Category Archives: Gambling

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Atlantic City heads into 2020 with some optimism , buoyed by an expanded casino market with more jobs and more revenue.

But there is also some concern over whether all nine casinos will make it to the finish line of 2020, and whether nearby states will eat into Atlantic City's main strengths right now: online gambling and sports betting.

2019 was the first full year that all nine casinos have been operating. Hard Rock, the former Trump Taj Mahal and the Ocean Casino Resort, the former Revel, both opened in June 2018. Largely because of the two additional casinos, Atlantic City's in-person casino winnings at brick-and-mortar casinos were up 7.7% from January through November, to $2.4 billion. Adding internet gambling and sports betting money, the total rises to over $3 billion over that same period.

But the presence of the two new casinos was also a major factor in declining gross operating profits for the Atlantic City casino industry as a whole, down 4.5% to $484 million over the first nine months of the year compared to the same period a year ago.

How the city navigates the changing tides of the industry will determine the kind of year 2020 will be.

I think we will see the city continue to adjust to the new gambling landscape, said David Schwartz, a gambling historian with the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Sports betting and online betting will continue to grow in importance. Anything that gives people a reason to visit Atlantic City in person when there are plenty of places to gamble closer to home including home will be key.

The flip side of the concern about the effect the two new casinos are having on profits is the uptick in employment they brought. Nearly 6,700 people work at Hard Rock and Ocean, jobs that did not exist just a year and a half ago.

The new jobs come amid an already booming sports betting industry in New Jersey. Atlantic City's casinos and two racetracks elsewhere in the state have made more than $111 million in sports betting revenue so far this year, compared with $40.8 million a year ago and nothing the year before that. Since the first bets were taken in June 2018, gamblers have plunked down more than $5.2 billion on sports bets in New Jersey.

And internet gambling revenue continues to increase as well, with $433 million taken in online by the casinos from January through November this year. That's 60% better than the same period last year.

But amid the optimism lies some concern. Money from internet gambling and sports betting has to be shared among several parties including vendors and technology partners, and is not pure profit for the casinos. The gambling halls clearly want to bring more people through their doors.

Hard Rock President Joe Lupo and Tilman Fertitta, the billionaire Texas owner of the Golden Nugget, both predicted Atlantic City will not be able to support nine casinos indefinitely.

This is a seven-casino market, Fertitta said in September, while on a book tour in Atlantic City. Nobody has the cash flow now that they had when it was a seven-casino market.

Having sustained losses so deep that its former owner was forced to hand the business over to its main lender earlier this year, Ocean worked hard to improve its finances and grow its clientele during the busy summer months. Company officials insist it will still be going strong when the ball drops on New Year's Eve 2020.

CEO Terry Glebocki calls Ocean the fastest growing casino in Atlantic City and said it is "better positioned today than ever before.

Steve Callender, a top Tropicana executive and president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, believes all nine casinos are strong enough to survive.

The new ones are growing their business and expanding their customer bases, he said. The pie hasn't been getting much bigger, and we're all competing with each other in a very aggressive market, but people know how to take care of themselves.

Further complicating matters is the pending acquisition of Caesars Entertainment, which owns three Atlantic City casinos (Harrah's, Caesars and Bally's), by Eldorado Resorts, which owns a fourth (Tropicana). It's possible that federal or state regulators may want the new company to divest one or more of its Atlantic City properties, or the company could choose to do so voluntarily.

But it's not a given that Eldorado will pare its Atlantic City holdings: Until 2014, Caesars Entertainment had owned and operated four Atlantic City casinos without causing any antitrust concerns among regulators.

It's even possible that Atlantic City's casino market might move toward further expansion in 2020. Last March, Philadelphia Bart Blatstein, who operates the former Showboat casino as a non-gambling hotel, said he was considering restoring gambling either to the Showboat, or building a new casino facility on land he owns adjacent to it. Blatstein declined to discuss his updated plans for at least the next few months.

And 2020 could finally see new life for the former Atlantic Club casino, which has been dark since Jan. 2014. Colosseo Atlantic City Inc., a New York investment and construction firm, bought the property in October and announced plans to reopen it as a non-gambling hotel.

