Street Gambling

To print the whole chapter in HTML, please click at the bottom of the TOC panel and then click.Please set the page orientation to 'Landscape' for printing of bilingual texts on a single page. An illegal shell game performed with bottle caps on Fulton Street in New York City The shell game (also known as thimblerig, three shells and a pea, the old army game ) is portrayed as a gambling game, but in reality, when a wager for money is made, it is almost always a confidence trick used to perpetrate fraud.

Contents

Gambling is a staple of fantasy roleplaying, from elaborate games of chance in a glittering high-end casino in the wealthy part of the city to a dangerous high-stakes card game in a tavern's back room. RPG rules aside, the players and the Gamemaster can play a gambling game between themselves, without the interference of wildly disparate levels and skill modifiers—just get some dice or cards, and play.

However, no one coming to your house for an RPG session is going to be satisfied if you just play croupier all night long. You need to make your players' trip to the Gold Goblin Gaming House rich in fantasy if you're going to have a successful gaming experience, in both senses of the word 'gaming.'

Creating the Right Atmosphere

Characters don't walk into gambling halls for the thrill of a slightly worse-than-average chance of breaking even. They come in for the camaraderie, the tasty beverages, and the much smaller-than-average chance of winning very big. Thus, your gambling environments should be fun and rich in character. A high-end casino can have elven dancing maidens on stage, specialty dwarven drinks, and rich patrons sitting at the tables offering wild adventures. A low-end gaming hall can be wall-to-wall with reprobates, staffed with ogre bouncers, and carry the ever-present threat of a table-tipping bar brawl.

When the player characters walk in, describe the action. Have the house wizard cast detect magic as they enter, allknowingly wagging a finger at the PC with the crystal ball in her backpack. Show a halfling noble leaping with joy as he hits the jackpot at 3-crown imperial poker. Let them see a goblin tableboy chucked out the window for smuggling players' winnings out between his pointy teeth. Make the characters want to be there.

When they sit down to play, make sure it's something they can win. Long slogs are fine at the nickel slots, but they're no fun in an RPG. Play something with wild swings, chances of devastating losses, and the occasional powerhouse victory.

In the end, offer them an adventure no matter how it turns out. If they lose big, have the club owner give them a chance to win back what they've lost by taking out the kobolds in the nearby sewer. If they win big, have some half-orcs attempt to jack their winnings in the alley. There are many types of gambles in the world.

Types of Gambling Games

There are thousands of gambling games, but all of them fall into a few basic categories or types. Many games combine elements of these types. Different players like different kinds of games, so it's a good idea to have a wide array available.

Beat-the-bank: In games like baccarat, the house determines a certain result for itself, and the player must endeavor to beat it. Sometimes a judgment call must be made, such as in blackjack, where both the player and the bank could go above a 21 and fail.

Bluffing: The only true skill on this list, bluffing requires a player to guess what another player has, and judge whether he should try to beat it. Poker is a bluffing game, and thus is not a gambling game in the true sense. Luck is important, but in the long run, skill is much more significant.

Lottery: Each player buys one or more stakes in a large pool. Randomly, one stake is determined the winner, and most of the wagered money goes to the owner(s) of that stake.

Match game: The player wins when certain preset patterns appear, such as on a slot machine. Some may be more valuable than others, so in a game where 3d6 are rolled and the goal is to hit triples, 1-1-1 may be less valuable than 6-6-6.

Pick-a-number: In a game such as roulette or keno, each player picks one or more target numbers, and then a result number is determined. If the result is the same as a player's target number, the player wins; otherwise, the player loses.

Proposition betting: Prop bets are bets on the outcomes of events for which one has imperfect knowledge. Sports bets are the best known of these types of bets. The house sets a line on which it believes half the bettors will pick one side and half will pick the other. The proposition then happens, and the people who picked correctly are paid off.

To print the whole chapter in HTML, please click at the bottom of the TOC panel and then click.Please set the page orientation to 'Landscape' for printing of bilingual texts on a single page. An illegal shell game performed with bottle caps on Fulton Street in New York City The shell game (also known as thimblerig, three shells and a pea, the old army game ) is portrayed as a gambling game, but in reality, when a wager for money is made, it is almost always a confidence trick used to perpetrate fraud.

Contents

Gambling is a staple of fantasy roleplaying, from elaborate games of chance in a glittering high-end casino in the wealthy part of the city to a dangerous high-stakes card game in a tavern's back room. RPG rules aside, the players and the Gamemaster can play a gambling game between themselves, without the interference of wildly disparate levels and skill modifiers—just get some dice or cards, and play.

However, no one coming to your house for an RPG session is going to be satisfied if you just play croupier all night long. You need to make your players' trip to the Gold Goblin Gaming House rich in fantasy if you're going to have a successful gaming experience, in both senses of the word 'gaming.'

