Bingo, a.k.a. lotto, is a classic game in which players check off numbers on a physical, or electronic bingo card as they are called, at random, by a caller or host. The winner is the first player to complete a prescribed pattern, such as one, or two, horizontal rows, or all the numbers on the card, a.k.a. a ‘full house’.
Traditionally, so-called ‘cash bingo’ is played for cash prizes made up of a players’ stakes, minus playing fees, while so-called ‘prize bingo’ is played for prizes, of various forms, which are not directly to the number of players or players’ stakes. As far as casinos are concerned, neither form of bingo is particularly lucrative, but the social aspect of the game appeals to a wide demographic and its popularity endures.
Numerous variations of bingo exist, but the two most popular are 90-ball and 75-ball bingo, which take their names from the total number of balls in play. The 90-ball version is played with a bingo card consisting of a 9 x 3 grid, with 27 spaces in total, but only five spaces in each row contain numbers, so 15 numbers are in play. By contrast, the 75-ball version is played on a card consisting of a 5 x 5 grid, with 25 spaces in total; all the spaces contain numbers, with the exception of the centre square, which is desingated a ‘free’ space, so 24 numbers are in play.
‘Casino’ is an epic crime drama film based on the non-fiction book, ‘Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas, written by Nicholas Pileggi; unusually, Pileggi did not finish the book until after filming has started. Distributed by Universal Pictures in 1995, ‘Casino’ was directed by Martin Scorcese, who co-wrote the screenplay, and stars Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci.
The film charts the rise and fall of Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein (De Niro), a former expert sports handicapper, who applies for a gaming licence, despite ‘at least two dozen gambling and bookmaking pinches’, and takes over the everyday running of the Mafia-controlled Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas in the early Seventies. Rothstein is joined in Las Vegas by his childhood friend Nicky Santoro (Pesci), who is assigned by Chicago Mafia boss Remo Gaggi to protect the skimming operation or, in other words, the cash taken ‘off the top’ of daily revenue to fund organised crime. Santoro, though, refuses to keep a low profile and his violent extracurricular activities earm him a place in the so-called ‘Black Book’, officially banning him from every casino in Nevada. Rothstein meets, has a daughter with, and marries former prostitute Ginger McKenna (Stone), but their relationship gradually breaks down, thanks in no small part to her former boyfriend, conman-turned pimp Lester Diamond (James Woods) and her increasing dependency on alcohol and drugs.
Rothstein was inspired by Frank ‘Lefty’ Rosenthal, a real-life Las Vegas legend, while McKenna was inspired by his real-life wife, Geraldine ‘Geri’ McGee, a Las Vegas showgirl, and Santoro was inspired by Anthony Spilotro, a.k.a. ‘Tony the Ant’, a much-feared Mafia enforcer, whose badly beaten body was found, along with that of his brother, Michael, in an Indiana cornfield in 1986.
Sic bo, also known as dai siu or tai sai, is a gambling game of ancient Chinese origin, which was introduced to North America by Chinese immigrants at the turn of the twentieth century. Confusingly, while sic bo translates into English as ‘dice pair’, the game is actually played with three dice, which are shaken in a closed box, or ‘chest’, or by a mechanical shaker. After each roll of the dice, the outcome is revealed to the table by the dealer and bets are settled accordingly.
Sic bo offers a variety of betting options and, while the table layout, the titles of the bets and the odds on offer vary from one casino to the next, the most popular wagers are pretty much universal. The most popular bets, not least because they offer, far and away, the lowest house edge of any available on a sic bo layout, are known as ‘Big’ and ‘Small’. These bets win on totals of 11-17 and 4-10, respectively, except in the event of a triple, or three of a kind, typically pay 1/1 and offer a house edge of 2.78% in both cases.
At longer odds, other possibilities include a two dice combination, or ‘domino’, bet, where players attempt to predict the outcome of two dice, rather than three, a double bet, on a specific pair, a specific triple bet. Bear in mind, though, that increased payout odds are offset by a higher house edge. A specific triple bet, for example, typically offers enticing odds of 180/1, but a house edge of 16.2%.
