WACKJACK

FROM THIS MORNINGS LAS VEGAS SUN NEWSPAPER.

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Nevada casinos are making a lot less money on nearly all of their games except for baccarat. A surprise big loser for the casinos: blackjack.
While gaming revenue as a whole has plummeted to 2004 levels, blackjack — which generated about $1 billion last year — has fallen to levels not seen since the late 1990s. Blackjack, the biggest moneymaker among casino table games, generated $996 million in 1998.

Blackjack revenue fell 20 percent last year, on top of a 12 percent drop in 2008 from the previous year. The games also are holding less for the house than they did a few years ago, or about 11 percent versus 12 percent in 2006.
On the Strip, blackjack is down 34 percent from its peak, while slots are down about 20 percent, according to calculations by Frank Martin, a San Diego-based mathematician and gaming analyst.

Martin attributes some of the decline to backfired attempts by casinos in recent years to make blackjack games more profitable. These include the spread of 6-5 odds games and a proliferation of specialty blackjack games and side bets with worse-odds jackpots that attract novices while turning off seasoned blackjack players.

“Unlike slots, where the payback setting is a mystery, blackjack has to advertise the rule changes that increase house edge,” Martin said.

The rapid descent of casinos’ biggest moneymaker in table games is a bad sign, especially for older or smaller casinos that can’t afford other attractions like baccarat, which is attracting Asian players with money to burn and other high rollers who prefer the mystique and relatively little decision-making involved in baccarat versus blackjack, Martin added.

I TOLD YOU NOT TO PLAY BLACKJACK WHERE THE PAYOFF WAS LESS THAN 3:2,  AND LOOKS LIKE THE CUSTOMERS ARE LISTENING.