Page 6 - September 2010 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bill Burton: About Gambling
hat’s in your wallet? at’s the catch phrase of a major credit card company’s advertising, and if you are like most Americans, your wallet probably contains a credit card or two along with an atm/debit card. In fact, the average number of credit/debit cards per
hat’s in Your Wallet?
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front. You still have to pay your credit card company their fee for a cash advance which varies by company, but can run 2% to 5% or higher. e interest rate that you pay for a cash advance is usually much higher than you pay for a normal purchase.
If for example, your credit card company charged 3% for a cash advance and you wanted an advance of $500 it would cost you $15.66. (You are actually borrowing $521.99 because of the casino’s fee.) is means you are already down $37.65 or 7.4% before you even sit down to play. at is the equivalent to sitting down at a $5 blackjack table and losing eight hands in a row or getting nothing back after you slide a couple of twenty dollar bills into a slot machine.
e following month your credit card bill arrives. Your balance is $537.65. You also nd out that on top of the 3% you had to pay to borrow the money, the interest rate for a cash advance is 5% higher than the normal 15% you pay for purchases. So how much will it really cost you? If you don’t make any other purchases on the card and pay only the minimum amount each month, it will take you over three years to pay the debt o . Depending on
your exact interest rate, that will amount to over $700! I know you need to take a credit card with you if you
travel to a casino to book hotel and car reservations, but credit cards should not be used for frivolous cash advances to gamble with. Cash advances should be used for dire emergencies only! I don’t think a few more hands of blackjack or a few more spins of a slot machine falls into this category.
Hopefully, you will never have to use your credit card for a cash advance. But if you use a credit card for any purchases, you should take a few minutes and read the ne print to know exactly how much that card may be costing you. If you don’t like what you see, shop around and nd one that is the best value for you.
Until next time, remember: “Luck comes and goes.. Knowledge Stays Forever.”
Bill Burton 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. Burton is also an instructor for Golden Touch Craps: www.thecrapsclub.com.
person in the United States is 3.5 cards. A Nilson Report showed at the end of 2009 there were 576.4 million credit cards and 507 million debit cards in circulation.
When my friend Brian pays a restaurant bill, he likes to ask the cashier, “Do you accept cash?” ey usually laugh at the joke, but the reality is that each year more and more people are reaching for the “plastic” instead of cash to pay for their purchases.
their revenues are down. ey estimate that the new regulations will cost them about $390 million a year. Because of this, they are looking for other ways to make up for their lost pro ts. Between July 2009 and March
Many people have credit cards that are linked to a bonus program that o ers cash back, airline tickets, or some other merchandise they can purchase with points they earn for each dollar they charge. is encourages people to charge items rather than pay cash for them. Credit card debt is the nancial ruin of many people these days. It is too easy to get caught up in the
“buy now, pay later” mentality. e average credit card debt per household is $15,788, and according to the May 2010
Federal Reserve’s credit report, the average apr on credit card balances is 14.67%.
“While there are some practicalities to carrying less cash, one place you should never use your credit card
is the casino. The number one rule of gambling is: Never Bet More Than You Can Afford To Lose!”
2010 the average annual fee for a credit card jumped 18% and the average cash-advance and balance-transfer fees jumped by 33%.
Leave the Cards Home
While there are some practicalities to carrying less cash, one place you should never use your credit card is the casino. e number one rule of gambling is: Never Bet More Than You Can Afford To Lose!
Unfortunately, that is exactly what you are doing if you run out of money and decide to take a cash advance on your credit card at the casino. ere are also hidden charges you
Part of the problem of credit card debt is that many of the people who use credit cards do not know the ner details associated with credit cards, and many have been have been surprised by hidden charges. e passage several months ago of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, known as the Card Act, was intended to force credit card issuers to give customers more notice about interest-rate increases and to restrict certain controversial billing practices such as inactivity fees.
Since the passage of the new regulations, the credit card companies have been complaining that
may overlook if you decide to do this.
One time when I was visiting my local casino, there
was a long delay as I was waiting in line to cash my chips. I discovered that the reason for this was that two people in front of me were getting a cash advance on their credit cards. When I got to the window I inquired about the fee for taking a cash advance from a credit card. I found out that casinos charge a processing fee just for issuing a check for the cash advance.
e amount of the fee is dependent upon how much money you want. To get a $500 cash advance, the charge was $21.99. at is 4.4% you have to pay the casino up
Page 6
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
September 2010
About Gambling with Bill Burton