A sizable chunk of New Jersey's sports betting revenue comes from New York gamblers crossing over into New Jersey to make bets on their smartphones. New York has been lagging on adopting sports betting outside its upstate tribal casinos, and mobile sports betting still isn't allowed. If and when it does, the impact on New Jersey would be painful.

The challenge will continue to be seeing casino revenue growth continue," Lupo, Hard Rock's president, said. Most of the growth has been online gambling and online sports wagering. Can we keep people coming to the market and increase visitation?"

Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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Optimism over growth, some wariness in Atlantic City in 2020 - ABC News

Sports media will rush to embrace gambling in 2020.

With sports book operators hungering for new customers in a growing number of U.S. states, sports leagues looking for ways to bolster the value of their television broadcast rights and casinos looking for ways to build new relationships, sports publishers find themselves in position to significantly bolster their ad revenues over the next several years.

Its reshaping the entire sports marketing industry, and youre seeing a lot of publishers factoring it into their content plans, said Rick Martira, the CMO of the sports book PointsBet. Youll be hard-pressed to find major sports outlets that dont want to incorporate it.

Today, sports betting is legal in just 11 states, with seven more preparing to follow. Research published recently by the consultancy Gambling Compliance projects that 40 U.S. states will have legalized sports betting by 2024. That rush of legalization, encompassing an estimated $150 billion industry, is expected to attract the attention of almost every kind of mainstream sports publisher.

Sports betting appeals to publishers because they can monetize it in so many different ways. For example, sports betting offers a big affiliate commerce opportunity. The ads do have to be geo-targeted to areas where sports gambling is legal, which limits scale, but the affiliate commissions that sports books pay out to publishers who help deliver new customers can be as high as $125 per person, according to Gaming Affiliates Guide.

For us, the biggest opportunity and to really add a lot of oxygen is going to be converting our readers to sports book operators, said Patrick Keane, CEO of the Action Network, which focuses on gambling-related sports coverage.

Over the past year, both Vox Media (with DraftKings) and Bleacher Report (with Caesars Palace) signed long-term deals to create wide varieties of content designed to build interest in sports betting. On the other end of the spectrum, a growing number of publishers are looking to create content that helps familiar or sophisticated sports bettors wager wisely.

Other media companies looking for a slice of sports betting pie will find sports books eager to collaborate on campaigns to promote their wager offers. In some cases, all the publisher has to provide is distribution, thanks to some sport books significant investments in their own content creation operations. For example, FanDuel, which controls the cable television station TVG thanks to its merger with PaddyPower BetFair, has a 100-person studio out in Los Angeles that produces 24 hours of live sports programming every day, most of it focused on horse racing. This past year, that group co-produced NBCs television coverage of The Breeders Cup.

Yet Fan Duel has bigger content ambitions. To date, it has coproduced digital shows about betting with publishers including Barstool Sports and forged exclusive deals with influential sports betting enthusiasts including former NFL punter Pat McAfee. It also produces a show of its own, More Ways to Win, an analysis and punditry show about sports gambling that airs live more than twice a week.

More here:

Gambling will overwhelm sports media in 2020 - Digiday

It's been a big year for the gambling industry in Massachusetts. The state lottery set a revenue record. Boston-based DraftKings emerged as a leader in legal sports betting. And, after a high-stakes drama, Wynn Resorts opened a casino in Everett.

Wynn Resorts spent $2.6 billion to build the gleaming casino but scrubbed the Wynn name from the building after a scandal involving company founder Steve Wynn, opting to name it Encore instead. For a while, it was unclear whether the company would be allowed to keep its state gambling license or whether it even wanted to.

Investigators for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission said in the spring that the company had mishandled sexual misconduct allegations against Steve Wynn, andthen concealed those allegations from state regulators. The gaming commission held public hearings as it considered revoking Wynn Resorts' license as punishment.

Chief Executive Matt Maddox argued Wynn Resorts deserved to keep the license because it had cleaned house and changed its corporate culture.

