Page 23 - August 2006 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bill Burton: About Gambling
WCash Alternatives at the Casino
e are rapidly becoming a cashless society. Many businesses require employees to use direct deposit for their paychecks. And using credit cards has become a way of life.
Many people have credit cards with bonus programs that o er cash back, airline tickets or merchandise for each dollar they charge. ese incentives encourage people to charge items rather than pay cash for them. But credit card debt is increasingly becoming a national problem. It is too easy to get caught up in the “buy now, pay later” mentality.
traveler’s check. Some banks o er their customers free travelers checks. And if you are a member of the AAA
Auto Club, you can get free traveler’s checks.
You can also deposit money at the casino and take a marker at the table. Many casinos will allow you to electronically deposit money from your bank or you can deposit money when you get there. is way you won’t have a lot of cash to carry around. e casino is not worried about your marker because it is your own
money.
And what about an ATM card? Before you use
your ATM card at the casino, check the cost of the transaction fee. ATM fees are always higher in the casino. Using an ATM card is the least preferable of all cash alternatives unless you get a low transaction fee.
ese are the best alternatives to carrying cash if you are an occasional casino visitor. If you visit a casino on a regular basis, you may want to apply for check writing privileges or establish casino credit.
Until next time, remember: “Luck comes and goes... Knowledge Stays Forever.”
Bill Burton is the Casino Gambling Guide and columnist for the Internet portal About.com, located at http://casinogambling.about.com He is the author of 1000 Best Casino Gambling Secrets and Get the Edge at Low Limit Texas Hold’em available online at www.billburton.com. He is an instructor for Golden Touch Craps, http://www.thecrapsclub.com.
About Gambling with Bill Burton
Leave Your Credit Card at Home
e one place you should never use your credit card is at the casino. e number one rule of gambling: Never bet more than you can afford to lose.
Casinos have a house edge on most games. And that means over the long run, the mathematics of
e casino charges you a processing fee just for issuing the cash advance, depending on how much money you want. At one casino I checked, a charge for a $500 cash advance was $21.99. at is 4.4 % paid to the casino up-front. Most credit card companies also charge 3% for the cash advance, which will come to $15.66 (3% of
the game will grind away
your bankroll. e built-
in house advantage is
how casinos make money.
It’s the price we pay to
play. Consider it our
price of entertainment. Money management in the casino can keep us on budget with a given amount to gamble — win, lose or draw. And this brings us to rule number two: Never gamble with borrowed money.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what you do if you take a cash advance on your credit card at the casino. ere are signi cant charges if you decide to do this.
$521.99)
at means you are
already down $37.65 or 7.4% before you even sit down to play! at’s the equivalentofsittingata$5
blackjack table and losing eight hands in a row or getting nothing back after putting $35 in a slot machine. is is why you should never use a credit card in the casino.
Consider the Alternatives
So, what are the cash alternatives? If you are vacationing at a casino, the most popular alternative is a simple
August 2006
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Page 23
“The number one rule of gambling: Never bet more than you can afford to lose.”