On December 24, 1954 the American blues musician Johnny Ace shot himself to death in Texas playing Russian roulette in a dressing room before a concert.
John Hinckley, Jr. was known to play Russian Roulette, alone, on two occasions (although neither time he pulled the trigger was the bullet in the firing chamber). Hinckley also took a picture of himself in 1980 pointing a gun at his head.
On February 28, 2000, Rashaad, A 19-year-old Houston resident attempted to play Russian roulette with a semi-automatic pistol, apparently unaware that the mechanics of the game change with a weapon other than a revolver. However, the Darwin Award sources are often suspect. [2]
On June 12, 2001, Clinton Pope, a 16-year-old young man with a criminal record who had been drinking and smoking marijuana for the night, fired a bullet into his face while playing Russian roulette before his friends in St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S. He was sent to a hospital and was in critical but stable condition.[3]
On March 29, 2003, Evan Below, a 14-year-old boy, shot and killed himself while playing Russian roulette with a .38-caliber revolver in the kitchen of a friend’s house in Casper, Wyoming, U.S. The weapon was taken by the houseowner’s son from his mother’s bedroom.
On August 7, 2004, Samantha Goodson, 16, shot her boyfriend, Michael Gerald Henry, 18, dead while they were playing a version of Russian roulette in a house in Jamaica, Queens, New York, U.S. She was charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.
On August 23, 2004, a 25-year-old Greek soldier, Antonis Syros, was shot in the forehead by a revolver that had held a single bullet at the gates of an Olympic village at Mount Parnitha in Athens, Greece. He was playing Russian roulette “jokingly” with Christos Chloros, a policeman, while he was standing guard.
On March 17, 2006, a 15 year-old teen named Astrid Uytterhaegen shot herself dead while being peer pressured into the whole incident & game by her associates. Her body was supposedly found in a ditch, where she had been left to hide any evidence. Traces of alcohol had also been found. (This seems to be a wrong information as you can see from the comments on this article. Astrid Uytterhaegen never died, a friend of him put that on Wikipedia as a joke and never took it off.).
On April 14, 2006, a 16-year-old teen from Peoria, Arizona shot himself to death while playing Russian roulette on his porch with a friend.
On June 8, 2006, 16-year-old Sean Jones from Jacksonville, Florida shot himself to death while playing Russian roulette on the front porch of his friend’s house. He only fired once.
In addition to these specific incidents, it has been alleged that William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics attempted suicide by playing a solo game of Russian roulette [4].
In poker, the dead man’s hand is a two-pair hand, namely “aces and eights.” The origin of the name is the five-card-draw hand held by Wild Bill Hickok at the time of his murder, which is accepted to have included the aces and eights of both of the black suits (sometimes considered “bullets”).
There are various claims as to the identity of Hickok’s fifth card, and there is also some reason to believe that he had discarded one card, the draw was interrupted by the shooting, and he never got the fifth card due to him.
The Stardust in Las Vegas had a 5 of diamonds on display as the 5th card; in the HBO television series Deadwood, a 9 of diamonds is used; the modern town of Deadwood, South Dakota also uses the 9 of diamonds in displays; and Ripley’s Believe it or Not shows a queen of clubs.
The hand in popular culture
This ominous hand is sometimes used as a portent of death in songs, books and in movies that include
Stagecoach (where a doomed character held the ace of diamonds in place of one black ace, and the queen of hearts as fifth card)
The Plainsman (where Gary Cooper as Hickok held the king of spades as the fifth card)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (in Ken Kesey’s novel McMurphy has a dead man’s hands tattoo)
The collectible card game Doomtown defines a Dead Man’s Hand as having the Jack of Diamonds as the fifth card. In this game, it is considered to outrank any other poker hand, unless an opponent plays the card “That’s Two Pair!” to reduce its rank.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and
Dick Tracy
Along Came a Spider
A Party Poker ad shows a man playing poker against an opponent holding a dead man’s hand with a Five of Diamonds as the fifth card. The camera then pans out to show that the setting is a morgue and the player holding the dead man’s hand is a corpse
Dead Man’s Hand is the name of a first-person shooter for the XBox set in the Old West, which features train trips and shoot-outs on horseback.
Dead Man’s Hand Popular Rockabilly band which originated in Jacksonville, FL and later relocated to Los Angeles known for their blues-rich sound and driving rhythm. Their 1999 full length album, Days You Loved Me, won much acclaim amongst critics and roots music enthusiasts alike.
Bob Dylan’s 1962 song “Rambling Gambling Willie” shows the tradition in these lines:
It was late one evenin’ during a poker game.
A man lost all his money; he said Willie was to blame.
He shot poor Willie through the head, which was a tragic fate.
When Willie’s cards fell on the floor, they were aces backed with eights.
And, in the next verse:
So all you rovin’ gamblers, wherever you might be,
The moral of this story is very plain to see.
Make your money while you can, before you have to stop,
For when you pull that dead man’s hand, your gamblin’ days are up.
