Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who just weeks ago suggested the state taking over casinos to boost revenue, has thrown the gauntlet in Illinois on a strong no to any expansion of gambling:
“…his long-delayed answer to critics who expected him to abandon his campaign pledge and permit the expansion of gambling in Illinois: No dice. His top aides say that means no 11th or 12th casino licenses, no more positions for gamblers at existing casinos, no slot machines at horse tracks, no video poker.”
At first this sounds contradictory to his stand on taking over casinos, but the two strategies could be complementary: stop gambling expansion – gambling is bad – gambling companies are bad – let’s take over the gambling companies. I still can’t see that ever happening, though. Link (free registration required)
Certainly his tone is completely different than this statement he made less than a month ago:
Blagojevich also said that allowing video Bocoran Slot Gacor and increasing the number of slot machines at casinos or adding them to horse tracks would not necessarily be an expansion of gambling.
Huh? Guess he decided the anti-gambling lobby is worth more votes than the pro-gambling one…
vegas writings
e-Vegas Exchange has a surprisingly good collection of contributors and regular articles about Vegas and gambling, despite being overpopulated with banner ads for online casinos. Mark Pilarski writes this little gem about casinos increasing their edge on three-card poker:
Ordinarily, Three Card Poker is a better play than Caribbean Stud (-5.3%), better than Let it Ride (-3.5%), and even better than Pai Gow Poker (-2.5%).
As to the best bet in Three Card poker itself, it depends, Hilda, on whether like your cards or not; I’ll rephrase that-on whether you should like your cards. The house edge is 3.37% against the Ante alone, but only 2.01% against your Queen-6-4, if you decide to make the Play bet. With a Pair Plus wager, the casino advantage is slightly higher at 2.32%.
But just when you think you’ve got your juju flowing over the low house edge of Three Card Poker, take a quick look upstream. Most casinos are now tightening the screws on Three Card Poker by reducing the payoffs on straight flushes and three-of-a-kinds. It’s screamingly worse on the Pair Plus payoffs. For example, by making a crafty change on what you’re paid for a straight flush from 40-to-1 to 35-to-one, and nibbling down three-of-a-kinds from 30-to-1 to 25-to-1, the house edge jumps to 4.58%, making this originally good game go bad, way bad.
