The recent influx of casinosFollow

Has anyone else noticed the amount of casinos popping up?

My /blist has grown almost 3 times the size (ok, I rarely blist people) in the last two weeks, and I find it scary.

I'm probably not the only person who /blists these people that run casinos, and I don't think they realize they're damaging their reputation. Even worse: I see the jobs which are typically -less- invited to parties (I don't want to start a debate on the job subject) that set up casinos. Why would you want people to ignore you even further if you're LFP?

I hope most of you intelligent peeps on these boards don't use the casinos because in the end, they are ripping you off. You normally have a 45% (Roll over 650!!) chance of winning, meaning that the person running the casino will more likely walk away with your hard earned gil. Even if you do win, I've heard horror stories of some casinos just running off and /shutdowning.

I guess I'm trying to say, if you're gunna set up a casino, don't bother. I'm sure you'll end up on more /blists then you'd like to be. If you like the casinos that people set up because you're lucky, hey thats cool, most of this game is a gamble, but don't be surprised if one day your luck runs out and someone made off with some of your money.

yeah, ditto for that.. never B'listed anyone before, that was until the casino's over took Jeuno.

I don't know why people bother to play casinos. I know I never have because there's no safeguard that I'm either going to get my winnings. There's also the fact that it's always in the houses' favour.

I haven't added them to my blacklist yet. I just turn on chat filters on shouts. I take it off when I'm listening for stuff that I might be interested in, like another person LFP.

Glad to see I'm not the only person who thinks this way.

Krem, I'm quite surprised that some people actually did that in a party.... Thats just... crazy.

Really, what they should've done is make that NPC in sandy let you bid more than 10g. Like maybe up to 1k... At least that way you'll get your money if you do win ;)

An honest casino? They don't exist in real life, as the house is more likely to win then you are at almost any game in a casino.

heh I've made this point many times in many different ways.

The thing I realized when my blist filled, leave shout filters on, cause people use mules to run casinos. Sad but true, and most of them don't pay if you win over 20k.

And if someone tries to argue that its hard to get a low lvl mule to jeuno, I ran there @lvl 3 thf. Not difficult, just takes time, and I did it alone.

Also, if you don't use their 'services' their customer base will dry up and they will eventually go away.

casinos are popping up everywhere, even on my server. Theres one guy in Port Sandy whos running a minimum 20k bet casino and, according to him, there were quite a few takers.

Yup... very true. After thinkin about how the real casino's work here in Vegas, and thinkin about how to get something similar in game... I came to this as the closest to a game of "Craps":

Groups of numbers are placed in one number category. IE:
0-111: Group 1
112-222: Group 2
223-333: Group 3
334-444: Group 4
445-555: Group 5
556-666: Group 6
667-777: Group 7
778-888: Group 8
889-999: Group 9

Here's the deal... you're given an unlimited amount of rolls until you either win or loose.

Ways to win:
Instantly win: Instantly win on your first roll by rolling a number in Group 7 (#667-#777) on your initial roll.
Overall win: Win over all by matching your current group roll with your initial group roll before you roll a number in Group 7.

Ways to loose:
Instantly loose: Roll a number in Group 1 or Group 9 on your initial roll.
Overall loose: You will also loose if you roll a number in Group 7 on any roll succeeding the initial roll, providing initial number group was not matched.

That's as close as I could come to a real game with better odds than a one shot flick of the /random. I'm sure I could get some takers, but it would be more work than just setting up the old fashioned /random casino's cause I would have to explain the rules as people are generally accustomed to /random casino's instead of simulated casino's. Also, I don't want to loose the respect of those that I already have.

EDIT:
Another would require 4 players as well as a dealer. This is easiest if done in a party. The dealer would roll once, and someone will always win. Here's the deal:

Each person initiates a trade, places the same bet (a set minimum/maximum bet) and tells the dealer their "guess" number. After all four individuals tell the dealer their "guess" number, the dealer would tell the party everyone's "guess" number so everyone knows who guessed what. It must be done in tells to the dealer and the dealer echo's it back. If everyone states their guesses in party chat, it'll be something like the "Price is Right" where people will bid 200, 201, 202 and 203.

Incase you haven't guessed by now, the way it works is the dealer gives a one shot /random roll and the player who guesses closest without going over wins. They don't win 2x their bet either... they win 3x. The dealer profits 25% each game and someone walks away with the other 75% each time. The cool thing about this is you now have a 25% chance of winning 3x your bet. However, if you're one that see's the glass half empty, you'll say: "But the dealer gets 25% each time!" or "If I've got a 25% shot, I want 4x my bet." and to this I say: "On the current /random gambling, you have less than a 33.3% chance at winning back 2x your bet... and there's not a guaranteed winner each time."