Bob Seger’s 1980 song “Fire Lake” make reference to the legend in these lines:
Who wants to play those eights and aces
Who wants a raise
Who needs a stake
Who wants to take that long shot gamble
And head out to fire lake
Motörhead mentions the hand in their 1980 song Ace of Spades in the final verse:
Pushing up the ante, I know you’ve got to see me,
Read ‘em and weep, the Dead Man’s Hand again,
I see it in your eyes, take one look and die,
The only thing you see, you know it’s gonna be,
The Ace Of Spades
Uncle Kracker has based an entire song on the hand, entitled Aces and Eights, where in the refrain, he repeats the lines:
Aces and eights, aces and eights, aces and eights
That’s a dead man’s hand
In Nelson DeMille’s novel The Charm School, the school in question is a Soviet prison camp for American military personnel missing in action forced to serve as role models for future spies, who live with them in a complete simulation of American everyday culture. The prisoners have secretly agreed among themselves on false customs they will teach in order to sabotage their students’ future missions, and DeMille reveals this fact to the reader by describing a poker game where a two-pair hand has just been declared, and a prisoner misleads a student by inappropriately describing it as the dead man’s hand.
Adapting to 7-card games
In five-card games, this category of hands can be succinctly defined as two aces, two eights, and one card of any remaining rank, regardless of suit. In seven-card games, a strict specification of aces and eights is more complicated: in permitting the existence of two pairs, a five-card hand as described also rules out any higher value. Among seven-card hands, as a contrasting example, any with two aces, two eights, and three cards with one other rank in common always provides both two pair and a full house, so a competent player would always set aside the eights and declare the full house; most players would probably thus not consider it a dead man’s hand, any more than they would so consider a full house with aces and eights.
Although Kentucky’s culture is generally considered to be Southern, it is unique and also influenced by the Midwest and Southern Appalachia. The state is known for bourbon and whiskey distiling, tobacco, horse racing, and gambling.
The biggest day in horse racing, the Kentucky Derby, is preceded by the two-week Kentucky Derby Festival in Louisville. Louisville also plays host to the Kentucky State Fair, the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, and Southern gospel’s annual highlight, the National Quartet Convention. Owensboro, Kentucky’s third largest city, gives credence to its nickname of “Barbecue Capital of the World” by hosting the annual International Bar-B-Q Festival. Bowling Green, Kentucky’s fifth largest city and home to the only assembly plant in the world that manufactures the Chevrolet Corvette, opened the National Corvette Museum in 1994. (Wikipedia)
Kentucky Threatens to Forfeit Gambling Domains
Supporters of online gambling on Friday lashed out at a Kentucky circuit court ruling ordering owners of 141 domain names to appear at a hearing next month …
Decision in the Kentucky Gambling Domain Seizure Case
boogster
… against the state of Kentucky’s initiative and ruled that the owners of the websites — other than those sites that are used only for advertising or information and not gambling — start blocking access to Kentucky residents. … Kentucky Gambling Decision to be Released Thursday
The governor is not claiming to protect the citizens of the commonwealth from ‘the evils of gambling.’ Instead, he is trying to have them all to himself. That is because Gov. Steve Beshear is a big supporter of gambling in Kentucky, …
kentucky gambling decision to be released today
trujm
instead, he is trying to have them all to himself. that is because gov. steve beshear is a big supporter of gambling in kentucky, and he wants to keep the money. so why not use his and the kentucky courts’ power to take out the … Computer Glitch Defers Kentucky Gambling Domain Ruling
The future of 141 online gambling domains was left in the hands of Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate yesterday, but late in the day, the word came down from the judge’s office that the ruling would have to wait until Thursday, …
Kentucky judge rules against gambling domains
18, the Commonwealth presented evidence that computers located in Kentucky were, “through the use of domain names,” able to access gambling Web sites over the Internet offering online slot machines, roulette and poker. … Timeline Unclear for Wednesday Release of Kentucky Gambling Verdict
Dan Cypra
The verdict in the case that pits the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky against 141 internet gambling domain names is scheduled to be released on Wednesday. However, how and when the decision will be …
kentucky gambling verdict to be released today
EmmaMav
the kentucky gambling verdict is a ruling that will decide whether if several poker websites will be quarantined and not used in governor steve beshear’s state, kentucky, or if the websites will be permitted there. it has been anxiously … Ruling Expected Soon in Kentucky Gambling Domain Case
A decision is expected to be passed down shortly by Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate in the ongoing gambling domain name saga. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear wants 141 of the most popular online gambling domain names …
Kentucky Gambling Domain Decision Delayed
It looks like the judge in charge of the online gambling domain seizure case in Kentucky will render his decision late. More… Kentucky Circuit Court Dismisses Objections to Seizure of Gambling …
Fate89
Last month, the Commonwealth of Kentucky seized a number of gambling domain names because the â€oedomains were being used in connection with illegal gambling activity.†The names included widely popular online destinations such as …
Video: Are We Witnessing the Death of Online Gambling (Tension is continuing to build as Kentucky moves forward with its action against illegal gambling websites. As we have reported, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear ordered a seizure of 141 gambling domain names. A hearing took place last week in which many motions were filed. [WebProNews, 10/03/08])
Gambling advertising is the promotion of gambling by casinos, lotteries, bookmakers or other organisations that provide the opportunity to make bets. It is usually conducted through a variety of media or through sponsorship deals, particularly with sporting events or people.
