The dumb man’s version of a smart man

The Tulalip Casino’s running ads that claim that they’re the casino for smart people. I understand people make their living at poker, or even in handicapping horse races. But the games offered at your local casino — blackjack and a hundred variants, roulette — they’re particularly costly entertainment. Play long enough, and you will be left with nothing. Las Vegas wasn’t built on buffets. Smart people can gamble knowing the deal and yet still enjoy themselves. They may choose their casino based on which ones offer the best odds to minimize their losses, but if they’re doing it for entertainment, that’s only part of the trade-off.

The casino for smart people is like “the cigar of healthy chain smokers” or “the nine pound hamburger for your active lifestyle”. It almost immediately sets the audience up to say “What? No it isn’t.”

I don’t understand how these things get out in the world and in front of people. Did they really test well before survey groups or something? And if so, can I get the names of whoever was on that panel?

One thought on “The dumb man’s version of a smart man

  1. skipj

    Derek,
    I play poker for money, it’s a portion of my income, and the old saying that goes, ‘If you look around the table and can’t figure out who the fish is, it’s you.’, is true. What the Tulalip appears to be saying is hey!, We don’t think you’re the fish! No way! Our gamblers are too smart for that!

    I think Casinos are fine, especially since they subsidize the Poker a bit, it’s the State sponsored gambling that really chaps my hide. ‘Play lotto, it’s for the schools!’. I’ll play the lottery when every dime is spent on a mandatory 2 yr high school course on prob and stats. If you or I owned a Casino in Nevada, and proposed a game with lottery-like odds to the Nevada State Gaming Commission we would be laughed out of the hearing room.

    What I love about Casinos though, is how everyone I’ve ever met ‘broke even’ on their last trip, sooner or later, those Casinos will catch up with the odds, and start to make money.

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