"No matter who the CEO is of Wynn Resorts or who the chairman is, that would never happen again," Maddox said of the lapses that allowed Steve Wynn's alleged misconduct to continue for years. "We were going to transform ourselves from a founder-led company that was about a man, into a progressive company that's about the 25,000 people" who work atWynn Resorts properties around the world.

The company reminded regulators that stripping its license could jeopardize more than 5,000 jobs in Massachusetts. The commission ultimately fined Wynn Resorts $35 million and let it keep the license.

But shortly after that favorable ruling by the gaming commission, Wynn Resorts acknowledged that for several weeks it had been in talks to sell Encore to MGM Resorts. The revelation made officials in Everett wonder whether Wynn was committed to the Encore project, but Wynn and MGM broke off negotiations a few days later, and the casino opened as scheduled in June.

Since then, business at Encore has been slower than anticipated, mirroring a statewide trend. In Encore's first full quarter, gross gaming revenue was about $150 million. At that rate, the casino would fall short of its first-year goal by 25%.

Gambling experts say one reason MGM may have been interested in buying Encore is that its own, year-old casino in Springfield has been missing revenue targets. MGM Springfield President Mike Mathis told New England Public Radio in September that snagging customers from the more established casinos in Connecticut is proving harder than the company expected.

"I think we may have underestimated that level of loyalty and what it would take for those customers to give us a shot," Mathis said.

Meanwhile, in the slot parlor at Plainridge Park Casino, revenue has been trending downward since March.

Overall, casinos are not generating as much tax money as lawmakers hoped.

It's a different story at the state lottery, whichset a record in the 2019 fiscal year with $5.5 billion in revenue. The lottery pays out much of that money in prizes, but the agency's $1.1 billion profit goes to cities and towns as unrestricted local aid.

Despite these great numbers, the lottery's executive director, Michael Sweeney, is worried.

"We have been doing very well," he said at a gambling forum near the end of the fiscal year. "But what I like to remind people is the night before the Titanic hit the iceberg, it was setting a new record for crossing the Atlantic Ocean. And that's where lotteries in this country are right now."

One big concern is that Massachusetts will legalize sports betting. Sweeney's fear is that some of the money spent on scratch tickets today will go toward wagers on the Patriots or Red Sox tomorrow.

A landmark Supreme Court ruling last year opened the door for more states to legalize sports betting. Few companies are more excited than Boston's DraftKings, which started in fantasy sports and is now running sportsbooks for real games wherever it can.

For example: DraftKings recently signed a deal with the state of New Hampshire that allows the company to take bets online and in new gambling halls.

But DraftKings still can't take bets in its home state of Massachusetts. There is political momentum, in the form ofmultiple sports betting bills on Beacon Hill, including one filed by Gov. Charlie Baker.

Lawmakers have not hashed out key details, however, such as whether bets could be placed online or only in person, whether the state lottery should run its own sportsbook, and whether to allow betting on college sports.

So, even if signs point toward sports betting coming to Massachusetts sometime in the future, the first wagers may not be placed in 2020.

Excerpt from:

Year In Mass. Gambling: Encore, DraftKings And The Lottery - WBUR

Maltas 2019 SiGMA conference had a dedicated blockchain and Bitcoin track of talks, and the list of speakers could never truly be considered complete without the inventor of Bitcoin, nChain Chief Scientist Dr. Craig Wright. After concluding his day, Dr. Wright joined our Becky Liggero Fontana on the sidelines to talk about his own history in gambling, and how it helped inspire the worlds biggest public blockchain.

But before talking history, Dr. Wright had to make the case for why the original Bitcoin, now found only in Bitcoin SV (BSV), is perfectly suited to help the gambling industry. We can allow them to actually audit on their own time without actually shutting machines down, without bothering customers, without slowing down your operations, he told Liggero Fontana. And that means you make more revenue, your affiliates know what theyve got, theres no worrying about whether youve been skimmed or anything, and because everyones making more money, even the regulators, the government makes more money.

Dr. Wright was happy to be at a gambling conference for a change, and was asked about his feelings of working Bitcoin into the industrys technological portfolio. Well actually, one of the reasons I created Bitcoin was all about gambling, he admitted. It was sort of following the entire collapse of the regulated industry back in the Noughties and we got to the scenario where there was no way of getting payments. Legal operators were actually punished punitively by the government allowing illegal operators, fraud, criminals and everything actually to take over. So we had a while sort of developing things that were wrong, and rather than having a system that could be easily operated, easily regulated and actually grow in scale, we created the system sort of that was everything that they were saying was bad about the industry.

