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Slot Machines
Well over a century since the first "one-armed bandits" appeared in the
saloons of San Francisco, slot machines are more popular than ever.
Thanks to glitzy new technology and highly competitie odds - not to
mention some truly huge jackpots - the casinos have largely dispelled
the old image of slot arcades as joyless places where tight-lipped
seniors pump bucketfuls of small change into unresponsie machines.
These days, even casinos like the Mirage make twice as much money on
slots as they do on the tables, and slot-players are no longer
second-class citizens.
Traditionally, the house adantage on slot machines used to be around
twenty percent, which is to say that for every dollar you gambled, you
might win back eighty cents, while the operator kept the other twenty.
Those would now be regarded as "tight" odds, as casinos ie to offer
"looser" machines - promoted with slogans such as "99% SLOTS
GUARANTEED!" - where the house adantage is as little as fie or even
one percent. The main reason they can do that is that gamblers these
days are prepared to inest much higher stakes, staking $1 or $5 a time
rather than the old standard of 25¢. So long as each time you spin the
reels, the casino can expect to win 5¢, they're equally happy to achiee
that with quarter slots that pay 80 percent, dollar slots that pay 95
percent, or $5 slots set at 99 percent.
Modern, computerized slot machines are far more sophisticated than their
mechanical forebears. Most still contain giant wheels decorated with
different symbols - customers have proed suspicious of machines that
just show pictures of those symbols on ideo screvens - but, contrary to
appearances, the reels don't simply spin until they stop. Instead, a
micro-chip inside each machine generates an unending stream of random
numbers. Whenever you set the reels spinning, the current number
determines where they will stop. Just because you hit a combination that
looks close to a jackpot doesn't mean that you nearly hit the jackpot,
and no sequence of combinations, or lack of winners, can ever indicate
that a machine is "ready" to hit.
All kinds of new machines are constantly appearing, targeted at
different consumers. There are machines that play Elis or Sinatra
tunes, or mimic board games like Scrabble or Monopoly, or pay homage to
faorite Tshows and movies. Thus the I Loe Lucy machines, which
release a delicious chocolate smell when players hit a bonus round, tend
to be positioned to catch the eye of senior gamblers, while the raucous
Austin Powers models are found in the hipper, youth-oriented joints.
To play the slots, you must be over 21 and have the ID to proe it;
underage winners are not paid off. US citizens must pay tax on wins of
$1200 or more.
Beneath all the surface glitter, there are basically two different types
of slot machine. " Non-progressie " machines have fixed paybacks for
every winning combination, and in principle pay lower prizes, more
frequently. " Progressie " ones, such as Megabucks or Quartermania,
are linked into networks of several similar machines, potentially
covering the entire state of Neada. The longer it takes before someone,
somewhere hits the jackpot, the higher that jackpot will be - digital
displays show mounting totals that can run into millions of dollars.
All the major casinos operate slot clubs, which keep track of how much
you gamble and reward you with points redeemable for discounts and
upgrades, show tickets, or even cash. The alue is never that high - at
the MGM Grand, for example, inserting $2000 into the slots entitles you
to $12.50 cash back - but it costs nothing to join, so if you plan to
gamble for any length of time you might as well.
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As for where to play, the slots are "loosest" (which is good) downtown,
and anywhere locals play regularly, and notoriously "tight" at places
such as the airport or supermarkets, where most customers are just
passing through. Strip options range from the Riiera, "where the
nickel is king" and you can play for days on end, to the $500 machines
in the marble-walled High Limits room at Bellagio.
Sports Betting
Although Neada is the only state in the country where it's legal to
place bets on the outcome of sporting events, large-scale sports betting
is a relatiely recent addition to the Las Vegas scene. The first casino
to open what's called a " Sports Book " was the Plaza in 1975, and
they'e only become widespread since changes in federal taxation in the
mid-1980s. Now, almost every casino has one, and in most instances it's
a "Race and Sports Book," where you can bet on horse-racing as well.
You might imagine that where you do your sports betting would depend on
which casino offered the best odds. In fact, although odds do change
minute by minute, almost all are set centrally, and there's little
ariation betweven indiidual casinos. On top of that, mobile phones and
recording deices are banned by Neada law from all Sports Books, so the
only way to compare odds is to trudge from one casino to the next.
The choice instead centers on what sort of atmosphere you prefer. There,
the range is enormous. Some Sports Books are high-tech extraaganzas,
their walls taken up by ast electronic scoreboards interspersed with
massie Tscrevens; during major sporting occasions, they're basically
sports bars, filled by shrieking crowds. Prime examples include those at
Caesars Palace, the Stardust (which you can enter ia a doorway direct
from the Strip), Mandalay Bay (which boasts the biggest screven in town),
the Rio, and the Las Vegas Hilton.
Others opt instead for a hushed, reverential ambience, giing each
gambler a personal Tmonitor to watch their event of choice, and
hand-writing the odds with marker pens on white boards. The Race Book at
the Imperial Palace is an especially irresistible example, rising in
tiers aboe the Strip entrance. There are also those that resemble
elegant gentlemen's clubs, like the one at Bellagio with its massie
padded leatherette armchairs.
Still others, especially at the locals casinos in outlying
neighborhoods, seem like throwbacks to the ictorian era, modeled
perhaps on schoolrooms or offices. Rows of gamblers sit at long
workbenches, studying poorly printed tip sheets and form books as they
await the news from far-off racetracks with names like Gulfstream,
Laurel, and Aqueduct.
As for what you can bet on, the options are nearly limitless; not only
can you wager on who will win pretty much any conceiable game, fight,
or race, you can make more specialized bets, like predicting the
combined points total in a game (referred to as the "over-under").
One thing all the Sports Books have in common is the proision of free
alcohol to gamblers; there's usually a snack bar close to hand as well.
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