Creating the Right Atmosphere

Characters don't walk into gambling halls for the thrill of a slightly worse-than-average chance of breaking even. They come in for the camaraderie, the tasty beverages, and the much smaller-than-average chance of winning very big. Thus, your gambling environments should be fun and rich in character. A high-end casino can have elven dancing maidens on stage, specialty dwarven drinks, and rich patrons sitting at the tables offering wild adventures. A low-end gaming hall can be wall-to-wall with reprobates, staffed with ogre bouncers, and carry the ever-present threat of a table-tipping bar brawl.

When the player characters walk in, describe the action. Have the house wizard cast detect magic as they enter, allknowingly wagging a finger at the PC with the crystal ball in her backpack. Show a halfling noble leaping with joy as he hits the jackpot at 3-crown imperial poker. Let them see a goblin tableboy chucked out the window for smuggling players' winnings out between his pointy teeth. Make the characters want to be there.

When they sit down to play, make sure it's something they can win. Long slogs are fine at the nickel slots, but they're no fun in an RPG. Play something with wild swings, chances of devastating losses, and the occasional powerhouse victory.

In the end, offer them an adventure no matter how it turns out. If they lose big, have the club owner give them a chance to win back what they've lost by taking out the kobolds in the nearby sewer. If they win big, have some half-orcs attempt to jack their winnings in the alley. There are many types of gambles in the world.

Types of Gambling Games

There are thousands of gambling games, but all of them fall into a few basic categories or types. Many games combine elements of these types. Different players like different kinds of games, so it's a good idea to have a wide array available.

Beat-the-bank: In games like baccarat, the house determines a certain result for itself, and the player must endeavor to beat it. Sometimes a judgment call must be made, such as in blackjack, where both the player and the bank could go above a 21 and fail.

Bluffing: The only true skill on this list, bluffing requires a player to guess what another player has, and judge whether he should try to beat it. Poker is a bluffing game, and thus is not a gambling game in the true sense. Luck is important, but in the long run, skill is much more significant.

Lottery: Each player buys one or more stakes in a large pool. Randomly, one stake is determined the winner, and most of the wagered money goes to the owner(s) of that stake.

Match game: The player wins when certain preset patterns appear, such as on a slot machine. Some may be more valuable than others, so in a game where 3d6 are rolled and the goal is to hit triples, 1-1-1 may be less valuable than 6-6-6.

Pick-a-number: In a game such as roulette or keno, each player picks one or more target numbers, and then a result number is determined. If the result is the same as a player's target number, the player wins; otherwise, the player loses.

Proposition betting: Prop bets are bets on the outcomes of events for which one has imperfect knowledge. Sports bets are the best known of these types of bets. The house sets a line on which it believes half the bettors will pick one side and half will pick the other. The proposition then happens, and the people who picked correctly are paid off.

Gambling and Skill Checks

There is a reason you don't see the word 'Gambling' in the Pathfinder RPG skill list, and that's because gambling is not a skill. With the exception of mislabeled skill games such as poker, a gambling game is by its very definition based on seeing what lucks brings you. You cannot bring your own luck, unless you cheat. And since the house always has an edge, you cannot make money gambling against the house. There is, however, the Profession (gambler) skill. Like all Profession skills, this Wisdom-based skill is about making money over the course of a week, not about winning a particular spin of a roulette wheel. It's about figuring out where to play, when to play, and whom to play with. A character with high ranks in this skill is playing a lot, minimizing his losses, and probably using many other skills.

In a hand of a skill game like poker, you can use a player's Profession (gambler) skill to adjudicate it, in the same way a character's Profession (fisherman) skill might be used to catch a fish for dinner. However, it need not be the only skill a player could use. Bluff, Intimidate, Sense Motive, and (for cheating) Sleight of Hand can all be used to win a single hand of cards. These rolls, along with some roleplaying, can make a card showdown into an interesting encounter.

Games of Chance

In games of pure chance, luck should rule the day. Neither the player nor the house is in control—the dice are, and no ranks in Profession (gambler) will help a character win. But this is as it should be. Players don't want to win at craps because their characters have high Dexterity scores—they want to win because the dice are hot tonight.

Of course, cheating is the only way to change your luck in a game of chance. If someone at the table wants to cheat, Sleight of Hand is the most useful skill, but Disable Device might also be allowed. In addition, magic can be quite useful for cheating. Spells like mage hand, silent image, and modify memory can turn bad results into good results. Getting caught, however, can turn these good results into much, much worse outcomes.

Designing a Gambling Game

A gambling game has five distinct elements: the house, the equipment, the mechanic, the odds, and the payout.

House: The house is the source of the game, and determines the game's style. A 'tight' house runs games where the house edge is higher, and where player influence is minimized. A 'loose' house wants much more gambling to occur, and is willing to maximize its risks so that players will bet more. The standard deviation of loss or gain is higher if the house is loose. As long as the house has an advantage in all games, the other important number the house must care about is its exposure, which is how much it can lose if everyone suddenly wins at once. A house that can't cover all its bets won't be successful for long.

