had won — you just scratched off the numbers and presto, you won or lost. You could win up to $10,000 on these scratch-offs instantly. Most of the time, you lost, or if you won, your win was $1 or a free ticket. But like all gambling, the sense of the unknown possibilities was enticing. The numbers or whatever you scratched off on your next ticket could be the big winner. I recall going to a party at a millionaire’s house in the Malibu Colony of Los Angeles, and after the food and the wine and the music, he gave each of the hundred or so guests ten scratch-off tickets as a farewell gift. We all got busy scratching away to see what lay under the print and the paint to see what we had won. I was one of the lucky ones. I won $1. Of the thousand tickets scratched by the guests, the total winnings were $180, including twelve tickets that gave the recipients a free ticket.

At that party there were people in the movie business, doctors, lawyers, and other professionals, and it was amazing to me to see the rapacity of their efforts to produce a winner by scratching the tickets. Yes, gambling has a hold on people. The possibility of a big score enticed them, though I’m sure that only one or two would ever bother to buy scratch-off tickets. But imagine all the poor laborers who buy five of these tickets daily. After a year, a lot of money that should have gone toward the rent, or toward food or clothing for their kids, has gone down the drain.

Lotteries, however, are here to stay. A great many states have them, and each year more and more come on board. The states are starved for revenue, and lotteries are their quickest source of money. If legislators raise taxes, they run the risk of being voted out of office, but if they introduce a lottery and mumble something about improving education, they’re heroes.

As of this date, close to forty states have lotteries, plus Washington, D.C., the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Although some states, such as California, have individual lotteries, many states belong to consortiums that feature super jackpots formed by Power Ball or Mega Millions plays. Twenty-six states plus the Virgin Islands feature the power ball, an extra pick that makes it extremely difficult to choose all the lottery numbers correctly. Power ball jackpots have sometimes paid off in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Mega Millions lottery has ten states involved—Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Virginia, and Washington. Recently a lucky player won $239 million, which was the second biggest Mega Millions jackpot since its existence.

Three states—Virginia, Georgia, and Kentucky—have recently installed a multistate game called Lotto South. The reason for these multistate alliances is to make the playing of lotteries more exciting and enticing to the citizens, for they lead to humungous payouts. Lottery fever grips the players, and the jackpots and winners push their way to the front pages of newspapers. Nothing else is spoken about, and the favorite conversation of those who bought tickets is what they’re going to do with the millions they’ll win. Of course, all but a few are losers, but the jackpot builds itself up again, and once more everyone is in the grip of that dream payout.

In California, six numbers have to be picked correctly, five plus a mega number, which can duplicate one of the other five selections. There are smaller prizes, about $1,800 for picking five correctly, and it goes down rapidly from there, to $5 for picking three numbers, with another small prize for choosing the mega number.

In California, the lottery is called Super Lotto and is played twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday evening at 8 P.M. If no one has the big winner, the jackpot escalates rapidly from about $7 million to $12 million to $20 million, then it rises like a shot to astronomical numbers as citizens of the Golden State catch lotto fever.

Everybody gets involved, and people who wouldn’t usually waste their money now start buying blocks of tickets. The poor can use up two weeks’ salary praying and hoping for that big score—$30 million! Paid over twenty years, that comes to $1.5 million a year or it can be taken in one lump payment, usually in the range of half the total jackpot. This is cut down by federal taxes, but there are no state taxes on the winnings.

Lotteries have become a part of the American landscape, and millions tune in to the results when they are announced on television. In California, some scratch-off prizes allow the winners to go to The Big Spin, where they spin a huge wheel to win prizes of $1 million or more. This is a regular half-hour program on channels throughout California.

Should you play the lottery? The big prizes, running into the millions of dollars, look awfully enticing, and of course, there are winners. But for the millions who buy lottery tickets in the hope of becoming millionaires, only a few, a handful, ever win. As one wit said succinctly, You have the same chance of winning a lottery whether you play or don’t. That sums up my feeling about lotteries.