Although not as highly regulated as tobacco advertising and alcohol advertising, in many countries there are strict laws about the way in which such services can be marketed.
Gaming operators often sponsor sporting events, sportspeople or television coverage. For example, Bet365 sponsor snooker players and the Channel 4 coverage of The 2005 Ashes was sponsored by Betfair, both being online betting sites.
Boxcars is the outcome of rolling the dice in a game of craps and getting a 6 on each die. The pair of 6 pips resembles a pair of box cars on a freight train. In modern parlance, it refers to such a roll in any game involving 6 sided dice which are marked with pips. The probability of this roll is 1 in 36, or about 2.8%. One of the 4 bets on any common craps table. It is on the ‘high side’ of the horn bet in which the player can either bet on the 2,3,11, or 12. When the player throws in money and calls out “midnight” or “Boxcars”, the dealer will usually ‘book’ the bet as a bet on the 12, so as to not create confusion.Also called Midnight.
Related terminology
In some role-playing games, especially ones where a roll of 3 six-sided dice is a standard action-resolution mechanism, a roll of three “six”s is often referred to as a freight train. In roll-low systems (such as GURPS), where a roll of 18 represents a critical failure, or in In Nomine, where a roll of 6 6 6 represents infernal influence on events, it is referred to as a “Freight Train from Hell.”
Video: Craps (Craps (previously known as crabs) is a casino dice game. Craps is a simplification of the Old English game hazard. The game involves predicting what numbers will be rolled on a pair of dice. The objective is to bet whether the Shooter will roll a winning combination. The Shooter is a person who throws the dice. The first roll of the dice in a craps round is called the “come out roll”. The opening bet in craps, which is placed just before the come out roll, is called the “pass line bet.” Pass line bets win if the shooter’s come out roll is 7 or 11, and lose when the come out roll is 2 (snake eyes), 3 (cross eyes), or 12 (box cars). If 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 are rolled on the come out roll then that number becomes “the point”. Once the point has been established a plastic disc (the puck) is placed on the table over the box for the number rolled as the point is “4, 5, six, 8, nine, or 10″. )
The World Poker Tour Walk of Fame is designed to honor those poker players who have played the game well at the highest levels as well as those who have promoted the spread of it through film, television, and literature. It was started in 2004.In February 2004, The World Poker Tour Walk of Fame inducted its first members at the Commerce Casino in a ceremony before top pros and celebrities in town for the World Poker Tour Invitational Poker Tournament. The induction ceremony was staged on the doorstep of Commerce Casino, the Los Angeles region’s most prestigious gaming establishment and full service entertainment/hotel complex. Poker room to the stars of Hollywood, Commerce Casino has a rich history of poker in Southern California dating back to 1983.
No new players have been inducted since 2004.
The inductees, along with the year they were inducted are as follows:
Point shaving, in organized sports, is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to prevent a team from covering a published point spread. Unlike other forms of match fixing, sports betting invariably motivates point shaving. A point shaving scheme generally involves a sports gambler and one or more players of a sports team. In exchange for a bribe, the player or players agree to ensure that their team will not cover the point spread. The gambler then wagers against that team.Point shaving occurs most frequently in amateur and collegiate sports, whose athletes are presumably more vulnerable to a gambler’s bribery than professionals. Professional-level players earn significant sums of money each year, whereas collegiate players are prevented by strict regulations from earning compensation for their play.
Basketball is a particularly easy medium for shaving points because of the scoring tempo of the game and the ease by which one player can influence key events. By deliberately missing shots or committing well-timed turnovers or fouls, a corrupt player can covertly ensure that his team fails to cover the point spread, without causing them to lose the game (or to lose so badly that suspicions are aroused). Although the NCAA has adopted a zero tolerance policy with respect to gambling activity by its players, some critics believe it unwittingly encourages point shaving due to its strict rules regarding amateurism, combined with the large amount of money wagered on its games.
Point shaving perpetrators
Henry Hill
Benny Silman
Stevin Smith
Richie Perry
Matthew Wood
References in popular culture
The 1974 movie The Longest Yard features a main character, Paul Crewe, who is thrown out of the NFL for point shaving. There was also a remake of The Longest Yard in 2005 staring Adam Sandler.
In an episode of The Sopranos, “The Rat Pack”, it is mentioned that New York mob boss Carmine Lupertazzi invented point shaving.
Cheating in casinos refers to actions which are prohibited by a casino’s rules. Cheating is usually illegal but the exact sanctions will depend on the jurisdiction in which the casino operates. In Nevada, cheating in a casino is a felony under Nevada law. In most other jurisdictions, specific statutes do not exist but cheating in a casino would likely be considered fraud and dealt with as such by the authorities.
Methods of cheating
The methods for cheating in a casino are often specific to individual games and include:
Pastposting
After a bet is won, one replaces smaller denomination chips with chips of large denomination.
Hand Mucking
Palming desirable cards then switching them for less desirable cards that the gambler holds.
Marking Cards During Play
Various methods.
Introducing Previously Marked Decks Into Play
Usually involves “inside” help, i.e., the collusion of casino employees. There are many different way to mark decks of cards, some of them very difficult to detect.