BSV has some clear advantages that, according to Wright, could quickly improve the bottom line of every operator. It allows us to actually have all of that audit data, not requiring auditors to come in and turn your machines off or shut you down, but just to run so they can see it in real time, he said. Thats the great thing with peer systems and distributed data. You can have a copy, they can have a copy, everyones assured that its real.

If youre left doubting that the man who invented Bitcoin knows much about the gambling industrys needs, Liggero Fontana cleared up all doubt, asking him to elaborate on his history. I got involved right back in the late nineties with Lassiters, he began. So I was brought into help set up the security and audit systems and everything like this. And Deloitte, well, they werent able to do it so I got in as the third choice after everyone else had failed, and we set up connections so that we mirrored all of the transactions across a really expensive line that we had to put into the auditors in Darwin. So we ran this sort of leased line halfway across the country to be able to do it, and the copy of all the records was updated in real time, live, all of the changes, all of the logins, everything like that, was mirrored across the country.

Finally, he explained why Bitcoins new approach helps solve that exact same scenario. Now, with Bitcoin, that just happens, he said. You dont need to build new infrastructure or anything like this. You dont need to have specialized systems to be able to do that, all of those things that I spent a lot of time and effort doing, where we had to have auditors come back on-site all the time, all of those things, could be just avoided with Bitcoin.

Read this article:

Bitcoin's roots in gambling from Craig Wright - CalvinAyre.com

The Dutch gambling authority fined companies offering online betting and gambling games in the Netherlands a total of 3.5m this year more than double the 2018 figure.

The rise is due to an increase in the maximum fine to 200,000 and a rise in the number of large companies being penalised, the Kansspelautoriteit said. In total, 10 firms were fined, including one repeat offender.

Holland Casino is the Netherlands only state-regulated gambling establishment but foreign firms widely flout the ban and continue to target Dutch punters by offering Dutch language services and the Dutch online payment service Ideal.

Earlier this year the senate voted to open up the online gambling market to other companies after years of political tussle.

The new law, which will not come into effect until at least 2021, is restrictive and contains a number of element to try to combat addiction. Players have to register and state their limit and will be periodically reminded of the risk of addiction on screen.

The gambling firms will also have to appoint an addition expert and pay gambling taxes of 29%, which is one of the highest in Europe.

However, firms which have broken the law by targeting Dutch players will only be allowed to apply for a licence after a cooling off period. According to website Gambling Compliance, almost all the major European gambling groups have now been fined by the Dutch watchdog.

DutchNews.nl has been free for 13 years, but now we are asking our readers to help. Your donation will enable us to keep providing you with fair and accurate news and features about all things Dutch. Donate via Ideal, credit card or Paypal.

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Dutch gambling authority fines 10 companies a total of 3.5m this year - DutchNews.nl

There was no way, right?

No way the New England Patriots, who were in a must-win to get a first-round bye in the AFC and who were at home, playing at full strength, would lose to the Miami Dolphins.

But it happened. Thanks to some FitzMagic, the Fins took down the Pats at Gillette Stadium, a stunning outcome that resulted in the Patriots hosting the Tennessee Titans for a Wild Card weekend game.

It also cost one bettor A LOT of money.

Per Action Networks Darren Rovell, someone put down $74,430 on the Patriots to beat the Dolphins against a minus-1600 moneyline. Thats one of those bets you make if youre pretty certain the Patriots will win even if they dont cover the spread.

As you know, they didnt:

Ooooooffffffff. Some other bettors lost out because of the upset:

But there were some shrewd bettors out there who backed the Dolphins. From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

But the Patriots loss wasnt a gain for all books. In fact, it was the Westgates largest loss of the day as one bettor won $120,000 on a $15,000 money line bet placed Thursday on the Dolphins at 8-1 and another won $70,000 on a $10,000 money line bet placed Sunday on Miami at 7-1.