As to scratch-offs for smaller prizes, and the daily picks of three or five numbers, the house, in this case, the state, takes as its cut about 50 percent of the revenues. It’s a losing proposition for any player. It’s like being at a blackjack table and betting $10, only to get back $5 for each win, while you take the full $10 loss. How long could you last before going broke? My best advice is to avoid any kind of state-run enterprise in gambling, such as lotteries, scratch-off tickets, or whatever other gimmicks they come up with. The losses add up. If you bet $10 a week on these various tickets, that’s well over $500 you’re going to lose in a year. You might ask, what about the wins? Well, what about them? An occasional $5 payoff or free tickets, or, if you’re really lucky, a $50 or $80 payout will still leave you a big loser at the end of whatever time period you decide to count as your lottery fiscal year. Be firm and avoid the temptations that these lotteries offer. Save your money for better things. If you want to play, then read the various sections and chapters in this book that tell you how to get an edge up on the casino, where you’re the favorite, not the big underdog.

Tribal Reservation Gambling

As any casual student of American history knows, the Native Americans were given the shaft by the colonizers of the United States. The government broke practically every treaty it made with the tribes that had inhabited this land for centuries and kept it in its pristine condition. Finally, the Indians were shunted about, with whole nations, such as the Cherokees, being moved from North Carolina to Oklahoma and settled there against their will, dumped on inhospitable land.

The same thing happened to the western tribes, such as the Navajos and the Apaches. They were set down in wretched reservations where no one else wanted to live, in the arid plains and deserts of Western America. The Native Americans became second-class citizens, prone to disease, alcoholism, and extreme poverty. They were separate from American society, with their own laws and police. In many ways they ruled themselves and were not subject to the laws of the state or nation in which they lived. For decades these rules worked against them; they were left to their own devices, scratching out an existence on the godforsaken lands they occupied.

Then, in 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which legalized gaming on Native American-owned land. Suddenly, Native Americans’ apartness had a monetary value. They weren’t subject to the gambling restrictions the states imposed on their ordinary citizens. They could have gambling on their lands and reservations and entice the same citizens who ordinarily avoided them into parting with their monies. All they had to do was open up their lands to gambling enterprises. And this the Native Americans have done with a vengeance.

It is estimated that six hundred gambling venues are operated by Native Americans. The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) is the government agency supervising Native American gaming. Three types of licenses are issued for gaming purposes, Class I, Class II, and Class III. Class I licenses permit bingo only, which is now played not only with paper but with electronic devices. Class II licenses allow, in addition to bingo, electronic games and low-limit poker. Class III licenses permit Vegas-type gambling, including all games permitted by Class II facilities, plus table games such as blackjack and craps.

Tribes with Class I licenses have exclusive jurisdiction of the gambling facility. Class II gaming is regulated by the tribe and the NIGC. Class III casinos must enter into Tribal-State compacts, which, under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, requires that the state and the tribes negotiate a compact agreement that defines the kinds of games that might be played at the tribal casinos. It also defines the regulatory role of the state. In a state like Minnesota, where the only casino gambling permitted is on tribal lands, these rules are of particular importance.

Class II gambling can be found in Florida, where the Seminole Indians have entered into a partnership with the Hard Rock Café, a subsidiary of the Rank Organization of Britain, to open two casinos in the Sunshine State, one in Tampa and the other in Hollywood. With huge populations nearby, they should be quite successful financially, even though a Class III license would make them much more profitable.

As to Class I licenses, a bingo operation on tribal lands is not necessarily what players think of when they remember bingo games in church halls or other small facilities. Now players use electronic handheld devices and pull tabs to keep track of the numbers called. Pechanga Casino in Temecula, California, has more than eight hundred seats, and their bingo operation features electronic devices and pull tabs. The Potawatomi Bingo and Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has sixteen hundred seats and features electronic bingo and pull tabs. Turning Stone Bingo and Casino in Verona, New York, has close to fourteen hundred seats and also features electronic and pull tab bingo.

The building of casinos on tribal lands goes on and on, depending upon the state the lands are in, and the willingness of the legislature in that particular state to permit Class III gaming.

As a result of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, Native Americans, once one of the most impoverished minorities in America, now have some of the most affluent citizens. To give an example—in Connecticut, a small tribe, once thought to be extinct, owns the most profitable casino in the world, the Foxwoods High Stakes Bingo and Casino. They are the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe.

This casino is located in Ledyard, Connecticut, and has more table games available to players than any other casino in America. It is constantly expanding its casino and adding hotel space for the thousands of visitors who come each year. The casino is about two hours from Boston, and has mostly a New England clientele, but gamblers also come from New York and other areas. It now has three hotels and 120,000 square feet of casino space. It is a monstrous operation, and a very profitable one. You can play craps, blackjack, video poker, roulette, slots, baccarat, keno, the big six wheel, chuck-a-luck, Caribbean poker, and Pai Gow poker, as well as many forms of ordinary poker.