False Deals
Ability to deal the second card from the top (used in conjunction with marked cards), or the ability to deal the bottom card of the deck (used in conjunction with placing desirable cards at the bottom of the deck.)
False Shuffles and Cuts
Ability to seemingly mix and cut the cards while retaining certain cards or the whole deck in a desired order.
Slot Machines
Methods exist for altering the outcome of slot machine games.
Collusion
In poker games, the practice of two partners signalling to each other the values of their cards; this can be very difficult to detect.
How casinos combat cheating
Proper Procedure
This means certain standardized ways of shuffling cards, dealing cards, storing, retrieving and opening new decks of cards.
Eyes in the Sky
Most casinos have an extensive array of cameras and recorders which monitor and record all the action in a casino. Some casinos use facial recognition software to detect known cheats or card counters/advantage players as they enter the casino.
Software
Casinos use software to analyze game play to uncover any unusual betting patterns or winning patterns and thus discern cheaters (as well as non-cheating card counters and “advantage players”).
Video: Casino cheat Richard Marcus (World’s biggest casino baccarat scam demonstrated on national TV by the world’s most famous casino cheater, Richard Marcus.)
A quiz machine is a type of slot machine in which the player must answer questions in addition to, or instead of, matching symbols. See also itbox. They are common in UK pubs, where they are often based on board games or game shows. In the UK these are “technically” termed “Skill with prizes” (SWP) as opposed to normal slot machines which are termed “Amusement with prizes” (AWP).In the UK the history of the quiz machine can be divided into three phases. In the first phase (1980s to 1995) the machines were dedicated to a single game, often based on a TV show, with the maximum prize being £5 for a 50p stake.
Between 1995 and 1999 the number of formats expanded greatly and most public houses hosted a unit.
From 1999 to the present day the trend has been to develop the ‘multi-quiz machine’, a single unit in which a wide range of games is available. Many machines now offer in excess of thirty games and the earlier six-game multi-quizzes have become obsolete.
A source of great frustration for quiz machine players is the programming of anti-payout scripts within the machine code. Thus in the Cluedo game, for example, the machine will ensure that the player never throws the requisite number on the automated (fixed) die. This legally dubious practice has proliferated to counter the success of professional quiz machine players who are adept at learning the majority of questions in the bank. Nonetheless, good players can gain a slight advantage over the machine using this method until a new question module is installed.
Well received quiz games such as ‘Big Break’, ‘Guinness Book of Records’ and ‘London Underground’, have been taken out of circulation in favour of other games like ‘Matrix’, ‘Eyes Down’, ‘Goldenballs’, and ‘Total Film Quiz’.
There is currently a trend towards the hosting of non-quiz games alongside traditional quiz favourites. Such games include Word Up, Sum Up, Bookworm and Spot The Difference.
Legends abound regarding the invention of Russian roulette. Most of these, predictably, take place in Russia, or occur among Russian soldiers.
In one legend, 19th century Russian prisoners were forced to play the game while the prison guards bet on the outcome. In another version, desperate and suicidal officers in the Russian army played the game to impress each other.
The earliest known use of the term is from “Russian Roulette”, a short story by Georges Surdez in the January 30, 1937, issue of Collier’s Magazine. A Russian sergeant in the French Foreign Legion asks the narrator, “Feldheim… did you ever hear of Russian Roulette?” When I said I had not, he told me all about it. When he was with the Russian army in Rumania, around 1917, and things were cracking up, so that their officers felt that they were not only losing prestige, money, family, and country, but were being also dishonored before their colleagues of the Allied armies, some officer would suddenly pull out his revolver, anywhere, at the table, in a cafe, at a gathering of friends, remove a cartridge from the cylinder, spin the cylinder, snap it back in place, put it to his head, and pull the trigger. There were five chances to one that the hammer would set off a live cartridge and blow his brains all over the place. Sometimes it happened, sometimes not.
Whether Czarist officers actually played Russian roulette is unclear. In a text on the Czarist officer corps, John Bushnell, a Russian history expert at Northwestern University, cited two near-contemporary memoirs by Russian army veterans, The Duel (1905) by Aleksandr Kuprin and From Double Eagle to Red Flag (1921) by Petr Krasnov. Both books tell of officers’ suicidal and outrageous behaviour, but Russian roulette is not mentioned in either text. If the game did originate in real life behavior and not fiction it is unlikely that it started with the Russian military. The standard sidearm issued to Russian officers from 1895 to 1930 was the Nagant M1895 revolver. A primitive double-action revolver, the Nagant’s cylinder spins freely until the hammer is cocked. While the cylinder does not swing out as in modern hand-ejector style double action revolvers, it can be spun around to randomize the result. However, it holds seven cartridges not six, which throws some doubt on the accuracy of the reference in Collier’s.
The only reference to anything like Russian roulette in Russian literature is in a book entitled A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov (1840, translated by Vladimir Nabokov in 1958), where a similar act is performed by a Serbian soldier: the dare however is not named as “Russian roulette”. Russian officers did play a game called “cuckoo” with a Nagant revolver, in which one officer would stand on a table or a chair in a dark room. Others would hide and yell “cuckoo” and the man with the gun would fire at the sound.
