We Are Being Cheated

Professor,

I’ve been playing craps for over 10 years. Yes, I believe that all the casinos are using biased dice and equipment to illegally raise the house edge. They cannot be caught and it enables them to cheat players. The player assumes the house has an advertised edge on each game or bet, but is being fleeced at a quicker pace.

The card games are all fixed with the card shuffling machines which can “bunch the 10 value cards’ in Blackjack whenever they want to increase the table take in. Likewise the dice are manufactured to favor certain sides. The 6/1 dice are used on busy Fridays and weekends to clean out the players pockets during the busiest hours. The dealers aren’t even aware that the dice are biased. The only people who know are the back room and a few very trusted pit personnel. The 6/1 dice roll all the outside numbers 2, 3, 11, 12 and mostly the 6/1 version of a 7. This means there’s very few sustained rolls. All the other likely combinations are 1 roll bets. A lot of craps on the dice mean a lot of 7 too. Place bets don’t last long.

The way to catch them with the dice is to monitor the tables and observe the mathematical anomaly occurring which is when there is a constant pattern that cannot be explained. The older and savvier player can easily detect the difference between a cold table and biased dice. Basically you can tell if the 6 and 8 don’t roll and average out over a long period say 2 hours.

Casinos will never be caught or prosecuted. The gambling commissions do not care if you lose because the house is cheating. They are there only to have an appearance of regulation. They really don’t consider complaints about a Casino cheating as legitimate because they believe all the myths.

Myth 1: A casino won’t cheat because they already have an edge.

Untrue: They want to make money quicker and can never get caught or prosecuted. At most they will say there was some abnormality that was addressed and then continue doing the same thing.

Professor: Usually, the short version for bias dice is tied to a 6/1 seven out without any explanation of “how” to explain it. The person above seems to believe that they have it figured out. An attempt here will be made to address their points, in my opinion.

1.    I’ve been playing craps for over 10 years. Yes, I believe that all the casinos are using biased dice and equipment to illegally raise the house edge. They cannot be caught and it enables them to cheat players. The player assumes the house has an advertised edge on each game or bet, but is being fleeced at a quicker pace.

Professor: First, “all casinos” is a questionable indictment. I’d also like to know exactly what “equipment” is used (I am not talking about the large electro-magnets strapped to the underside of a craps table and are turned on and off by the boxman with a foot switch.) If the equipment is illegal, cite the language of the illegality of using such equipment. If they cannot be caught, then where’s proof of cheating, other than personal experience of losing? Agreed, built in house odds guarantees a player to be separated from the money. However, why not take issue against the house odds? Everyone playing the game is aware of this true fact. House odds are unfair.

Assumption here, if the goal is for a quicker “fleecing” of the player, then a turn with the dice must be shorter. The game can only end on a seven out. Conclusion, sevens are more dominant than in an otherwise random game. Solution: Make bets that depend on the seven to roll and win. Make money alongside the casino. Beat them at their own game.

Also, the author does not explain how much time was spent in ten years playing craps. Do they play every day for example or just on Fridays and weekends once a month? Also, if playing for ten years and employing a losing system, is it the fault of the instrument of measure? There is no mention of the playing strategy in order to examine the question.

2.    The card games are all fixed with the card shuffling machines which can “bunch the 10 value cards’ in Blackjack whenever they want to increase the table take in. Likewise the dice are manufactured to favor certain sides.

Professor: This is utter nonsense. Card machines were installed to speed up the game and thwart card counters with a continuous game. Machines do not bunch 10 count cards. I wish they did. Anyone with knowledge of why card counting works, knows that favorable conditions occur when the 10 count cards are bunched. (I have seen the inner workings of a shuffle machine. I have seen the machine work with the cover off. It is like a mini elevator. Instead of a little car moving up and down, think in terms of the floors moving up and down. Cards are randomly moved onto a “floor”.)

3.    The dealers aren’t even aware that the dice are biased. The only people who know are the back room and a few very trusted pit personnel.

Professor: I have to ask, if the bent dice are such a guarded secret, how is it that the author is privileged with the knowledge? I also question dealers’ awareness. Dealers work an eight hour day dealing the game. Their job depends on their attention to the dice. It’s their job. They make minimum wage and they depend on tips from players to supplement their income. Losers, typically, do not tip like winners. Do you really think dealers are that oblivious?