You can’t do this legally anywhere else in New England except at other tribal reservations. It’s illegal according to the state laws. But Native Americans can open gambling casinos on land they own, and invite the public. The public hungers for gambling action and they flock to these casinos, especially the one the tiny tribe of Mashantucket Pequot Indians own.

For those who want to visit this unique casino, the rules are as follows on some table games: Double odds on craps, the dealer stands on all 17s and adheres to Las Vegas rules in blackjack. Eight decks are used. Roulette has a double zero like all American wheels, keno is played, and baccarat has a $6,000 limit. The casino is open twenty-four hours a day.

In Alabama, the one casino run by Native Americans is located in Atmore and has bingo only. This casino is owned by the Poarch Creek Indians. Just because only bingo is offered doesn’t mean the games are played for peanuts. The Creek Bingo Palace has a $1 million jackpot on weekends.

A huge state like California has many tribal casinos in operation, running the length and breadth of the state. Most of them feature bingo, but some also offer poker, video poker, and table games. The Palace Indian Bingo Casino in Lemoore seats 1,300 players, while the San Manuel Indian Bingo Casino in Highland seats 2,700 players. These are big, profitable operations. In Colorado, the casinos run by Native Americans feature slot machines, video poker, blackjack, and keno, among other games. Iowa has slot machines, blackjack, roulette, craps, and big six available in its casinos in Onawa, Tama, and Sloan. These casinos are run by the Omaha, Mesquaki, and Winnebago Tribes of Iowa.

Minnesota is another hotbed of Native American gaming. There are more tribal casinos in this state than in California. Games offered in the various casinos include video poker, video blackjack, video craps, blackjack, slot machines, bingo, keno, and poker. One of the casinos, the Mystic Lake Casino, in Prior Lake, run by the Mdewakanton Dakota Tribe, has 2,300 slot machines and 125 blackjack tables. Slot machines are big business in tribal gaming in Minnesota. The Northern Lights Casino in Walker has 600 machines, while the Shooting Star Casino and Lodge in Mahnomen, owned by the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians, has 900 slot machines, in addition to thirty-six blackjack tables. This casino is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

New York has a number of tribal gaming casinos, but they are limited to bingo operations. However, a couple of them are huge operations. The Mohawk Bingo Palace in Hogansburg seats 2,500 players and is owned by the St. Regis Mohawk Nation. The Seneca Bingo/Irving Casino in Irving seats 2,000 players. It is owned by the Seneca Nation of Indians.

North Dakota, a state in which several treaties were broken by the U.S. government, has several casinos around the state. They are rather small operations, with small limits, though the Turtle Mountain Casino, which consists of three separate enterprises in Belcourt, has a bingo room seating seven hundred players, as well as slot machines, poker and keno machines, and blackjack tables, and something called Indian dice games. It is owned and managed by the Turtle Mountain Tribe.

In Oklahoma, the transplanted Cherokee Nation owns and manages a casino in Catoosa. It is called the Cherokee Nation Bingo Outpost and seats fourteen hundred players for bingo alone. The Cherokees own and manage several other bingo operations in the state. Other tribes that own casinos featuring bingo include the Absentee Shawnee Tribe, the Checotah Nation, the Chickasaw Nation, the Choctaw Nation, the Comanche Tribe of Oklahoma, the Creek Nation, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, the Kaw Nation of Oklahoma, the Kiowa Tribe, the Osage Tribe, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, the Panca Tribe, the Pawnee Tribe, the Potawatomi Tribe of Oklahoma, the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, and the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town.

I point out the various tribes involved in gaming to show just how many Native Americans have used this vehicle to bring in money and lift their people out of dire poverty. Many of the bingo palaces are both owned and operated by Native Americans, but when more complex gambling is allowed, outside managers are often called in. The managers are generally given a limited contract of about five years, though time periods and terms vary widely.

What is the future of Native American gaming? It is bright, according to insiders in the industry. Interest in gaming is on the increase throughout America and many states where gambling is opposed by various organizations and churches will look the other way when it takes place on tribal land. In most states, they have no alternative, for the reservations are governed and ruled by laws different from those for the general population. For a people long mired in poverty, decimated by disease and hardship, gambling is a godsend, a way to bring in large sums of money.