In the 1978 movie The Deer Hunter, the game is also depicted as being played in Vietnam. According to one website claiming to offer insight into the practice of Russian roulette, Valerie Douglas, whose father’s cousin and father were in the Vietnam War states that Russian roulette occurred both for gambling and murder. [1] Several teen deaths following the movie’s release caused police and the media to blame the film’s depiction of Russian roulette, saying that it inspired the youths. There is also an interesting Russian roulette scene in the Japanese film Sonatine, directed by Takeshi Kitano.
A semi-automatic pistol, unlike a revolver, will automatically load and fire a round if it has any rounds, Or may contain a round in the chamber even when the Magazine is removed. There has been at least one Darwin Award resulting from an attempt to play Russian roulette with such a pistol. This variation is sometimes referred to as “Polish roulette,”—a bigoted play on the stereotype of Polish people being of low intelligence—though its actual origins are disputed.
“Russian Poker” is a variation of Russian Roulette – the difference being that in Russian Poker, one’s opponent places the gun up to the other person and pulls the trigger.
A lottery machine is the machine used to draw the winning numbers for a lottery.Early lotteries were done by drawing numbers, or winning tickets, from a container.
In the UK, numbers of winning Premium Bonds (which were not strictly a lottery, but very similar in approach) were generated by an electronic machine called ERNIE.
A popular type of modern lottery machine has a rotating drum with contrarotating arms inside. A number of balls, each with a possible winning number on, are dropped into the drum while it is spinning. A mechanism then extracts a pre-determined number of balls to be the winning numbers, one at a time. Machines of this type are used in Lotto type games, such as ‘Lotto 6-49′, Lotto 6/48 or other formulas. See the UK National Lottery.
Because of the massive payoff for a successful cheat, lottery machines are subject to strict security measures. In some cases there are several machines and several sets of balls, and the combination to be used is selected at random just before the draw.
Bunco (also Bunko and Bonko) is a parlor game played in teams with three dice. A winning throw in Bunco is to throw three of a kind of a specified number.Although most popular soon after its inception in the late 1800s, Bunco has seen a resurgence in recent years. Currently, it is played at parties and other social gatherings.
Link
World Bunco Association, Bunco is a registered trademark owned by and used in commerce by the World Bunco Association… www.worldbunco.comwww.ebunco.com
Video: Ladies Night Out – Bunco!! – The Daily Buzz
Housie is a gambling game played in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, where it is called Bingo. Players mark off numbers on a ticket as they are randomly called out, in order to achieve a winning combination.It is not to be confused with the similar American game Bingo, as the tickets and the calling are slightly different.
Business Aspect
In New Zealand and Australia, housie is often used a fundraiser by churches, sports teams, and other groups, and raffles are sold before the game.
Bingo, as housie is known as in the UK (not to be confused with the similar US game Bingo), is an expanding and highly profitable business, with many companies competing for the customers’ money.
The two largest companies with bingo halls in the UK are:
Gala Bingo (Gala Group Ltd.)
Mecca Bingo Ltd. (part of The Rank Group plc)
As well as offering the familiar Housie/Bingo played by marking numbered books, most large clubs have their tables modified for the playing of Cash Housie or Mechanised Cash Bingo (using coin slots or, increasingly in the 21st century, an electronic credit system). This is highly profitable for the operator, with a typical “take” of fifty percent of the stake.
Usage of Bingo nicknames in the UK
Since the introduction of the electronic Random Number Generator (RNG) in Bingo Halls in the UK, the usage of the nicknames above in mainstream Bingo has dramatically decreased. Bingo with an electronic RNG is much less time consuming and it has been discovered that replacing the nicknames with a simple repetition (in the pattern “All the fives, fifty five” or “Two and four, twenty four”), has allowed bingo halls to focus on the more lucrative business of Mechanised Cash Bingo (MCB), known in Gala Bingo Clubs as Party Bingo, and Mecca Bingo Clubs as Cashline.
It is perhaps nostalgic to note that the usage of these nicknames tends to be greater where the focus of playing bingo is upon fun rather than big business; this includes British holiday resort chains such as Haven, British Holidays and Pontins, and also church halls, social clubs etc.
Trivia
An average British game of bingo takes between four and four and a half minutes.
The average speed of a British bingo caller is 23 numbers per minute.
The average time to check a winning claim is 30 seconds.
There is a UK Caller of the Year Competition in which bingo callers compete for a cash prize and the chance to call the numbers in Las Vegas, as well as to become the bingo ‘ambassador’ for Britain.
The bingo industry employs over 20,000 people from callers, and change givers to cleaners and accountants.
There are 699 licensed and operating bingo clubs in Great Britain.
For the year 2000 the total estimated market was around 89 million admissions.
Over 3 million people regularly play bingo in licensed clubs.
Players are often members of more than one club.
Players often arrive 2 hours before the game starts, to enjoy a meal or chat with friends.
More than two in three people go to bingo for social, rather than financial reasons.
Many celebrities like to play bingo, including Denise van Outen, Elle MacPherson, Damon Hill, Mariah Carey, Bianca and Jade Jagger.
In 2004 more people attended bingo than football matches in both UK leagues.