More here:

Gambler loses nearly $75,000 after the Dolphins beat the Patriots - For The Win

The UFC could have a gambling problem brewing.

At the current time, the UFC does not seem to have any rules when it comes to UFC fighters, or anyone related to those fighters, wagering on UFC fights. Or, at the very least, the promotion does not enforce those rules if it does have them.

Evidence of this is easy to find.

In 2011, Diego Sanchez told ESPN that he had bet $100 on Tito Ortiz to defeat Ryan Bader.

After his second-round TKO win over Naoyuki Kotani at UFC Fight Night 46, Norman Parke told UFC commentator Dan Hardy that he thought his bet on himself had earned him five grand from Paddy Power.

In 2018, James Vick told MMA Junkie he was waiting until the last minute to bet on himself against Justin Gaethje.

More recently, Anthony Rocco Martin took a photo of seven losing betting slips worth $9,600 from UFC 245. Martin wrote that he was going to stick to betting on himself in the future.

With the UFC preparing a live-betting product that, according to Bloomberg News, will feature more than 50 betting opportunities per bout, including 20 new types of wagers updated in real time.

Some of these new betting options are concerning because they could open up the UFC and its fighters to questions of fight-fixing or stat-fixing.

To eliminate or reduce those questions, the UFC will likely need to come up with clear and concise rules on wagering on UFC fights for UFC employees, the fighters and their teams. Those rules might need to include others outside of the fighters and their immediate camps.

Rules on gambling are not uncommon in other major U.S. sports.

The NBA Constitution states:

Any person who, directly or indirectly, wagers money or anything of value on the outcome of any game played by a Team in the league operated by the Association shall, on being charged with such wagering, be given an opportunity to answer such charges after due notice, and the decision of the Commissioner shall be final, binding, conclusive, and unappealable. The penalty for such offense shall be within the absolute and sole discretion of the Commissioner and may include a fine, suspension, expulsion and/or perpetual disqualification from further association with the Association or any of its Members.

The NFL Gambling Policy forbids illegal gambling. It also has 10 restrictions on legal gambling. The first two of those constraints make it clear that the NFL is serious about any legal sports betting for its employees.

1. Betting on Football: All NFL Personnel are prohibited from placing, soliciting, or facilitating any bet, whether directly or indirectly through third-party, on any NFL game, practice or other event. This includes betting on game outcome, statistics, score, performance of any individual participant, or any other kind of proposition bet on which wagering is offered.

2. Betting on Other Sports: All NFL Personnel other than Players are further prohibited from placing, soliciting, or facilitating bets on any other professional (e.g., NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA, USTA, MLS), college (e.g., NCAA basketball), international (e.g., World Baseball Classic World Cup), or Olympic sports competition, tournament or event.

The NFL goes so far as to prohibit personnel from even visiting a Sportsbook during the season.

MLB has Rule 21, which covers wagering:

(1) Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible for one year.

(2) Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.

(3) Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee who places bets with illegal book makers or agents for illegal book makers, shall be subject to such penalty as the Commissioner deems appropriate in light of the facts and circumstances of the conduct. Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee who operates or works for an illegal bookmaking business shall be subject to a minimum of a one-year suspension by the Commissioner.

The NHL has a much more succinct mention gambling in its collective bargaining agreement. It merely states, Gambling on any NHL Game is prohibited.

According to Bloomberg, any Sportsbook that uses the app will pay a licensing fee for the software, and a share of gross gaming yield for access to the data. The UFC did not reveal those costs to Bloomberg.

If the UFC wants to appear above the board when it comes to live-betting, its going to need to come up with some written and enforced rules when it comes to wagering on fights.

The UFC was asked about its gambling rules, but did not reply. This story will be updated if the UFC does respond.

Read the original here:

UFC could have a gambling problem on the horizon - Bloody Elbow

Cambodias casinos could face legal action if they dont halt their online gambling operations by January 1, according to a government spokesman.

On Christmas Day, VOA Cambodia quoted Finance Ministry official Ros Phearun saying that government officials would conduct inspections of local casino operators to ensure they are complying with Prime Minister Hun Sens August directive to rescind all online gambling licenses by the end of 2019.

