The wife and I just got back from a busy long weekend in Toronto. It has been a tradition for many years to spend an afternoon at Woodbine Race Track. And we did it up strong because there was also a new casino to check out. That was the only disappointment. The new casino was a disgusting example of corporate greed.
For someone who cut his teeth on single-deck blackjack at Binions in downtown Las Vegas sixty years ago, I won’t be so stupid as to return to the Great Canadian Gaming operation at Woodbine. Sure, it was Canada Day, July 1, and they knew they would be busy. They ramped up all the table games to a $50 minimum bet.
When you are surrounded by more than 4000 slot machines, the place certainly sounds like a casino. I actually got lost rejoining my companions and had to stop an employee for directions. The washrooms were clean and well looked after. And the employees were friendly. My problem is that the management think they can screw the gambler.
The wife wasn’t interested in the place at all. To her, if the joint doesn’t have a full-sized craps layout, it is not a legitimate casino. She was not even pleased with the bar where we had arranged to meet. It seemed that all the bartenders were still in training and ignored her call for a drink.
But I know blackjack as well as, if not better, than most casino employees. I checked with a pit supervisor and found out that they have eight decks of cards in each of their new continuous dealing machines. With eight decks, and continuous operation, the card counting player can go home. The only positive surprise was the payout for a sucker-bet on a perfect pair. (That is betting you get two cards of the same value and suit in your first two cards.) They actually pay 30 times your bet instead of just 25 times as in other Ontario casinos.
By raising their minimum wager to $50, the casino is hoping to win more money faster. Ontario gamblers might not be the smartest, though you can hardly blame them for not increasing their bet when they win. Most would be happier making $15 to $25 bets and being able to play longer. The casino knows they will end up with lots of money from those bets. The casino has no need to increase their edge by only paying six to five on blackjacks and hitting soft 17s. I appreciate that they still have live dealers taking and paying out the chips but I will stay away from continuous machines with eight decks of cards. They don’t seem to be compatible with basic blackjack strategy.
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