How casinos work lessons

The lessons in this track

1. 1.1The house edge: a price inside every betEvery bet carries a price that is settled before the ball drops, and you can find that price by counting pockets: here is where the price hides in the payout, and how to count it out.About 22 minutes
2. 1.2What an hour of play costsThe house edge is a price per bet. An hour turns it into a bill, and two numbers do that: how much you bet, and how many rounds the table deals while you sit there.About 20 minutes
3. 1.3Why you lose more than the edgeThe house edge is a price on each bet, and one evening bets the same buy-in over and over — which is why a room keeps far more of the buy-in than the house edge.About 19 minutes
4. 1.4Do cards, dice and wheels remember?Whether the last spin, roll or card changes the next one — and why the honest answer is different for a shoe of cards than for a wheel.About 22 minutes
5. 1.5One night versus a thousandAn hour at a losing bet ends in front about a third of the time. A thousand bets almost never does. Same wheel, same bet — the only difference is how many times the house edge has been charged.About 19 minutes
6. 1.6Who runs Canadian casinos and who checks themWho is allowed to conduct a casino game in Canada, who runs the room and employs your dealer, who checks the corporation and the company alike — and what to do at the table when a payout does not match the sign.About 22 minutes
7. 1.7What the casino records about your playA player card at a Canadian casino does not change the game. The card keeps a record of your average bet, how long you play and which game you play — and that record costs you what the betting cost.About 22 minutes
8. 1.8"To 1", "for 1" and the chance behind themHow a payout is written on the layout, what the two spellings do to the amount, and how to turn any record into the chance it quietly asks for.About 23 minutes

What this track is for

Every figure in these lessons is worked out when the page is built, by the same engines as our tools, or comes from a source quoted on the spot. More on how we verify.

Nothing here is a way to win. The course explains what each game costs to play and what the rules on the table actually change, so that the money you take in is a decision and not a surprise.

Nothing you do in a practice table leaves your browser: what you answered is kept on this device and is sent nowhere. The course page lists what this device has saved.