Swain Scheps - Casino Gambling For Dummies

In this scheme, you increase your wager by one unit after every loss and decrease it by one unit after every win. For example, with $5 units, you bump up your bet to $10 if you lose the first bet, then drop back down to $5 if you win the second hand. However, you never go below your starting unit, no matter how many hands you win in a row.

The D’Alembert may be a good way to keep your mind occupied, but computer simulations consistently show that no progressive system improves your overall results. Again, you encounter a lot of small wins punctuated by big losses.

Chapter 4

IN THIS CHAPTER

Establishing and adhering to a budget for your gambling trip

Understanding casino credit

Recognizing the danger signs

Remembering Uncle Sam — taxes and your winnings (and losses)

A good accountant will tell risk-taking clients that “Pigs get fed. Hogs get slaughtered.” This adage is applicable to gamblers tackling the tables as well as taxpayers dealing with the IRS. Greed and gambling are two words that go together like peanut butter and jelly, and they’re just as likely to get you into a sticky mess.

When blinded by the possibility of winning more, you can easily end up blowing your gambling bankroll (money set aside just for gambling) in one evening — or faster. The prospect of striking it rich in the casino may make you forget that you have other financial obligations — paying the mortgage and feeding your children, to name a couple. I’ve heard and seen too many horror stories about individuals whose dream vacation to a gambling destination turned into a nightmare when they frantically began throwing good money after bad to make up for their losses early in their getaway.

This chapter is about being sensible with your money — the cash you come with and (hopefully) the money you win as you go along. You’ll get some no-nonsense advice that any accountant or financial counselor might offer to help you manage your budget (and keep track of your wins and losses for the IRS).

To enjoy your gambling experience, you must control your gambling experience, which means setting — and sticking to — a budget. Whether you’re taking a weekend backpacking tour in a nearby state park or a once-in-a-lifetime cruise on the Queen Mary II, you decide what you’re willing — or can afford — to spend, and then you make your plans. The same goes for a gambling getaway. First, budget for the transportation to your destination, your hotel and food expenses, entertainment tickets, and sightseeing excursions — and how much you plan to spend on gambling.

If your main priority is to retain all your money, the best suggestion is not to gamble at all. Assuming you don’t want to hear that bit of wisdom, the next-best suggestion is to firmly decide — before you enter the doors of the casino — how much you’re willing to spend (translation: lose ).

Casinos are fantastic places where you can check reality at the door. Gambling should be a fun experience, a chance to get away from your daily stress and enjoy the escape that risk and winning can bring. But when the lines between reality and fantasy blur, when you buy into the dream and forget the budget, you can run into problems, and your money can quickly head south.

This section helps you predetermine exactly how much money you’re willing to spend on your gambling venture. You also discover how to stick to your budget and avoid the kind of fun the casino wants to have — at your expense.

For most people, gambling isn’t a lifestyle. It’s an escape from reality that has the same components of thrill, sizzle, and excitement as other forms of entertainment — well, maybe a little less than skydiving and a bit more than the opera.

A good starting point to determine your gambling bankroll is figuring out how much you spend on different types of entertainment and vacations, such as theme parks, ski resorts, or other sightseeing destinations. Knowing this information can help you compare your casino budget to the cost of last summer’s beach vacation or that week in Paris.

Your gambling bankroll needs to reflect fiscal reality. If your other vacations cost $1,000, why should your gambling vacation cost two or three or even four times as much? Like all trips, hobbies, or flights of fancy, gambling is a form of entertainment. And, just like that Caribbean cruise, your gambling losses shouldn’t affect your day-to-day lifestyle or your ability to pay bills for the rest of the month after the vacation is over.

As you calculate the cost of your gambling trip, consider its value to you in terms of fun and entertainment. If you perceive your casino gambling adventure as a form of entertainment similar to, say, dinner at a fine restaurant and an evening at the theater, you can begin to put a price on its value. Would such an evening cost you $500 for two? Possibly. Would you pay $1,000 for it? Again, it’s possible, though sticker shock may be setting in.

Money for your gambling vacation should come from your entertainment budget. In other words, don’t cash in a savings bond, dip into the kids’ college funds, or take out a new credit card to bankroll the trip. And by all means, don’t budget with money you plan on winning during the trip!

After you figure out your budget for your gambling adventure (whether a five-day trip to Vegas or just a quick jaunt to a riverboat casino), you need to break down that budget into how much you can spend each day. First, calculate how much you’ll need to feed, house, and entertain yourself while you’re on your casino vacation. Don’t forget about transportation and the midnight run to the snack machine. Once you set that money aside, you have your gambling bankroll. Divide that amount by the number of days you’re going to be in the casino. For example, say you set aside $1,200 for gambling on your three-day getaway weekend. You have $400 to play with each day. And provided you stick to it, you’ll still be able to eat three meals a day and pay for an Uber back to the airport even if the tables don’t treat you well.

At the end of each day of your casino caper, whether you’re up or down, you should budget each day independently. For example, on Friday, the first day of your three-day venture, you enter the casino with four crisp $100 bills in your pocket and finish the day with $600 for a $200 win. Congratulations! But how does your success affect your game plan? It doesn’t. The next day, you should stick to your budget and still only gamble with $400. Imagine that Saturday is a disaster, and you lose every last penny of the $400 budgeted for that day. Then the carnage continues on Sunday, and once again, you burn through $400. But because you stuck to your budget, you return home with $600 of your original $1,200 bankroll, which is a lot more money than less-disciplined gamblers (who never had a starting plan or failed to follow it) have at the end of their trips.