Eh, just a couple ideas I've had... would think it'd be cool to see something other than: 1k, 1 roll, 1k, 1 roll, 1k, 1 roll... /sigh.

Edited, Thu Jan 6 17:26:54 2005 by ElvaanKrem

I don't understand why everyone gets upset about casinos. The people who run them are providing a service just like a White Mage does spamming for teleports. For the New Year, I've decided to lower my down to 600, and people have started winning a lot more. Also, we're not all evil out to take money. People who are willing to risk a decent amount I offer a much more fair game. 50% chance of winning to be exact.

But the JP casinos are the most creative. One I've played with was roll 100+ higher than her and win. She spoke really good English too. ^^

And about paying out, you don't have to worry about it with me. I owed someone who won against me money and sold my hairpin just to pay them.

The thing wrong with your idea for a new game though is /random isn't random at all. It's very easily predicted what range you'll roll in. That's how I won 900k profit from a poor Ninja.


Edited, Fri Jan 7 07:28:23 2005 by nlurg

They're not taking advantage of anyone. Someone who takes their time to learn the tricks of the trade always comes out with profit. I don't understand why people who run casinos are automaticly blisted? Do you think it's easy money? I can tell you from personal experience as a host, I lose 200k of whatever profit I make every day. Often enough, I make no profit and just lose money.

What really ticks me off is when someone bets 50k and rolls 777, then walks off. Don't even give you a chance to break even with them.

I don't know anymore, a lot of people are turned off doing higher roller wins with me since I roll 999 often.

Not me man.. that was NLurg. LoL. As much as I respect taking the responsibility and paying what was now your debt, I can't say I would have accepted any bet that could potentially put me in the hole. You'll never see a pit boss give someone a note that could take the casino under. LoL.

Aldion, I completely understand what you are saying about getting a quick /blist takes you out of a few eyes in pts later. However, some people really like the casinos. So for arguments sake, you've now been put on some people's good list. Just another way to look at it. :-b

I'm not condoning or shuning casino's, I just think people make to big of a deal of it. If you go up and lose all your gil, than that's your own fault. The casino hosts aren't hunting you down forcing you to type /random. LoL. You choose to play.

Well like I mentioned, not everyone is offended by casino's or feel they need to /blist them. Granted more probably /blist than don't, but hey, it's there prerogative. My guess, most of them look at uber gear getting you the pt faster, which is true a lot of times. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you still show up in a /sea inv all even if you're /blisted. If that is true, than you are likely to still get an invite. If you don't show up, I would they are using a mule. LoL.

If they are using a mule to run these casino's, 9 times out of 10 nobody will know who the main character is. You can /blist a mule and not the main. (Pretty sure on this). In that sense, they make there money and only kill their mule's rep. Who cares about your mule's rep. LoL.

A casino annoys your chat log, etc? White Mages take advantage of people unable or too lazy to level White Mage and teleport themselves. They often spam their macros a lot more than your average casino, and getting paid a decent amount of money for using MP. So how could the casino spam, which isn't much, be any worse than tele-taxi?

I can understand not approving of the act of gambling, but that's where it is a choice. No one if forcing you to play with them, or even pay attention to what they type. You shouldn't deny a person oppurtunity in the game because of the way they choose to make money.As you said yourself, you don't filter shouts because you might find something that sparks your interest. What if one of those honest casino people stated something that would have sparked interest, but you never saw it because you believe everyone should farm, camp, and craft?

I'm sure if one of your friends or LS mates, or someone just popular in general spammed a casino chances are you wouldn't blist them. You figure some random level 40 Dragoon is never going to befriend you, or assist. It's just like how a lot of people sell their ninjitsu scrolls thinking they'll never level Ninja, and when they decide to they see the scrolls cost 3x more then what they sold for months ago.

Also, there's very little luck in the /random system. If you know the general math of the system you're more then likely going to end up breaking the house. Unless the house at the time happens to be loaded, and offers to play higher roll and screws you over.

Edited, Fri Jan 7 16:09:19 2005 by nlurg

No Aldion, this guy's just not a mathematics major... rolling 650 or more on a 999 scale is... well, lets see... which is greater:

A) 649/999 (64.9%) or b) 349/999 (999-650 = 349) (34.9%).

As for rolling triples, there's 111, 222, 333, etc... there's 9 triple numbers in all... so you have a 9/999 (00.9%) chance...

Soo, it looks like you're more than likely going to end up giving money to the house.

Edited, Sat Jan 8 16:34:36 2005 by ElvaanKrem