Casino Games: The Great Equalizers

Today's casino games have a history of being designed, developed, and maintained to ensure that anyone can have a safe, secure, and satisfying experience-whether he or she is a high roller at the Blackjack tables, a loose cannon at the Roulette Wheel, or a cautious nickel-player at the slots. Casino games do this by making it easy for anyone to learn, bet, and play, and making the odds challenging and intriguing enough that anyone might win. In other words, we all have the same chances, when it comes to the odds, to benefit. Granted, the first casino games may have had more questionable odds. From the first legal casino opening in Baden in 1765, to the 1776 government-sanctioned legal gambling casinos, casino games were conducted and played to raise money for the people, towns, and cities struggling with ways to generate income. Like any business, they generated much more income than they paid out. But that didn't stop people playing. Millions have played and continue to play just for the fun of gambling. Today, while casino games played on site are only legal in four U.S. states-New Jersey and Nevada among them-over 40 states rely on state lotteries (which started with the first legal lottery in New Hampshire) to fund schools, fire departments, police departments, and other state institutions. Again, the income is substantial, while the excitement for every person who buys a ticket grows with the growth of the jackpot amount. At the same time, casino games as legal, legitimate, secure forms of entertainment are now open to anyone with a computer. Now, any one of us can experience the delight of slots, card games, Roulette, and Keno, as well as horse, car, and dog race betting. A movie star with millions and a farmer with only a few bucks to spare can play online, betting anywhere from 5 cents to 500 dollars--and winning, when the odds lean in his/her favor, much more. And casino games are sanctioned by gaming commissions and protected by specific technology that not only secures

your playing but ensures your satisfaction-thanks to brilliant graphics and virtual play environments that include memberships, VIP treatment, and club facilities, so you feel connected to other players around the world and feel as if you are in one of the few legally run casinos-state or worldwide. So whether you invest in a special package that flies you to Monte Carlo or Rio de Janero, whether you afford the weekend luxuries of a stay at Las Vegas or Atlantic City, or whether you buy a six-month membership for fifty or a hundred bucks online, you have the fun and future of anyone-rich or poor. And maybe you will become rich, as one of my co-workers did, playing video poker on the net.