This past weekend, Hun Sen confirmed that the directive was no passing fancy, telling a local festival audience that in days to come, online gambling will completely disappear. The August directive declared that no new online licenses would be issued and that existing licenses wouldnt be renewed when they expired at the end of this year.

Phearun, the governments traditional point person on gambling issues, echoed Hun Sens recent comments by claiming that the online gambling ban was intended to reduce money laundering by unscrupulous operators. Phearun claimed Cambodia currently lacked the technical capabilities to ensure that all operators were complying with their regulatory obligations.

Many of the new casino licenses issued over the past two years have been for Chinese-run operations in Sihanoukville. VOA quoted a Preah Sihanouk provincial spokesperson saying that local authorities had no choice but to implement what is set by the government and thus Sihanoukvilles casinos will be closely monitored to ensure theyve shut their online operations.

Phearun told the Khmer Times that there were 141 active casinos in Cambodia down from 163 in June, a possible reflection of the exodus of Chinese operators following Augusts directive of which 89 were operating online gambling and arcade machines. Some 72 casinos are believed to be officially operating in Sihanoukville alone.

Phearun added that a joint committee will inspect each casino to see if online operations are ongoing, and that we will not wait until January we will start to crack down on the night of December 31. Casinos found to be flouting the new rules will face not only license revocation but also legal action.

While most Cambodians seem okay with the governments anti-online steps, not everyone is convinced the government will allocate sufficient resources to ensure compliance. This spring, the government ordered the closure of a land-based casino in Sihanoukville that was pumping raw sewage into the sea but the owner who at the time had been operating without a license for over a year simply ignored the shutdown order for three months.

See the rest here:

Cambodia casinos warned to halt online gambling by Dec. 31 - CalvinAyre.com

Every visit to Las Vegas can become an educational experience for gamblers.

Whether youre trying a new game for the first time, hitting a casino youve never been to before, or diving deep into Sin Citys history, youll definitely learn something new whenever youre here.

And one of the most common lessons learned in Las Vegas concerns the various slang terms used by gamblers and casino staff when the games get underway. After nearly nine decades offering an oasis of legalized gambling for all Americans to enjoy, Las Vegas has developed a language all its own.

Chips are widely known as checks, a team favored to win by the sportsbook is called the chalk, tips handed out to the dealer are actually tokes you get the idea.

As a lifelong Las Vegas local, colloquial phrases like this have become embedded in my brain, so much so that I barely notice them any longer. But when I spent some time taking a few pals from out of town on a tour of my favorite gambling halls, I struggled with expressing myself in ways they could easily interpret. For a while there, my buddies even thought I was making a few of the slang terms up on the fly.

That experience made me realize just how much I take my insider info for granted living in here. With that in mind, I figured putting together a full glossary of commonly used casino gambling phrases might help visitors feel more comfortable during their next trip to Las Vegas.

86d (or Eighty-Sixed) A term used to describe property bans handed out to cheats, excessive drunks, and other undesirable patrons. If youve been directed to avoid entering all Caesars Entertainment properties, for example, youve just been 86d.

The origins of this phrase are quite murky, but most people believe that the 86 stems from Sin Citys days as a haven for mobsters, most of whom had no reservations about driving victims 8 miles out into the desert, before burying them 6 feet under the sand.

Action A term with many meanings, action is typically used to describe any pending wager (i.e. You placed the chip forward sir, so that bet will be considered action win or lose.) Gamblers also speak about staying in action when referring to getting back in the game. A table game with many people placing large bets is also said to have a lot of action.

Aggregate Limit Casinos use aggregate limits to put a cap on their liability within any given game or wager. In the case of a 1,000 to 1 bonus jackpot on a game like Let It Ride, for example, the aggregate limit might be set at $100,000. In this case, a player betting $100 on the bonus would win the full share, but if two or more players do so successfully, theyd be forced to split the aggregate limit amount evenly amongst themselves.

All-In In a poker game with no betting limits, such as No Limit Texas Holdem, going all-in refers to the act of wagering every chip you have in play.

Although its used less often in the table game pit, a player is ostensibly going all-in whenever they bet the last of their chips.

