Dear Mark:
Do you know why $50 bills are unlucky in a casino? My husband will never accept them from a cashier, but can’t explain why except to say that they are jinxed. Have you ever heard of such a thing?
The fifty-dollar bill ($50) is a denomination of United States currency that has the 18th U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant featured on the obverse, with the U.S. Capitol on the reverse. Hardly anything here draws on superstition, that groundless belief in a supernatural agency. Yet, your husband is far from alone. Many gamblers are dead set against accepting them, and many casinos will not even hand them out.
It is unclear where the bill’s unlucky reputation comes from, but legend has it that mobsters used to tuck $50 bills in the jacket pockets of victims they buried in the desert. Bugsy Siegel had three on him when he was snuffed out by the mob.
When I worked at the Cal Neva at Lake Tahoe, the long-time casino cage manager named Mae, who was even there when Frank Sinatra owned the joint, told me that the $50 bill was seen by Asian gamblers as god-awful unlucky. At the Cal Neva, we could take them in, but we didn’t dole them out.
Tell your husband, Jackie, that within the casino walls, the only way you can bring luck onto oneself is through smart wagering. Hence, my motto; “the smarter you play, the luckier you’ll be.”
Dear Mark: I have seen many baccarat players filling out the scorecard for every bet placed. Does that really matter for increasing the winning odds? Vince W.
Sit down at almost any baccarat table, Vince, and you will find pencils and scorecards provided for the players to track the outcome of each hand. What they are doing is analyzing their card for trends as winning hands switch back and forth between the Player and Banker. Personally, I believe they are wasting their time. Assuming, as you should, that the shoe and dealer are legit, the next hand is an independent, random event.
Nevertheless, jotting BPBBPPPB’s on a Baccarat scorecard, even if there is no advantage to doing so, does add some excitement to the game of Baccarat. The strategy that I would recommend is that since the house edge for the Bank hand is slightly lower than for the Player hand (1.17% vs. 1.36%), just keep betting on the banker and pass on the scorecards.
Now, Vince, please allow me to contradict myself. Sure, I advocated betting the Banker hand and dismiss scorecards, figuring the numbers support the Banker bet as the statistically better wager, even if the difference between the Player and Banker hand is ever so slight. The problem playing this way is that the game action becomes monotonous. Who wants to sit down at a Baccarat table and bet the same wager (B-B-B-B-B-BB-B) all night long? You’re trading the fun of gambling for a minuscule statistical gain. There is that “fun factor” to guessing that I don’t want to overlook here.
Dear Mark: I really enjoyed your column called “Vegas on the Cheap.” Yes, every place that I gamble does offer other forms of entertainment besides losing money. I am curious as to what are your favorite places to go where they offer gambling, but not for the sake of gambling itself ? Alan R.
As Johnny Cash rat-tat-tats towns, cities and states like Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota, Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota on his hit, “I’ve Been Everywhere,” I too have been everywhere, at least when it comes to casino destinations, including on that dusty Winnemucca road. Yet, picking a select few wasn’t all that hard because luckily you allowed me to discount gambling. So here goes. Warning! My list is as subjective as it gets.
Reno/Tahoe: Mark Twain wrote; “We plodded on, two or three hours longer, and at last the Lake burst upon us--a noble sheet of blue water lifted six thousand three hundred feet above the level of the sea, and walled in by a rim of snowclad mountain peaks that towered aloft full three thousand feet higher still! It was a vast oval, and one would have to use up eighty or a hundred good miles in traveling around it. As it lay there with the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole earth affords.” – Roughing It
I worked my entire gaming career, met my wife, got married and my son was born there, and because I worked only swing or graveyard shift, I was able to ski 2,255 days on those “snow-clad mountain peaks that towered aloft full three thousand feet higher still.” This destination truly exemplifies every day a picnic, every night a party.
Detroit: Devoutly loyal to my hometown, I include Detroit on my list. A favorite locale of mine, Ann Arbor, is a mere 50 minutes west of Detroit. And, being a connoisseur of Polish food, I can recommend my favorite Polish restaurant, the Polish Village Café, which sits within the heart of Hamtramck, a city within the city of Detroit. I’ve been known to drive hours just for their Golabki (stuffed cabbage) and Koperkiem Zupe (dill pickle soup). Smacznego!
Biloxi: I confess to being enamored of the sight, smell and sounds of the Mississippi Sound. Biloxi offers some of the finest sports fishing along the entire northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, has excellent eats, and offers as true a southern hospitality experience as you will find anywhere.
Dear Mark: Because I don’t keep track of my wins and losses when I play, my accountant has asked me for a win/loss statement from the casino where I play so I might be able to write off some of my gambling losses. How do I go about getting one? Jim D.
When you use your player’s card, Jim, it documents your play. If you flip it over, there should be a telephone number on the backside. Just ask the rep when you call that you would like a win/loss statement sent to you. Likewise, if you visit the casino often, you can also drop by the slot club booth and request a statement. They probably can print it out for you straight away.
You, or in this case your accountant, will report your gambling winnings on a 1040 tax form on the Other Income Line. You report any gambling losses on Schedule A, Line 28, Miscellaneous Deductions. Your accountant is looking to offset your tax liability on your wins by reporting your losses. If you keep impeccable records while you play, the IRS will accept a written log detailing the date of your wagers, the location, amount of the bet, type of gaming, and wins and losses as documentation. If you don’t, a win/loss statement from the casino definitely helps.
Quick note: Gambling losses can only be used to counterbalance gambling winnings during that same tax period. They cannot be carried forward or back to any other tax year.