this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2023
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I have never been to a casino. Is that how it works? Seems a lot like a scam if you're not allowed to use skill in a skill game.
I mean... Casinos are all a big scam to begin with lol
I mean, gambling in a casino is always going to be a bad bet but is it a scam if the odds are public knowledge to all involved and participation is 100% voluntary? I know I'm getting into thorny territory calling something addictive "voluntary" but let's kick that can down the road and assume that gambling is nothing more than taking a bad deal voluntarily. Is that a scam?
The reason they're profitable is because all games have a negative average EV (expected value) for the player. Card counting allows you to play in a manner that is +EV, so it has to be banned.
The relevant law is "The house always wins."
Yes. And yes.
They mostly don't care unless you're at the high roller table. And even then, unless you're using a device to cheat, the most they can do is pay out your chips and escort you outside. It's not a crime to count cards, but it's still their table.
I saw a video on this recently. I think it was Wendover.
Though card counting is still possible many casinos have made it very difficult. Most methods require the counter knowing what is left in the deck.
Two methods are just using 3-5 decks and reshuffling the deck after eatch hand. This apprently stops all but the most insanely talented card counters. Some go further using a machine to shuffle the deck in a way players can't see.
Though it also mentions some players think this cheating for the house so it might not be done at every casino
Yes, but here's the thing...some casinos have now started to advertise single-deck blackjack. To me, as soon as fewer decks have become an incentive to entice people to your particular casino, they should have no right to kick you out over card counting at those tables. But that's just me and my silly basic morals.
That sounds more like you are no longer playing blackjack, but rather a cat and mouse game of trying to count without getting caught counting.
In which case, they need to throw you out, because thats what happens when the cat catches the mouse.
To me, sounds like: "You're allowed to play this game where odds are we will we take your money but you're not allowed to pay attention."
Its not meant to be a skill game. You can make it one, but it's intended to be a game with fixed odds that favor the house.
With that being said, in places where they're legal casinos tend to have really broad leeway over who they're allowed to kick out and why.
These days, casinos are trying to eliminate "skill" from blackjack entirely. You'll have six decks, and as soon as a hand is done, everything gets shuffled back together. That makes counting cards practically impossible, even with perfect playing. Counting cards mostly works when you're playing with a single deck, and it doesn't get shuffled immediately after each hand.
If there's no skill involved, why play blackjack? If you want randomness you should just go buy lottery tickets. They're both biased against you, but at least when you fail to win the lottery you'll know some of your losses went towards education.
If you play without any strategy, you lose a lot of money very quickly. If you play with perfect strategy, you lose money very slowly. With perfect strategy, you can win enough in blackjack to get hooked on gambling, whereas there's less of the intermittent reward involved in lottery tickets.