The current Bingo Caller of The Year is Karl Seth, aged 33, from the Buckingham Bingo Club in Old Trafford, Manchester.
All bingo halls in the UK participating in the National Bingo Game must adhere to the somewhat more strict rules on calling numbers because of the overwhelmingly large prize money (sometimes up to GBP £500 thousand). This includes a double repetition of every single number, in the format, “Fifty five, both the fives, fifty five”.
Gamblers Anonymous is an international organization of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other to solve their common problem and help others to recover from a gambling problem.The only requirement for GA membership is a desire to stop gambling.
The GA group is based on the Alcoholics Anonymous model which brings together people with similar addictive behaviors and uses as its structure the practice of the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions.
Successful recovery from compulsive gambling in this context seems to depend on the following variables:
1. The degree of hopelessness that the member feels when he arrives. Open-mindedness to the GA program of recovery is often proportional to the desperation being experienced by the new member. If a person has already explored other methods of controlling or stopping his gambling and has been unsuccessful, he is more apt to listen to the GA method.
2. A willingness to be honest with other members about their gambling. The compulsive gambler tends to minimize the damage that their gambling has caused. This is a strategy that all gamblers use in order to live with their problem, as often the real implications of what they are doing are too horrible to contemplate. But if a member can be honest about the pain that their gambling is actually creating, their motivation will be increased to find a solution. Such honesty is possible if the member senses that GA is really offering a way out.
3. Identification with other members. In the GA context, members tell their stories about their gambling and what they have done in order to stop gambling. After awhile, it is possible to see the similarity beneath all the stories, as far as the progressiveness of the dis-ease goes and the futility of other methods used to stop gambling. What emerges from such a reading of those stories is an awareness in the new member that what he has been suffering from is actually a definable condition with a definable solution. The new member can then draw the conclusion that if those members have overcome their gambling problem, perhaps I can too. Hope for oneself is felt and this energy can be used to pursue the solution. Conversely, those members who are still at the point where they are trying to devise personal solutions to outwit their gambling or are looking for hints as to how to gamble “normally,” will hear the stories in such a way so as to justify their own continued gambling, i.e., “At least I’m not as bad as that guy.”
4. Accepting that the solution has a spiritual componet and a willingness to explore the solution in that context. In the broadest of terms, compulsive gambling can be thought of as a “power.” The gambler often finds himself acting against his best intentions and is puzzled by his seemingly powerlessness to just not gamble. The compulsion to do so is experienced as a powerful urge and seems to have a life of its own within the gamblers mind. The gambler uses his willpower to try and control the power of his compulsive gambling but is ultimately always unsuccessful. The GA program acknowledges this power and admits that it cannot be controlled by the individual. What can be done is for the gambler to acquire a stronger, competing power in order to supercede the power of gambling. This is the ultimate goal of the Twelve Steps. GA is not offering the traditional religious solution that one might associate with such a discussion but, rather, asks that the individual formulate a personal spirituality that might or might not include traditional religious componets. With all successful GA members, on some level, they have found a source of strength beyond their own unaided wills that has enabled them to stop gambling.
The Poker Hall of Fame is a group of poker players who have played poker well against top competition for high stakes over a long period of time. Originally established by the Horseshoe Casino, membership is now awarded by Harrah’s World Series of Poker.Members of the Poker Hall of Fame include (with year of induction):
Johnny Moss, 1979
“Nick the Greek” Dandolos, 1979
Felton “Corky” McCorquodale, 1979
Red Winn, 1979
Sid Wyman, 1979
“Wild Bill” Hickok, 1979
Edmond Hoyle, 1979
T. “Blondie” Forbes, 1980
Bill Boyd, 1981
Tom Abdo, 1982
Joe Bernstein, 1983
Murph Harrold, 1984
Red Hodges, 1985
Henry Green, 1986
Walter Clyde “Puggy” Pearson, 1987
Doyle Brunson, 1988
Jack “Treetop” Straus, 1988
Fred “Sarge” Ferris, 1989
Benny Binion, 1990
“Chip” Reese, 1991
“Amarillo Slim” Preston, 1992
Jack Keller, 1993
Little Man Popwell, 1996
Roger Moore, 1997
Stu Ungar, 2001
Lyle Berman, 2002
Johnny Chan, 2002
Bobby Baldwin, 2003
Berry Johnston, 2004
Jack Binion, 2005
Crandell Addington, 2005
T. J. Cloutier, 2006
Billy Baxter, 2006
Barbara Enright, 2007
Phil Hellmuth, 2007
An Asian Handicap is a sports betting term used to describe spread betting in football (soccer). Described as Asian because of its Eastern origins, the phrase has little else to do with the region. This form of soccer betting has gained increased popularity over the last few years and is now offered by a variety of mainstream bookmakers.Football bets can be made using a few different formats. From a gambler’s standpoint, Asian handicap odds provide many benefits. For starters, the Asian handicap system eliminates any chance for loss due to a tie, which increases the gamblers chances of success. Secondly, bookmakers typically charge less Vigorish than with other bets.
