This House Would Ban Gambling

This House Would Ban Gambling Free
This House Should Ban Gambling

Oct 31, 2019 Michigan House passes sports betting, online gambling bills ports betting and online gambling would become legal at Michigan casinos under.

30-second summary

Politician Lord Kirkhope says ban will protect children
Problem gambling should be seen as a public health issue
Kirkhope was behind push to ban TV ads in the 90s
Says Labour government should not have liberalized sector
Government already bringing in new measures to curb harm

Conservative politician renews push for ban

Lord Timothy Kirkhope, a Conservative politician, has renewed his drive to ban all gambling ads, everywhere. He said banning gambling advertisements was necessary to protect children.

Kirkhope has a seat in the House of Lords, the UK’s second tier of parliament. Addressing the Lords on January 16, he asked the government to clarify its current policy on gambling ads.

The politician was the House of Commons government minister for gambling matters in the Conservative government of the early 1990s. At that time, he wanted to ban gambling ads on TV but was unable to get the measure passed.

Says liberalization caused problems

Kirkhope claimed that the Labour government’s liberalization of the gambling sector led to today’s problems – record numbers of gambling addicts, including 55,000 children. The number of child gambling addicts has increased fourfold since 2016. It is estimated that 450,000 children aged 11-16 regularly gamble.

He said: “Sadly, in 2005 the Labour Government of that time totally liberalized this and we ended up with a great and continuing problem. We now have a total of £234m [$303m] of advertising revenue from gambling on television.”

Kirkham added that he was delighted that the gambling industry had volunteered to implement the new whistle-to-whistle ban on gambling adverts. But he said more needs to be done.

Government response

Lord Ashton, who has a role in the department for digital, culture, media, and sport (DCMS), pointed out that the government is dealing with problem gambling. TV ads must now carry warnings about the risks of betting, and the government is funding more clinics for gambling addiction.

The DCMS has also spent millions of pounds to educate consumers via its own advertising campaigns. And it pressured the gambling sector on the whistle-to-whistle ban.

Ashton said he wanted video gaming and app companies to be licensed to offer skins and loot boxes, where players can gamble for in-game prizes. For the most part, these cannot be converted into cash, but loot boxes are most frequently offered in games that appeal to children.

He said: “We are seeking to work with the video games industry to raise awareness of that and explore solutions. It is a new issue of which we are taking account.”

Currently, the UKGC has ruled that loot boxes are not a form of gambling but skin betting is, and an illicit one.

Kirkhope responded: “While I welcome the Government’s position and the way in which they are taking initiatives, including its whistle-to-whistle voluntary agreement, I am still very concerned that any review has no real timescale. Will my noble friend the Minister therefore give us some indication of whether there will be a timescale to a further review?”

A public health issue

Increasingly, gambling is seen as a public health issue because of the social harms caused by problem gambling. Politicians in both the House of Lords and the House of Commons are continuing to keep up the pressure on betting companies. Many believe gambling ads will end up being banned, much as cigarette ads are now illegal.

The DCMS and the regulator, the UK Gambling Commission, are working to limit the frequency of gambling ads beyond the whistle-to-whistle ban during live sporting events. Both parties are ready to impose ever bigger fines on betting companies who fail to act responsibly.

The government’s recent decision to fund more gambling addiction clinics has also been widely welcomed.

Advantage gambling, or advantage play, refers to legal methods, in contrast to cheating in casinos, used to gain an advantage while gambling. The term usually refers to house-banked games, but can also refer to games played against other players, such as poker. Someone who practises advantage gambling is often referred to as an advantage player, or AP. Unlike cheating, which is by definition illegal, advantage play exploits innate characteristics of a particular game to give the player an advantage relative to the house or other players. While not illegal, advantage play is often discouraged and some advantage players may be banned by certain casinos.

A skillful or knowledgeable player can gain an advantage at a number of games. Card games have been beaten by card sharps for centuries. Some slot machines and lotteries with progressive jackpots can eventually have such a high jackpot that they offer a positive return or overlay when played long term, according to the gambling mathematics. Some online games can be beaten with bonus hunting.