Ante The initial bet required to enter a table game like blackjack or baccarat. Alternatively, at the poker table, an ante is any forced bet all players must contribute before the cards can be dealt.

Bankroll The money a gambler keeps on hand at all times, usually separate from their non-gambling spending money, to use on the tables, machines, or sportsbook.

Bad Beat Typically used in poker, a bad beat refers to any loss in which the losing player had a higher probability of winning than their opponent. Holding pocket Aces only to lose to an inferior pocket pair like 5-5 would be deemed a bad beat. Similarly, holding a 20 in blackjack only to see the dealer run out five cards to make 21 would be a bad beat.

Beard When somebody has been 86d from the casino or sportsbook, they often resort to using a beard or a trusted third party who places bets on their behalf to stay in the action.

Burn Card In games like poker or blackjack, the burn card is any card taken from the top of the deck and placed face down before the actual card in play is dealt.

Burn cards are a holdover from the Wild West days of Las Vegas when cheaters ran rampant.

By burning a card before revealing the next one, players and dealers alike ensure that a stacked deck wont work in the cheaters favor.

Capping This term has two meanings, the first of which is simply short for handicapping, or the process of picking winners at the sportsbook. Another use for capping involves an act of cheating in which players attempt to cap a winning bet with additional chips to increase their payout.

Carpet Joint Taken from the pre-1950s era when Las Vegas gambling halls had wooden floors sprinkled with sawdust. In 1951, Benny Binion opted to install plush carpet throughout his Horseshoe casino, creating the citys first carpet joint, in hopes that the luxurious trappings would help to attract high-rollers.

In modern times, a carpet joint typically refers to the ultra-chic 5-star luxury casinos that cater to high-rollers.

Chalk Whichever side is favored to win a sports bet is often referred to as the chalk.

Check (or Cheque) As a noun, check or cheque refers to the casino chips used in lieu of cash. As a verb, to check is an action taken at the poker table in which the player declines his option to place the first bet.

Cold Call At the poker table, cold-calling refers to the act of calling a raise when you havent made an initial bet. In other words, when one player in front of you bets, and a second player raises, calling the raise is considered a cold call.

Color Up Whenever a player or dealer exchanges smaller denomination chips for higher denomination chips of a different color, theyve colored up. You might slide the dealer a stack of 20 red $5 chips to color up for a single black $100 chip.

Comp As a noun, a comp is short for complimentary and refers to any freebie handed out by the house to reward regular play.

Rooms, buffet meals, and tickets to the in-house show are all commonly awarded comps.

As a verb, to comp is the act of distributing these perks to the player.

Credit A term used on gaming machines, such as video poker and slot machine games as a substitute for coin denominations. If you slide a $100 bill into a $0.25 video poker machine, youll start the game with 400 credits.

Crossfire A term referring to the small talk made by dealers, either with fellow staff members of players at the table. Often, a dealer mistake will be made in the midst of an intense bout of crossfire which causes them to become distracted.

Croupier The French word for dealer, a croupier is typically found spinning the wheel in the French table game roulette.

Cut Card In games where a deck of cards, or a shoe containing multiple decks, is used, the dealer uses a special card to cut them after a shuffle. From there, the dealer slides their cut card on the bottom of the deck to prevent players from seeing it when the deck is lifted off the felt.

Dark As a noun, a dark bet refers to any bet (typically in poker) made before seeing ones starting hands and/or the community cards. As a verb, dark betting refers to the same action.

Dime Shorthand for any wager equal to $1,000.

Dirty Stack Any stack of chips which contains one or more off-colored chips.

If you have 19 of the $5 red chips in a stack, but one of the $1 white chips stuck in the middle somewhere, that stack is said to be dirty.

Dollar Shorthand for any wager equal to $100

Double Down A play used in blackjack, typically on 10 or 11 value starting hands, wherein the player adds a second wager equal to their original wager. From there, the dealer gives the double down player one more card, with winning hands receiving the full 2x payout.

Double Up Any successful bet which pays out at even money odds to produce a 2x payout. In poker, a player who goes all-in and wins a matching amount from their opponent has doubled up.