Description
Soccer is one of the few sports in the world where a tie is a fairly common outcome. With traditional fixed odds, ties are treated as an additional outcome to the game. In other words, bettors lose when they place a wager on either team to win and the game ties. With Asian Handicaps, however, the chance for a tie is eliminated by use of a handicap that forces a winner. This creates a situation where each team has a 50-50 chance of winning; similar to the odds for a basketball or baseball game where a tie is impossible.
This system works in a straight-forward manner. The bookmakers’s goal is to create a handicap or “line” that will make the chance of either team winning (considering the handicap) as close to 50% as possible. Since the odds are as close to 50% as possible, bookmakers offer payouts close to even money, or 1.90 to 2.00. Asian Handicaps start at a quarter goal and can go as high as 2.5 or 3 goals in matches with a huge disparity in ability. What makes Asian Handicaps most interesting is the use of quarter goals to get the “line” as close as possible. Taken in conjunction with the posted total for the game, the handicap essentially predicts the game’s final score. Take a look at this example:
Example
Match: Everton vs. Newcastle United
Handicap: 0 : 1 1/2
Explained: This handicap states that Everton is “giving” Newcastle one and one half goal for the match.
This means is that Newcastle is starting the game with a 1.5-0 lead. If the final score of the game is 2-1, then a bet on Newcastle wins the with the final score (considering handicap) as 2-2.5.
Quarter Handicaps
Subsequently, many matches are handicapped in 1/2 and 1/4 intervals; both of which eliminate the possibility of a tie since no one can score a half-goal. Quarter (1/4) handicaps split the bet between the two next closest 1/4 intervals. For instance, a $1000 bet with a handicap of 1 3/4 is the same as betting $500 at 1 1/2 and $500 at 2. With 1/4 handicap bets, you can win and tie (win 1/2 of wager) or lose and tie (lose 1/2 wager).
Whole Handicaps and Ties
Handicaps that are whole numbers still allow for the possibility of a tie. Sportsbooks will refund both bets in the event of a game tied by the handicap.
Reference & Payout Charts
Asian Handicap Betting Article from DragonBets.com
Casino tokens are small colored metal or plastic discs used in gambling establishments.
There are two main types of tokens used in casinos: multicolor tokens of various denominations called chips, used primarily in table games; and metal token coins, used primarily in slot machines. Some casinos also use gaming plaques for high stakes table games ($25,000 and above). Plaques differ from chips in that they are larger, usually rectangular in shape and contain serial numbers.
Money is exchanged for the token coins or chips in a casino at a cashier station (the cage), at the gaming tables, or at a slot machine. The tokens are interchangeable with money at the casino, but have no value outside of the establishment.
These tokens are employed for several reasons. They are more convenient to use than currency, and also make theft and counterfeiting more difficult. Because of the uniform size and regularity of stacks of chips, they are easier to count compared to paper currency when used on a table. This attribute also enables the pit boss or security to quickly verify the amount being paid, reducing the chance that a dealer might be overpaying a customer.
Furthermore, it is observed that consumers gamble more freely with replacement currencies than with cash.
Finally, the chips are considered to be an integral part of the casino environment, and replacing them with some alternate currency would be unpopular. However, many casinos are moving to paper receipts.
Casino tokens are collected as a part of numismatics, more specifically as specialized exonumia collecting.
A set of injection molded ABS poker chips “hot-stamped” with denominations 100, 50, 25 & 10
Chip Denominations
Chips of the same denomination from different casinos tend to have similar colors. This increases familiarity with denominations.
The most common color scheme used in US casinos:
$1.00: White (uncommon: blue, grey)
$2.50: Pink
$5.00: Red
$25.00: Green
$100.00: Black
$500.00: Purple
$1000.00: Orange (often oversized)
Official Chip Colors
Denomination
Color
Exceptions
$1
White
Unusual in Nevada; may be blue or gray or white.
$2.50
Pink
Blue (MO); North Dakota prescribes pink for $2 chips
$5
Red
$25
Green
$100
Black
$500
Purple
$1,000
Orange
Oversized; usually yellow in Nevada
A standard 300 piece set of ABS plastic chips
History
After the increase in the value of silver stopped the circulation of silver dollar coins around 1964, casinos rushed to find a substitute, as most slot machines at that time used that particular coin. The Nevada Gaming Control Board consulted with the US Treasury, and casinos were soon allowed to start using their own tokens to operate their slot machines. The Franklin Mint was the main minter of tokens at that time.
In many jurisdictions, casinos are not permitted to use currency in slot machines, necessitating tokens for smaller denominations.
Tokens are being phased out of many casinos in favor of coinless machines which accept banknotes and print receipts for payout. (These receipts can also be inserted into the machines.)
Future
In certain casinos, such as the new Wynn Casino in Las Vegas, chips are embedded with RFID tags to help casinos keep better track of them, determine gamblers’ average bet sizes, and to make them harder for counterfeiters to reproduce. However, this technique is costly and considered by many to be unnecessary. Also, this technology provides minimal benefits in games with layouts that do not provide gamblers with their own designated betting areas, such as craps.
In Baccarat Chemin de Fer, it will have been noticed that a given bank only continues so long as the banker wins. So soon as he loses, it passes to another player. In Baccarat Banque the position of banker is much more permanent. Three packs of cards are shuffled together. (The number is not absolute, sometimes four packs, sometimes two only, being used; but three is the more usual number.) The banker (unless he retires either of his own free will or by reason of the exhaustion of his finances) holds office until all these cards have been dealt.