1Sports and horse betting
4Other ways to gain an advantage

Sports and horse betting[edit]

Sports and horse betting can be beaten by placing arbitrage bets, which involve placing bets at different bookmakers who are offering different lines. Many online sports books now offer bonuses like free bets or free money. These bonuses usually come with a stipulation that the bettor place a certain number of bets. For example, a site may offer a bettor $50 free if they deposit $100 and place a total of $1000 in bets. These can reduce the vig taken by the house or even offer the bettor a small advantage.^{[citation needed]}

Another form of advantage can be found by betting the 'middle' on a sports event. This situation occurs when two bookmakers are offering different lines on the same event, or if a bettor has placed a bet and the bookmaker changes the line. The bettor simply takes the most favorable lines at each bookmaker, and if the result of the contest is between the numbers, or in the 'middle', then the bettor wins both bets.

For example, Bookmaker A lists the Jets to be a 4-point favorite over the Bills. Bookmaker B has the Jets as just a 2-point favorite. The advantage player may bet the Bills +4 with Book A and then the Jets -2 with Book B. If the Jets win by 3, the advantage player collects on both bets. If the Jets win by either 2 or 4, the advantage player collects on one winning bet and the other 'push.' And if the Jets win or lose by any other total, the two bets cancel out, leaving the advantage player to pay only the vigorish on the bets. Given typical 10-cent lines, a middle need only win 1 time in 21 to break even, which is a realistic goal – the middle is always a plausible result since it is based on the actual strength of the teams. Middling is an example of line arbitrage.

Special offers[edit]

Using special offers provided by bookmakers it is possible for a skilled bettor to put the odds in their favour. Special offers may include; cashback on specific events, enhanced odds and comp points. To profit from these specials, a skilled bettor will use betting, laying and dutching^[1] to create their own book on an event that may not guarantee profit but will still put the odds in their favour instead of the bookmaker(s) involved. Sign up bonuses are also classed as special offers and can be used in a similar way to lock in a profit regardless of the result using the principles of matched betting.

Betting exchanges[edit]

Betting exchanges offer advantage players a chance to make a larger profit than possible with bookmakers because exchanges charge commission only on the net winnings^[2] in a particular betting market. One way to make money on the exchanges is 'trading' - in the above example, the Jets might be a favorite decimal odds of 1.90 to defeat the Bills. If a 'trader' thinks these odds too long he may bet $1000 on the Jets, and should he prove correct and the odds on the Jets get shorter, 'lay off' by laying, say, a $1016 bet against the Jets at 1.87. If the Jets win, he collects $900 on his bet on the Jets and pays out approximately $884 on the bet he laid against the Jets. If the Jets lose, he loses his $1000 stake on the Jets but keeps the $1016 stake on the bet he laid against the Jets. Either way, the 'trader' makes a $16 profit and he will pay a commission only on that profit (usually not more than 5% or 80 cents in this example) for a net profit of $15.20 regardless of the result. Of course, if the odds go the wrong way the 'trader' may lose money but most exchanges do not charge a commission in the event of a net loss.

Blackjack[edit]

Blackjack and other table games can usually be beaten with card counting, hole carding, shuffle tracking, edge sorting, or several other methods. The players most skilled in these techniques have been nominated to the Blackjack Hall of Fame. Some video poker games, such as full pay Deuces Wild, can be beaten by the use of a strategy card^[3] devised by computer analysis of the game and often for sale in casino gift shops. And similar to the Blackjack Hall of Fame, there is an internet 'Video Poker Hall of Fame'.^[4]

Poker[edit]

Poker can offer a long-term advantage to a skilled player because it is played against other players and not against the house. The casino usually takes a rake (commission) or a time charge. Whether a poker player can win enough from the game to cover the rake and make a profit depends, aside from the rake level, not only on the player's skill, but also on the opposition's lack thereof - the degree of difficulty can vary widely from casino to casino. Tables with relatively easy opposition are referred to as 'soft.'

There is another advantage to playing poker as opposed to games where play is against the house: since the house has no direct interest in the outcome of a poker game, successful poker players can operate openly without risk of being banned by casinos.

While in the short term luck primarily determines a poker player's results, over the long term the skilled player will invariably profit if playing against weaker competition. A player can profit from their skill in many ways. For example, by understanding pot odds and implied odds, a player can assess whether it will be profitable to chase a flush or straight draw. Identifying exploitable patterns in an opponent's play also gives the skilled player an edge. For example, a weak opponent might almost never bluff, or might bluff far too often. Or an opponent might make huge bets only as bluffs, and make smaller bets with good hands (or vice versa). If a skilled player notices these patterns in an opponent's play, he or she can make better decisions when facing a bet from that player.