4.    The 6/1 dice roll all the outside numbers 2, 3, 11, 12 and mostly the 6/1 version of a 7. This means there’s very few sustained rolls. All the other likely combinations are 1 roll bets. A lot of craps on the dice mean a lot of 7 too. Place bets don’t last long.

Professor: I honestly cannot follow the meaning of this statement. Probably should just let this remark go. With a 6/1 seven out prevalent, I have to assume loads. One die must be weighted on a six face and the other die on the one face. Otherwise, someone please explain it to me.

If I am correct with this assumption, then grab a pair of dice. If you understand the concept of dice setting, then, in about three minutes, I think you will discover this statement requires an on axis result with each toss of the dice. Don’t forget the shooter usually gets their choice between five or six dice to start the game.

The shooter would have to pick opposite loaded faces for this theory. I suppose with six dice, this could occur half the time. Repeating myself, with the sevens being more prominent, 1:5.3, with completely fair dice for this scenario; then loaded dice that favor a 1/6 out has to influence the propensity of the seven out. Make bets that win with a seven result.

5.    The way to catch them with the dice is to monitor the tables and observe the mathematical anomaly occurring which is when there is a constant pattern that cannot be explained. The older and savvier player can easily detect the difference between a cold table and biased dice. Basically you can tell if the 6 and 8 don’t roll and average out over a long period say 2 hours.

Professor: First of all, with the 1/6 resulting as the more frequent seven out and the assumption of loaded dice, then, the one and six faces must be on the desired axis. If so, then 21.86% of the outcomes would be a six or an eight using fair dice. All things being equal, if the dice are bias for a 1/6 seven out, all the other possible results, “outside and craps numbers” would be effected as well. Just saying the six and eight have the highest probability to roll after the seven and with bias dice, whatever the change in probability, the six and eight would still be more probable than any of the other numbers mentioned.

A constant pattern can be explained, it is the randomness of probability. The suggested sample period is bogus. Two hours is a wholly inadequate sample of results. (No matter how old or savvy a player may be.) Next time out, keep a tally of how many rolls of the dice you witness in two hours. Being generous here, I’ll say 144 rolls, which is a multiple of 36, coincidentally, the exact number of possible results with two dice. How about 2.5 million rolls as a sample to view randomness and then examine dice rolls out of probability? I published a great article found at P4K.com/blogs, by Mike in Hawaii, “Distance Between Sevens”. Look it up if you need to understand mathematical sampling and clumping of numbers. (Mike in Hawaii is a retired professor of mathematics as well as a craps aficionado.)

6.    Casinos will never be caught or prosecuted. The gambling commissions do not care if you lose because the house is cheating. They are there only to have an appearance of regulation. They really don’t consider complaints about a Casino cheating as legitimate because they believe all the myths.

Professor: The writer sounds as though he has caught “them”, and turned them in, except for the elusive proof. It is agreed that the “gambling commissions” if an entity, would not care if you lose. Why should they?  Smoking cigarettes is a known way to shorten life. People still do it. Odds on favorite, you lose. “Doc, these cigarettes are killing me!” Doc, “Yes, you are right.”

It is a given, that all casino games favor the casino, not the player. The player is mathematically guaranteed to be “fleeced”. “The gambling commissions really don’t consider complaints about a casino…” Agreed, probably has something to do with being a poor loser more than being cheated.

“I can’t win at dice on Friday and Saturday nights, because the casino is cheating me”, has the ring of… “Teacher, teacher, Billy won’t play nice.” Dare I say, ridiculously immature, or just blind denial of the facts?  

Casinos are allowed to legally do what they do by a licensing that allows them to “fix” the odds, to favor their position in a game of chance. They are already cheating! The writer admits to this, but accepts it as non-consequential with regard to the results. Mind boggling that losing has to be excused by more and thus is explained with illegal equipment and bias dice!

If the author is quite certain of being “fleeced” playing in an unfair game of craps, perhaps they should consider their choices and stop smoking cigarettes. The odds against their longevity will likely kill’em if they don’t.