The bank is at the outset put up to auction, i.e. belongs to the player who will undertake to risk the largest amount. In some circles, the person who has first set down his name on the list of players has the right to hold the first bank, risking such amount as he may think proper.
The right to begin having been ascertained, the banker takes his place midway down one of the sides of an oval table, the croupier facing him, with the waste-basket between. On either side the banker are the punters (ten such constituting a full table). Any other persons desiring to take part remain standing, and can only play in the event of the amount in the bank for the time being not being covered by the seated players.
The croupier, having shuffled the cards, hands them for the same purpose to the players to the right and left of him, the banker being entitled to shuffle them last, and to select the person by whom they shall be cut. Each punter having made his stake, the banker deals three cards, the first to the player on his right, the second to the player on his left, and the third to himself; then three more in like manner. The five punters on the right (and any bystanders staking with them) win or lose by the cards dealt to that side; the five others by the cards dealt to the left side. The rules as to turning up with eight or nine, offering and accepting cards, and so on, are the same as at Baccarat Chemin de Fer.
Each punter continues to hold the cards for his side so long as he wins. If he loses, the next hand is dealt to the player next following him in rotation.
Any player may “go bank,” the first claim to do so belonging to the punter immediately on the right of the banker; the next to the player on his left, and so on alternatively in regular order. If two players on opposite sides desire to “go bank,” they go half shares.
A player going bank may either do so on a single hand, in the ordinary course, or a cheval, i.e. on two hands separately, one-half of the stake being played upon each hand. A player going bank and losing may, again go bank; and if he again loses, may go bank a third time, but not further.
A player undertaking to hold the bank must play out one hand, but may retire at anytime afterwards. On retiring, he is bound to state the amount with which he retires. It is then open to any other player (in order of rotation) to continue the bank, starting with the same amount, and dealing from the remainder of the pack, used by his predecessor. The outgoing banker takes the place previously occupied by his successor.
The breaking of the bank does not deprive the banker of the right to continue, provided that he has funds with which to replenish it, up to the agreed minimum.
Should the stakes of the punters exceed the amount for, the time being in the bank, the banker is not responsible for the amount of such excess. In the event of his losing, the croupier pays the punters in order of rotation, so far as the funds in the bank will extend; beyond this, they have no claim. The banker, may, however, in such a case, instead of resting on his right, declare the stakes accepted, forthwith putting up the needful funds to meet them. In such event the bank thenceforth becomes unlimited, and the banker must hold all stakes (to whatever amount) offered on any subsequent hand, or give up the bank.
The laws of baccarat are complicated and no one code is accepted as authoritative, the different clubs making their own rules.
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Kentucky Seizes Gambling Domains MHB The seizure was taken after the Commonwealth found that the “domains were being used in connection with illegal gambling activity”. The domains seized include:. fulltiltpoker.com. indiancasino.com. bet21.com. allslots.com. bodoglife.com … Kentucks Seizes 141 Gambling Domain Names Chad Kettner There were a number of popular gambling sites listed for seizure including PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, BodogLife.com, GoldenPalace.com, Bet21.com, DoylesRoom.com and also Rick Schwartz’ IndianCasino.com. …
KY governor after online gambling domains maconlinepoker To be very frank and honest, this is not a good news at all for online gambling industry. US Kentucky state governor, Steve Beshear is trying all his efforts to crack down online gambling industry and in oder to boost offline local … NBA Ref Starts Prison Term for Gambling The NBA referee who admitted gambling on basketball begins his 15-month federal prison sentence today, reports USA Today . The conviction of referee Tim Donaghy, 41, has rocked the NBA, even though officials determined he didn’t bet on …
Bingo Betting gamblingguide online gambling has typically been a mans world (sorry for the huge generalisation but this is a blog after all). Perhaps the influx of Bingo sites will even that up slightly. Certainly Bingo seems to be a more social than playing a … Judge Tosses Gambling Attorney’s $20 Million Lawsuit Against Casinos Law.com – Newswire A federal judge has dismissed a $20 million racketeering lawsuit against seven casinos by a former New York City attorney who said they had a duty to stop her from gambling. The judge wrote that Arelia Margarita Taveras failed to …
Responsible Gaming – Psychology of a Gambler To be honest, gambling gets a bad rap, especially when you consider that it’s one of the prime driving forces of humanity. Nobody has ever gotten rich by playing it safe, and if you have a stock portfolio, you’ve bet your money that … Seniors Doubt Study’s Finding of Gambling Problems Wholesale Bingo Supplies Blog – Bingo Bob But a new gambling study published in the journal Psychology and Aging suggests not all senior citizens have Fava’s self-control. It concludes the elderly are more likely to develop gambling problems than younger people. …
Video: NFL Football Best Bet of the Week with Odds from Gamblers Television
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One dollar chips from various Las Vegas casinos.
A set of injection molded ABS poker chips “hot-stamped” with denominations 100, 50, 25 & 10
A standard 300 piece set of ABS plastic chips