In live settings, some players will take advantage of tells, that is, opponent facial expressions and mannerisms that may give away information about the strength of the player's hand. Skilled players use all available information (not only an opponent's actions earlier in a hand, but also his or her actions during previous hands) to assess what which action will be most profitable, be it a call or a fold, a bluff or a bet for value.

Other ways to gain an advantage[edit]

Dice control[edit]

Experts disagree about whether or not an advantage can be gained at some other games. One example is dice control. Authors Stanford Wong^[5] and Frank Scoblete^[6] have stated that by setting and throwing the dice in a certain way players can alter the odds at the game of craps enough to gain an advantage.

Pachinko[edit]

In the Japanese game of pachinko, there are numerous purported strategies for winning, the most reliable of which is to use inside information to learn which machines have the highest payout settings. Because of the 'Stock', 'Renchan', and tenjō systems, it is possible to make money by simply playing machines on which someone has just lost a huge amount of money. This is called being a 'hyena'. They are easy to recognize, roaming the aisles for a 'Kamo' ('sucker' in English) to leave their machine in a favorable mode.

Angle shooting[edit]

'Angle shooting' is another type of advantage play. Despite 'angle shooting' being legal, it is possibly an unethical way to beat casino games. One way to get an advantage at a casino is 'hole carding' where a player tries to look at the dealer's hole card in blackjack and then uses that information to play their hand differently.^[7] This clearly gives an advantage to the player since knowing your opponent's cards reduces the risks involved in the game. Taking advantage of incorrect payouts is another example of angle shooting. For example, if an inexperienced dealer pays 2 to 1 on a blackjack instead of 3 to 2, not correcting them is also taking advantage of an incorrect payout.^[8]

'Angle shooting' can also happen in poker. For instance, in no-limit poker a player may hide high denomination chips behind stacks of low denomination chips, giving off an appearance that their stack is less powerful than it really is. Another example is making an illegal move, which the player may later declare void if it suits them. While angle shooting is seen as 'fair game' in games against the house, it is heavily frowned upon in games where players compete with other players, as it ruins the table atmosphere, makes the game less appealing to novice players, and is not in the spirit of the game.^[9]

Casinos and playrooms continually create new rules to defeat angle shooting techniques.^[9]

Comp hustling[edit]

Comp hustling can be another form of advantage gambling. Players, known as comp hustlers or comp wizards, who play games with a low house advantage or low bet size such as penny slots, can get more than their expected loss in free items from the casino.^[10] Many advantage players also take steps to maximize the comps they receive from their play.^[11]

Hazards[edit]

Casinos sometimes take measures to thwart players who they believe pose a threat to them, especially card-counters or hole-card players. However, some casinos tolerate card-counters who do not bet large amounts, who are not good at counting, or who do not use a large betting spread.

Some countermeasures include shuffling when the deck is favorable to the player, imposing betting limits, 'backing off' players by asking them not to play blackjack any more, or asking a player to leave the casino. In New Jersey, a player may not be asked to leave a table for counting cards, although the house may still impose betting limits or shuffle sooner.

Players caught counting cards or hole-carding ultimately may find themselves listed in the Griffin Book and become unwelcome in most casinos.^{[citation needed]} The Griffin Book was sued,^[12] but there are other substitutes today.

In the past, video poker and skillful progressive slot machine players were rarely ejected for winning, but the practice is common today.^[13] They may have their comps reduced or eliminated.^[14]

Skillful sports bettors, known as 'sharps', may have their betting limits reduced and may not be allowed to take advantage of bonuses at online sports books. Instead, skillful sports bettors may rely on 'runners' to place and collect their bets.

Craps players are often stopped from playing if the dice fail to bounce off the back wall of the table.^[15]

Advantage players abide by the established rules of the game and thus, in most jurisdictions, are not regarded as committing fraud against the casino. So, while they may face the above casino-imposed sanctions, they are able to operate without the threat of criminal prosecution for their behavior. This is not the case in all jurisdictions, however, and some advantage players have reported more aggressive countermeasures being taken even in well known gambling locations like Monte Carlo.^[16]

Notes[edit]