Casino Gambling: Be Smart, Be Afraid

Do you want a get-rich-quick scheme for gambling? A magic formula for beating the casino? Or an anti-gambling book about losers, hardship and how they should roll up the Vegas Strip and pitch it off into the dessert and shut off the Hoover Dam? This book isn’t any of those things. This book is about gambling SMART when you set your two feet into a casino. And what I mean by being smart is educating yourself on table games, the overall risk of slot or gaming machines and setting a strict and disciplined path. What I mean about being AFRAID is understanding the potential consequences if you don’t gamble smartly and with discipline. An estimated four million-plus Americans are gambling addicts. In addition to those seriously addicted, millions of people will lose more than their yearly budget allows causing financial hardship, relationship problems and emotional stress. My 25-plus years’ experience gambling in casinos will provide you with good sound advice on how to gamble smartly, be disciplined and not give into impulsive and destructive gambling tendencies. I am not a professional gambler, but guess what? Most gamblers aren’t. I won’t tell you stories about how I’ve stuffed my brassiere chock-full of ＄10,000 chips from the casino because it has never happened. You also won’t hear stories about how I had to pawn my wedding ring to pay the mortgage, or worse yet, declare bankruptcy because of my gambling debts. But make no mistake, I have had to drag myself out of casinos by the scruff of my own neck because I know my own addictive and impulsive tendencies. According to some estimates, gambling generates more revenue than movies, spectator sports, theme parks, cruise ships and recorded music combined. Arguably, the gambling industry in the United States alone is worth an estimated ＄240 billion with its related hotels, dining, and entertainment venues. It employs some 1.7 million people. It may seem obvious, but the gaming industry wasn’t built on the backs of winners. The plain and simple truth it is the losers who fund the industry. In 2007, Americans lost more than ＄92 billion gambling writes Sam Skolnik, author of High Stakes: The Rising Cost of America’s Gambling Addiction. For even the best table game, played by experts to perfection, the odds are still in favor of the casino. Gambling is fun, and winning is even more exciting. The risk and reward are the ultimate paradox. The odds are always in favor of the house. But with a smart and disciplined strategy, you can have fun against the odds and keep your gambling at the level of entertainment. This book provides solid advice and tested rules on gaming strategy and yearly money management, as well as how to increase your odds of winning. It includes basic information to help you gamble without going insane, and most importantly, how to keep your casino gaming at an entertainment level. Whether a seasoned gambler or a novice to the casino world, this book is for you and anyone else who enters a casino. Read this book from cover to cover. Make notes in the margins. Grab a highlighter and go crazy when you see anything in this book that hits home and needs to be easily found again to refresh your memory. Pass this book along to anyone else who gambles in casinos. This book will help keep you from losing your house, damaging important relationships in your life, and preserve your hold on sanity. Why? Because according to the American Gaming Association, in 2012, the commercial casino industry grossed more than ＄37 billion dollars in gaming revenue. That’s a lot of spins on a helluva lot of slot machines with no payout. To quote famous disco singer Donna Summer, “She works hard for her money...” Remember how hard you work for your money. If you are retired, remember how hard you worked for your money.