To find out more about Indian gaming, a North American Tribal Gaming Directory is published out of Prior Lake, Minnesota. The toll-free number is 1-800-665-0037. It is published twice yearly, and lists all the tribal gaming in the United States and Canada.

I suggest playing at the reservation casinos if they are convenient. Many are near interstate highways, and feature inexpensive food in good restaurants. They are generally well run and offer an honest game, whatever your game is. If you travel by car on long trips you’re bound to see a sign advertising a nearby Native American casino.

For those of you who live near an Indian gaming establishment, you can call the casino and find out what games are offered, the hours of operation, and so forth. If there’s a game that you’d like to play, the host will gladly tell you the betting limits and rules. Visit the casino and check it out. I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised. My feeling is that in the near future other megacasinos on the order of the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut will spring up. Gambling has a bright future in America, and Native American gaming holds a key place in that future.

RIVERBOAT GAMBLING

In the old black-and-white Hollywood movies, the riverboat gambler was a stock character. He sat, dressed to the nines, smoking a cigar and keeping his cards close to his fancy vest. He was a legendary sort of gambler, often honest, at times not so honest, ready to start a fistfight or gunfight if crossed. These riverboat gamblers plied their trade on the Mississippi, the father of waters, one of the few rivers in America able to accommodate the really big riverboats.

Today, riverboat gamblers are back. But they’re not those fancy dudes all dressed up; they’re ordinary people seeking some action on the riverboats along the Mississippi, the Ohio, or other great rivers of America. Riverboats now ply the Great Lakes and other large midwestern lakes. However, not all of these boats travel somewhere. A good number are permanently docked, glamorous vessels running in place. They’re like the Queen Mary at Long Beach, California, going nowhere, but looking very impressive all the same.

Riverboat design changes from state to state, depending on local laws, as does riverboat gaming itself. For example, in Mississippi, gaming is not permitted on a moving boat; therefore, the riverboats in that state must remain dockside if gambling is to be allowed. On the other hand, in Louisiana, gaming is not permitted dockside on riverboats, so the boats must be seaworthy. And so it goes from state to state.

The riverboat industry is a dynamic one, with boats constantly being put into service, while others are subject to losses and go out of business. Eventually, the riverboats will reach a saturation point, competing for a limited number of gamblers in a limited number of towns. Another factor that may slow their growth is the push for legalized gambling in various big cities in America. For example, if legalized gambling comes to Chicago, it will surely have a negative impact on the riverboats that ply their trade in that state. The same holds true for the other big cities that line the Mississippi River.

Let’s now look at the riverboat scene along the mighty river and other great water regions of the Midwest. We’ll start in the north and work our way down to the delta region of Louisiana, where the Mississippi empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

Illinois

With the enactment of the Riverboat Gambling Act in 1990, the newly created Illinois Gaming Board was empowered to issue a total of ten riverboat gaming licenses. Each licensee was entitled to own and operate two riverboats in a single approved site. At the outset, each riverboat was required to have cruise schedules, but legislation enacted in 1999 ended that requirement. Riverboats can now dock permanently.

The tenth and final license was issued in 1994 to Emerald Casino, Inc., whose casino, the Silver Eagle in East Dubuque, failed. In 1999 new legislation lifted a prohibition against gambling in Cook County, where Chicago is located, and recently the Isle of Capri Casinos were permitted to build a casino in Rosemont, near O’Hare Airport.

The first riverboat to open in Illinois waters was the Alton Belle, which began its existence in 1991. It was replaced a couple of years later by the Alton Belle II. The boat can accommodate thirteen hundred passengers, and has slot, video poker, and electronic keno machines. It also has a number of table games, including blackjack, craps, and roulette. The dockside facilities are at Alton and while they include some good restaurants, there are no sleeping quarters on the boat.

Hollywood Casino runs two riverboat casinos, known as City of Lights I and City of Lights II, out of Aurora, which is located less than forty miles west of Chicago. Each of the boats can hold six hundred players, and offers table games in addition to slot and video games.

Other Illinois boats are docked at East Dubuque, East Aurora, Rock Island, East Peoria, Metropolis, Joliet, East St. Louis, and Elgin. On any of the boats in these towns and cities, expect to find slots and video games as well as table