Casinos Should casinos set limits?

[randy]

Table maximums can be as low as $50 in the small casinos whereas the more established ones can even have it at $50,000. In most places, the gaming commissions leave it up to the casinos to set these limits. Would it be a good thing is there was no maximum or minimum limit?

 

[AlltheAces]

In practice there needs to be a maximum because casinos don't have unlimited money. Imagine an extreme case, if Bill Gates put $10Bn on red and won? The casino could never cover that bet. Minimums are much the same. They need to make a certain amount and people playing for pennies for hours won't cover their costs.

 

[lordcole]

Indeed very true @AlltheAces. On the other hand, what if Bill Gates put in $10 billion and lost? However, limits are important and necessary both for the gambler and house. I also believe that this gets rid of any legal battles that may result out of irresponsible gambling.

 

[AlltheAces]

Indeed very true @AlltheAces. On the other hand, what if Bill Gates put in $10 billion and lost?

Then that's not Bill Gates gambling, that's the casino! He can cover the loss, they can't, and as we all know, casinos don't gamble.

The other thing limits give the casino is revenue control: too few players, lower the minimum to get players to the table. Too many and raise them to keep the high rollers and increase income.

 

[Tolly]

If you want to know what happens when casinos remove the limits, look at what happened to Terry Watanabe. He was banned from one casino due to addiction, but then welcomed in another. His losses over a year were reported as anything between £127M and $204 million, nearly 5.6% of the casino's revenue.

 

[Melissa]

I'm speechless. How does someone lose that much? Just how? $204M? Didn't anyone say stop or think it might have been time to cut in? Did he manage to pay it back?

 

[clyne]

This is just sad. If you break that down, he was simply losing around $680,000 per day. Where do people get all that money to waste away? Casinos that allow such uncontrolled behaviors should actually be sued.

 

[ramsey]

I never thought about this before, but I guess it makes a lot of sense that the casinos have limits and minimum bets for the reasons that AlltheAces outlined. I believe that protects not only the casino but the players as well.

 

[Sting]

Can you imagine Bill Gates walking into a casino and betting a billion bucks and winning? I think that casino owner would shoot himself on the spot. Conversely, imagine someone taking a year's worth of their earnings and putting it on a single bet and losing? Either way, I think it's good to have those limits in place.