In video poker, many machines offer a Double Up side game after winners which allows the player to choose a high card at random in hopes of doubling their initial profit.

Down Shorthand for the shifts, usually 30 minutes in duration, where a dealer is tasked with running a certain table. If your favorite dealer isnt at this particular table, waiting a down or two will usually bring them by in short order.

Drop In casino gambling, the drop refers to any chips collected by the casino after player losses.

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In poker, the drop refers to chips deducted from the pot which is also known as the rake to pay the poker rooms overhead or build the bad beat jackpot.

Edge Shorthand for any advantage held during a gambling game. In its most common usage, the house edge refers to the inherent advantage offered to the casino based on a game or wagers win probability vis a vis its payout. Card counters in blackjack are capable of nullifying the houses edge, lending themselves a rare player edge in the process.

Even Money Any payout which is exactly equal to the amount wagered.

Blackjack bets are always paid out at even money, as are the Player bet in blackjack, the outside (Red or Black, Odd or Even, Low or High) bets in roulette, and the minimum payable hand in most forms of video poker.

Eye in the Sky This term refers to the network of overhead security cameras which are trained on the gaming floor at all times. When the floor staff wants to scrutinize a suspected cheaters playing habits, theyll call on security staff to use the eye in the sky.

That does it for the A E segment of my casino gambling glossary, but be sure to check back with the F M and N Z pages as well to complete your education. The world of Las Vegas slang can be a bit difficult to wrap your mind around at first glance, but once youve studied this three-part glossary, youll be betting like a reg (thats clearly short for regular) in no time flat.

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Common Gambling Terms Used in Vegas - Glossary of Casino Terms - BestUSCasinos.org

Gambling-related admissions to hospital have reached more than one a day, as the health service grapples with betting addiction across Britain.

There were 379 such admissions to hospital in 2018/19, up 28% on 2015/16, according to NHS Digital figures that include those diagnosed as having a pathological gambling addiction.

Gambling disorder is linked to compulsive behaviour, the risk of self-harm and substance misuse. It also occurs in conjunction with serious mental health difficulties, such as depression, anxiety and psychosis.

The north-west had the greatest number of admissions over the past year, followed by London. About a sixth of those admitted to hospital across England, Scotland and Wales were under 25 but it was unclear how many were children.

The number of children classed as having a gambling problem is 55,000, while 450,000 under-18s bet regularly, according to industry regulator the Gambling Commission.

Last week, the Royal Society for Public Health warned that betting-style features in video games, including loot boxes, are polluting young peoples lives and should be reclassified as gambling.

Gambling disorder significantly impacts on a persons mental health, increasing the risk of self harm and suicide, said Matt Zarb-Cousin from gambling blocking software firm Gamban.

Were now at the point where more than one person every day in Britain has to be admitted to hospital as a result of gambling. Its time to look properly at the types of gambling available and their role in causing such severe harm to people.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said earlier this year: The links between problem gambling and stress, depression and mental health problems are growing and there are too many stories of lives lost and families destroyed.

He added: This is an industry that splashes 1.5bn on marketing and advertising campaigns, much of it now pumped out online and through social media, but it has been spending just a fraction of that helping customers and their families deal with the direct consequences of addiction.

The NHS opened the National Problem Gambling Clinic in London this year to provide young people specialist help to deal with betting addiction as part of an expansion of its treatment offering in the area.

The figures do not include patients who were diagnosed in a primary care setting, or who attended hospital as an outpatient.

The World Health Organization first recognised gambling disorder as a medical condition in 2000. In the UK, there are about 340,000 adult problem gamblers, 0.7% of the population, according to the Gambling Commission.

Bookmakers have closed dozens of shops on high streets and are increasingly pushing customers towards online betting, after stakes on fixed-odd betting terminals described as the crack cocaine of gambling were limited to 2 this year.

The gambling industry in the UK made 14.4bn in 2018/19 and Denise Coates, the multibillionaire founder of the gambling company Bet365, paid herself 323m last year.

More than half of people aged 16 or older in England gambled at some point during 2018, according to official figures.

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UK gambling-related hospital admissions up to more than one a day - The Guardian