Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Gambling: Do the Math

What is it with the Press-Citizen's compulsive gambling reporting disorder? The paper's back at it again this morning (October 10), giving the Riverside gambling casino more of the page one coverage to which the casino now probably considers itself entitled. Rachel Gallegos, "Casino Meeting Its Financial Goals; Made $7.6 Million Revenue in 31 Days," Iowa City Press-Citizen, October 10, 2006.

The story, and the supporting raw data to which it led me, does contain some very interesting insights. But isn't it really more of a business page story -- if that? Are the Riverside gambling casino's financials really the most important news of the world -- or eastern Iowa -- this morning?

Placement aside, the story draws from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, "Track Gaming Revenue Report" and "Riverboat Revenue Report," September 2006, enough to keep any rational person out of the casino -- certainly any college student looking for "new ways to earn cash" [for links see, e.g., yesterday's Nicholas Johnson, "Hats Off to The Gazette," October 9, 2006].

Here are some examples of the Riverside gambling casino's percentage take from its "customers" (that is, of the amount the gamblers put on the table during the past month, this is the percentage of that amount kept by the gambling casino).

Caribbean Stud: $170,094 -- 37.51%
Roulette: $294,193 -- 31.96%
PAI GOW Poker: $216,786 -- 21.44%
Craps: $820,031 -- 19.88%

And of course those are just a few of the numbers that enabled the Riverside gambling casino to walk away with over $7,000,000 in one month's profit from Iowans willing to contribute that much toward Iowa's "economic growth."

Yeah, I can see how a college student could easily put herself through school if she spent enugh time at a gambling casino with odds like that.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

1 Comments:

Anonymous said...

The spread of online gambling had been very good news indeed for gamblers, with industry competition leading to lower operators’ margins and higher payout ratios. State monopoly lotteries and horse races, by contrast, offer terrible odds and are subject to heavy taxes.

Why then has the bill been passed in such a hurry? Because of the forthcoming mid-term elections. The Republicans’ interest is not in protecting the weak and vulnerable, but rather in cosseting the Christian Right and individual states' monopolies.

10/10/2006 04:16:34 PM