Equipment: This is what you need to play the game. It's not just dice or cards—you often need markers, coins, and even miniatures. You should also determine how many people are necessary to run the game. Usually it's just one dealer, but a game like craps requires four people to run it: a boxman, two base dealers, and a stickman.

Mechanic: The mechanic is how the game is played. A mechanic should be simple and easy to grasp: place a chip on the board and roll a pair of dice, choose a number and spin a wheel, use some of your hole cards and some of the ones on the table. However, the variation of results can be much less simple; the sheer number of possible places to put your money on a craps table is dazzling.

Odds: The odds are the percentage chances that a player will win money. A player's percentage chance of winning should be somewhat less than 50 percent for the house to make money. In any casino, the house will retain some 'edge,' which is the profit the house will make on a long series of bets. So if a player plays a game where he wins 9 silver pieces for every gold piece he gives the house, the house edge is 10 percent.

Payout: The payout is the rate of return a player gets when he wins, usually double the odds. It's important to understand that for a game of pure chance, all choices must lead to the same payouts over time. Think of the roulette board. A straight-up bet on a single number has a 37-to-1 chance of hitting, and pays 35-to-1. A bet on all of the numbers 1–12 has a 2.167-to-1 chance of hitting, and pays 2-to-1. A bet on red has a 1.111-to-1 chance of hitting, and pays 1-to-1. Doing the math on these bets show that they all have the same rate of return: a player loses 5.3 cents for every dollar bet.

Street Gambling Games

The main difference between legal and illegal gambling is that legal gambling is monitored by government inspections agencies. But more people gamble because it is legal, and although the government collects taxes on jackpots, Indian casinos and lotteries, the system is highly subject to fraud.

Gambling online is illegal (federally), but this doesn't stop people from doing it. And even though the Organized Crime Section of the Department of Justice found that 'the rate of illegal gambling in those states which have some legalized form of gambling was three times as high as those states where there was not a legalized form of gambling,' we still believe that gambling is a drain to society. Here are our Top 5 reasons why.

Reasons why gambling should be illegal

1. Gambling is subject to fraud.

Legalized gambling, specifically Indian gaming, is the fastest growing industry in the world, and can have a corrupting influence on state government. The governments are addicted to the revenue received from Indian gaming and lotteries. Recently there have been numerous news reports of corruption and fraud in state lotteries.

2. Availability of gambling facilities increases risk of problem gambling.

Legalized gambling makes this activity available to too many people. Governments and casinos portray this as a harmless form of entertainment. Because of the availability of legalized gambling, it is more addictive and destructive than most other addictions.

Furthermore, most citizens would not gamble illegally. Legalized gambling, therefore, entices people to gamble, who normally would not gamble at all. In states with different numbers of games, participation rates increase steadily and sharply as the number of legal types of gambling increases. In fact, legalized gambling in various states has not been a competitor to, but rather has become a stimulator of illegal gambling.

The public is assured they have the potential to win a huge jackpot. All that is required is to drive to the casino or purchase a lottery ticket. Because of the availability of gambling, many gamblers become addicted and compulsive. Interested in how to quit gambling? Read more here.

3. Problem gambling costs society billions annually.

Street Gambling London

The social costs of gambling addictions will eventually impact careers, physical and mental health issues, bankruptcy, divorce, crimes, and treatment. The gamblers will eventually rely on welfare or unemployment benefits, impacting the government, and the costs could reach several billions of dollars per year.

4. Gambling exploits the poor.

Evidence shows that legalized gambling often hurts and even destroys, especially those who are poor and disadvantaged. If gambling were illegal, the gambling venues would not be able to promote their lotteries, casinos, or other forms of betting and exploit people who are most vulnerable.

5. Gambling sets a double standard for governments.

State lotteries are argueably an effective way to raise taxes. Legalized gambling is a disturbing governmental policy. Governments should promote desirable qualities in the citizens and not seduce them to gamble in state-sponsored vice. When this occurs, the government contributes to the corruption of society.

Legalized gambling is a bad social policy. At a time when independent organizations estimate that there are at least 12 million compulsive gamblers, it does not make a lot of sense to have the state promoting gambling. State sponsorship of gambling makes it harder, for the compulsive gambler to reform.

Compulsive gambling costs

In addition to the above reasons for making gambling illegals, are the economic costs that gamblers themselves incur. The average compulsive gambler has debts exceeding $80,000. Additionally, compulsive gamblers affect the lives of family, friends, and business associates. Some of the consequences of gambling include marital disharmony, divorce, child abuse, substance abuse, and suicide attempts. Other social costs surface because of family neglect, embezzlement, theft, and involvement in organized crime.

Crossing our fingers or wishing on a star will not guarantee a win. The only guarantee is, if a person is a compulsive gambler and continues to gamble, the end result is prison, insanity, or death. Whether gambling is legal or illegal, there will always be gamblers. Wanna bet?

Street Gambling

Street Gambling Dice