A lot of us have been inside a casino before, and a lot of us have taken our chances gambling in a casino only to realize that as possible as it is to win money, it’s even easier to lose it. Casinos are, for the most part, giant entertainment centers that are designed to give people the illusion that they can win big and break the bank when gambling. There are plenty of people that are good enough to walk away from places such as Las Vegas, Reno, and Atlantic City with a flush bank account and not a pursuer in sight, but for the most part, a casino is there to make money, not to lose it. A casino boss is one of the best people to speak to when it comes to the reality of gambling in a casino since they’re on the floor and are in charge of keeping things on an even keel. There’s not much, if anything, they can do to stymie the chances of a player that’s on a hot streak, other than to make certain that the individual isn’t cheating in any way, since that’s usually grounds for expulsion from the casino and a pointed reminder to never come back, at the very least. Some casinos, when still run by the mafia (yes, it’s not just the movies speaking, the mob used to run Vegas), would definitely make certain that anyone caught cheating didn’t get caught in the casino again, lest they be reminded in a very rough and unforgiving manner that their gambling rights had been revoked in a very painful way.
Still, cheating in Vegas or any other gambling establishment isn’t a wise move since these places take their money very seriously and while some folks might think that the casinos are cheating for their own benefit, this just isn’t the case. The thing about games of chance is that of course, the casino is going to take every advantage they can, but they’re going to do so in a legal manner since they get caught cheating, and it’s very possible, then their reputation as a solid business is gone and people won’t give them the time of day, much less a dollar for a game of blackjack. No one likes a cheater after all, and a business that relies on the money coming in at a steady clip isn’t going to cheat, but they’re definitely going to let people keep pumping money in while making them think that they stand a chance in hell of winning.
It was a bit interesting to hear that counting cards isn’t illegal, but that it is frowned upon and might be enough for a casino manager to ask a gambler to not come back. Counting cards isn’t as simple as it appears to be in the movies since unless someone is an idiot savant, they’re not going to pick up on the idea of card counting that quickly since that type of mental calculation takes months at the very least to learn. And even then, applying it in a casino is necessary, meaning that a person might lose quite a bit before they the hang of it. The short and easy way of getting rich off of a casino in the movies is about as much fantasy as can be had in such movies since casinos today are wired up with technology that’s able to allow those running the place to eliminate the cheating element as much as possible. Obviously, some folks are going to continue working on the art of the con and just how to make it work so that they can defeat casino security and fool those that are trained on what to look for. But the thing is, by the time the con is unveiled and, depending on if it works or not, those running the casino will figure it out, unravel the trick, and know what to look for yet again. Trying to fool those that run the casino is like trying to break into Fort Knox, it’s possible in some way for certain, but once it’s attempted the first time there’s a good chance that it won’t work the second and be guarded against by the third.
What’s really amazing is that gambling isn’t that hard of a thing to get right in a movie since the research and the facts that are needed are right there if someone is willing to do the work to make it realistic. But somehow there are movies that still get things wrong when it’s so simple to get them right. This is why taking movies at face value isn’t a good idea and why doing your research if something doesn’t smell right is important. The more you know, the easier it is to laugh at the mistakes or just laugh them off at least.
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