Category: Questions

Authentic casino chips or, in other words, casino chips manufactured to the standard of those used in Las Vegas, are typically made from clay or ceramic. That said, so-called ‘clay’ casino chips rarely, if ever, consist of 100% clay, but rather a composite of clay and other materials, such as chalk or sand. Likewise, so-called ‘ceramic’ casino chips are actually made from plastic or resin, which creates the ‘look and feel’ of ceramic, but contain no clay.

The processes involved in the manufacture of authentic casino chips is a closely-guarded trade secret and, because they can be exchanged for currency, casino chips, a.k.a. ‘checks’ or ‘cheques’, are subject to stringent security measures. Of course, what we do know about authentic casino chips is that they are labour-intensive, and therefore relatively expensive, to manufacture.

This is especially true in the case of clay chips, which are created by compression moulding or, in other words, squeezing materials into a preheated mould and applying heat and pressure to bind them together. Clay chips have a round, recessed centre, often inlaid with a graphics label, surrounded by mouldings of various designs. Notably, any contrasting lines or spots around the edges of clay chips are created not by painting, but by replacing the original base material with a different colour before moulding. By contrast, ceramic casino chips are produced by injection moulding – that is, producing injecting molten material into a mould – to create a completely flat surface, which can be printed with large, high-quality graphics.

At first glance, the game of craps offers dozens of betting opportunities but, for the experienced player, almost all of them are nothing more than window dressing, intended to tempt the unwary to play at inherently poor odds. The most profitable bet in craps, in terms of house edge, is the Odds bet, a.k.a. ‘Taking the Odds’. Indeed, the Odds bet is one of the few bets offering a house edge of 0%, but players need to place a ‘Pass Line’ bet, with a house edge of 1.41%, or a ‘Don’t Pass Line’ bet, with a house edge of 1.36%, before they can place an Odds bet.

The Odds bet is essentially a side bet made after a point is established or, in other words, after the shooter rolls 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 on the come-out roll. The Odds bet pays odds of 6/5 on points of 6 and 8, 6/4 on points of 5 and 9 and 2/1 on points of 4 and 10, which are the fair, mathematical odds against the shooter rolling the point number again before rolling a seven.

Consequently, some, but not all, casinos limit Odds bet stakes to three, four or five times the original Pass Line or Don’t Pass Line bet, depending on the point established. Other casinos may offer five, ten, twenty or even more times the original stake on Odds bets but, either way, betting the table minimum on a Pass Line or Don’t Pass Line bet, followed by the table maximum on an Odds bet, allows you to take full advantage of the 0% house edge on offer.

Keno is a simple, numbers-based, game of chance, akin to the National Lottery. In its early days in Nevada – where lotteries were, and still are, illegal – names of racehorses rather than numbers were written on keno tickets and the game was known as ‘racehorse keno’. Each game of keno was, and still is, called a ‘race’, but keno has been played exclusively with numbers since 1951, when state law was changed.

In a bricks-and-mortar casino, keno is typically played in a separate, dedicated keno lounge. In traditional, ‘live’ keno, players choose a series of up to ten, or possibly even up to twelve or fifteen, numbers, or ‘spots’, between 1 and 80 and marks or circles them on a paper ticket with a crayon. Players hand in each ticket, in return for a duplicate and, at regular intervals – typically every few minutes – twenty numbered balls are drawn, at random, from a hopper. The aim of the game is to match as many numbers, or ‘catch’ as many ‘spots’ as possible; prizes are paid according to a set pay table, which varies from casino to casino and according to how many numbers chosen, how many numbers matched and the amount staked.

Keno requires little or no skill or strategy and, like similar casino games, features a high house advantage, or ‘edge’. In Las Vegas, the house edge on live keno games is typically between 20% and 35%, which compares less than favourably with other non-slot casino games, such as baccarat, blackjack and craps, to name but three.

Single-zero roulette, also known as European or French roulette, offers a selection of traditional bets, known as ‘call’ or ‘French’ bets, on combinations of numbers according to their position on the roulette wheel. One such bet, known as ‘les (grand) voisins du zéro’, or ‘the (big) neighbours of zero’, includes seventeen numbers surrounding, and including, zero and requires nine chips, which are placed on several split and corner bets.

By contrast, the so-called ‘zero game’ bet, also known as ‘jeu zéro’or ‘zero spiel’ bet, includes just seven numbers, namely 12, 35, 3, 26, 0, 32 and 15, and requires just four chips, placed on three split bets and a straight up, or ‘en plein’, bet. The three split bets are placed between 0-3, 12-15 and 32-35, respectively, and the straight up bet is placed on 26. Consequently, the payout for a winning zero game bet varies from 17:1, in the case of a winning split, and 35:1, in the case of a winning straight up bet.

Being a call bet, only the croupier is allowed to place the chips required for a zero game bet on the layout and does so in response to players calling out the bet – hence the name – and handing over the requisite number of chips. Call bets are based on the sequence of numbers on the roulette wheel, so a zero game bet is available exclusively on single-zero roulette wheels; the numbers on double-zero, or triple-zero, roulette wheels are arranged in a different sequence.