Today the largest group of casino players are playing slots. It wasn't always this way, as late as the mid-seventies slots were not thought of serious games of chance. They were often played by the female companions of male table players, husbands were often seen giving their wives money to play the slots with while they went off to play the more serious table games. In those days a "respectable" table player wouldn't be caught playing the slots.The original slot machines were mechanical devices and some cheats tried various ways to beat the house. People tried everything from the use of magnets to drilling a hole through the side of the machines, all in an attempt to influence the mechanism. There was even a legal method discovered by a few that involved a style of pulling the handle that controlled the drop of one or more of the reels. This increased the players odds greatly, and caused the casino operators some concern until a method was devised to remove this advantage. The manufacturers have kept modifying and refining the machines to keep the games honest. Today the vast majority of slot machines are electronic and computer controlled so that outside manipulating of the machines by cheaters is now just a part of slot machine history.It was the introduction and rapid acceptance of video games that changed the slot machine forever, the casino operators developed a new line of electronic slot machines, ones that offered vivid graphics and exciting sound effects. The casino operators also added further refinements such as connecting several machines together and taking a small percentage of every play and adding it to a jackpot total. If no one hits the jackpot for some time it can grow into a huge amount, and although the odds are small it will payoff and one lucky player will win big. These "jackpots" also helped to increase slot popularity to where it is today.Today slots are the most popular form of casino gambling, with up to 40% of casino revenue originating from these "one armed bandits".

Basic Rules of Play
The dice are tossed from one end of the crapstable to the other making sure that both dice bounce off of the back wall of thetable.

Moving in a clockwise direction, players take turns rolling the dice. TheShooter's first role is called the "Come Out" role. This Shootercontinues to role as long as he or she makes winning roles.

The "Come Out" role is very important in craps in that it establishesthe Shooter's "Point." "The Point" is the number that theShooter must role again before he or she roles a 7. A 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10establishes the point. Rolling a 7, 11, 2, 3 or 12 on the "Come Out"role results in the dice being passed to the next Shooter.

The Puck - This two-sided disc indicates whether or not a game is inprogress and if a "Point" has been established. The puck displays"OFF" and remains on the "Don't Come Bar" until a"Point" has been established by the shooter. The dealer then turns thepuck to the "ON" side and moves it to the numbered location on thecraps table to denote the "Point" number for this shooter.

Betting On Craps

Pass Line Bet - A simple and basic even money bet. You are betting thatthe first role of the dice will add up to 7 or 11. On this bet, a 2, 3, or 12loses the bet. Any other number establishes the "Point." The"Point" number has to be rolled again before a 7 comes up to win,otherwise, the bet is lost.

False logic of the Martingale system Many people become consumed by the seemingly intuitive math behind the martingale roulette system (which can also be applied to other games) The system works as follows: on even money outside bets with a near 50-50 chance, bet once. If you lose, place a bet for twice as much on the same spot. If you lose again, double the previous amounts bet. In the end, the theory is your bet has to win at some point and if you have kept doubling down on losses, the last bet will recoup everything you've lost and add an even money win on the original wager, putting you ahead, if just a little. The logic here is riddled with problems. First of all, in roulette you can't have a pure 50-50 chance bet because of those pesky green pockets. That fact aside, the system would seem like it has some legs, from a logical point of view. What roulette system sellers don't want to you realize is, the casinos have already guarded against any Martingale users by placing table limits on the bets. Ever wonder why there is an upper table limit? Don't the casinos want you to risk large amounts of money? The Martingale system is the exact reason for a table high existing. Following the Martingale method, you keep doubling your bets on a loss, and after a short string of losses in a row your bet is extremely large. From $5, to $10, $20, $40, $80, $160, $320, $OVER the table limit. So on the last bet before you can no longer double, you are putting $320 on the table with a potential for making $5… are you crazy? And what if you lose that last bet, you're out $635 bucks, if you win you're only up $5, ouch. This is a serious flaw in applying any Martingale type system to a casino game with upper table limits. My opinion on any roulette system is the same as my opinion on all other systems. For the most part they do not do what they purport (or say) to do. Now, I'm not saying they are useless, in fact they do usually have a use, and that's to spread your money around multiple bets, which often has the beneficial effect of stretching your money out over a longer period of time. There is no value in attempting to employ a roulette system to 'beat the casino', because if you were smart enough to, the casinos would likely put you to work for them, and that has very little to do with how casinos hire. I have nothing against looking at some more serious attempts to bring the advantage towards the players. One of these techniques is the search for biased wheels. There is some merit to this endeavor. I'm sure a few people have made real money off of a biased wheel, but the effort involved is phenomenal. Casinos spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on a roulette wheel, and don't have any desire to replace it every year. Over a long period of time it's possible that the detailed engineering that went into the roulette wheel's construction has degraded from extensive use. Once this happens, a tilt in the wheel or any one of a million small but consistent anomalies may arise. If you had a computer to measure the exact spinning patterns of a roulette wheel, you could record results consistently and try to determine any patterns that repeat. If there are, you can alter your play to exploit this advantage. Biased wheels are not just hard to find, but even if you do, they are difficult to take advantage of. You would be required to have a mini-computer watching the wheel at least initially to find the bias, and modern casinos monitor their entire floor for any electronic device emitting a signal. Online is a different story of course, and many software applications exists that monitor online casino roulette wheels for biases. The problem is, the online casinos have this software too, and most likely test the heck out of their software before releasing it. You can find some of this type of software in our