Gambling

On the main strip of Las Vegas, anything goes. It is a city that never sleeps and never
blinks. Streets are always crowded and bustling. This is not where all the real action is taking
place. Inside the Bellagio hotel and casino, small fish are strewn in between several high-rollers
as they stroll through the casino to figure out their next plan on how to make some money. With the boom of poker and its television exposure, many people check their bankroll to make sure that they have enough cash to at least sit down and try to bust a professional. To the "professional" gambler, these people are "dead money" or money that essentially will be given to them more than won by them. Anyone can sit down with a pro at anytime, but most of the time, these people will leave with nothing more than an empty wallet and a long, sad story. This brings up the question: How much money does it take to lose before a person considers themselves to have a gambling addiction?

Las Vegas is the Mecca of the gaming industry. A person can pick from many different games to choose from. Most casinos offer blackjack, craps, roulette, poker, baccarat, slot machines, sports betting, and many other specialized digital games. Though these games aren't favorable to the player and can lead to making a player broke very quickly, it is tough to find a spot to sit at in many casinos because of the growth in popularity. Most of these games have a small amount of skill intertwined with an immense amount of luck. Many of these games have pay-odds that determine how much a person gets if they win compared to what the person has put up. Needless to say, people are very lenient when it comes to these odds. They don't recognize just how much of an advantage the house has. This is an equation for disaster. In roulette, the house has a 5.26% advantage over the player. In the game there are 36 numbers plus the 0 and 00. The odd of you winning is one in 38 or 1/38. If you win the casino pays you 35 for... [continues]

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