Is Shooting Craps Illegal
Dice games are criminally under-appreciated. Shooting dice, also known as street craps, is a slightly simplified version of traditional Casino Craps, and is a classic hustle. You can also learn to play Mexican drinking dice, Farkle, and other games that only require you to know a few rules and get a few dice in a cup. People have played craps on the street for decades. You don’t need a special table at all for this. Just a pair of dice and some folks who understand what the game is all about. Normally when you’re playing street craps, you have some players who are willing to bet on either side of the game. People have a right to defend themselves, their families, and their livestock from animals. But unless your dog was posing an immediate threat, there was probably no legal justification for shooting her. This is true even though you may have been violating a leash law by allowing your dog to wander onto your neighbor's property. I think the cards is kind to having the dice in an hour glass or an electronic generated game. Certainly every good craps player thinks they can inflewence the dice 1-2% or they wouldn't play. I won't play here. I'm at Harrah's Rincon now and surprised there are zero Indian employees so far. Is the Rincon unemployment rate zero? There are so many Facebook posts/“trends” where you’re asked the name of the street from your childhood home, your mom’s maiden name, your first pets name, etc. That seem like cute little trends to share fun facts about yourself.
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The dice controller (dice influencer) on the other hand not only sets the dice but takes care with his roll. Here the object isn’t just a dice set but some control of the outcome of a roll. No longer a totally random game in this case.
Can a “dice setter” be thrown out of the casinos? Yes. I’ve never personally seen a plain, old dice setter who does not have a controlled throw bounced (other than for drunkenness or that kind of thing). I’ve never seen a drink spilled on someone who has had hot rolls in order to cool him off, whether that someone is merely a dice setter or a dice controller. Why bother losing beverage money when the “tap on the shoulder” can start the heave-ho-ing? (Note: Alan Mendelson mentioned in a post that he got the “tap” at several Vegas casinos and he had no dice control skill. So he is the exception to my experience.)
Yes, a dice controller can be barred (“Sir, you can play any other game in the casino but you cannot shoot the dice at craps.”) or banned. (“If you come back to this casino in the future you will be arrested for trespassing.”) Although casinos in Vegas, other Nevada venues, Mississippi and in most of the Midwest casinos don’t have to give a reason, they usually do. (“Sir, you are too good for us.”)
Sadly both things have happened to me. In Tunica, in a single week, I was banned from every casino. (I have the full story of this in my book The Virgin Kiss.) I was threatened with arrest if I returned (the banning in Fitzgerald’s was nasty; the banning at the Grand – now Harrah’s – was almost comical – it took eight suits to do it; the banning at Sam’s Town was weird because I hadn’t even started playing) and the pit boss at Gold Strike let me know that no matter what casino I went into I would get the heave-ho. He was right. I went into three more and out I was escorted. They didn’t want my play in Mississippi. This was for craps by the way. Most were “trespassing” offenses (if I came back I would get arrested for trespassing) and a couple were a little scary (although the scariest banning that ever happened to me was in the early 1990s in Vegas).
I know many of you have seen “My Cousin Vinny” and you think it is a comedy. It’s actually a documentary. I do not want to go to jail in Mississippi.
The following year I went down to Tunica to teach a dice control class. We had 40 students. The sheriff’s department came to the non-casino hotel where we were going to hold the class and told me that I would be arrested if I held the class because I would be using “gaming tables” to teach the students on and there was some kind of “Faro” law from the 1800’s that banned gaming tables for private use.
My lawyer said we would win the case hands-down as we had won a case in the early 2000’s where we were also threatened with arrest for teaching how to beat the casinos. (“No one is allowed to teach people the casino games in Mississippi unless you are a dealers’ school.”) We took that case to the Mississippi attorney general who realized it was a “free speech” case and he withdrew the charges. Still, it cost a small fortune to establish “free speech” in Mississippi. This victory allowed other dice control teachers to continue with their classes.
My lawyer also told me that Mississippi would keep bringing up reasons to arrest me even though they would lose every case. His view was that the state was only interested in harassing me by costing me lawyers’ fees. He recommended that we move our classes to Tennessee which we did. I haven’t set foot in Mississippi since, although I am glad that Mississippi has finally passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in recent years which was the Amendment that outlawed slavery. (http://www.digtriad.com/news/article/270499/1/Mississippi-Ratifies-13th-Amendment-148-Years-After-Slavery-Abolished)
We hired buses and drove all of our students into Tennessee. As I just said, I haven’t stepped foot in Mississippi since.
My most recent banning for craps was at Bellagio in Las Vegas. The full story of that banning will be in my next book. It was a really nasty banning shared with Jerry “Stickman,” John “Skinny,” and “Not Too Soon.” I mean a really nasty, nasty banning.
Those writers who claim that no one has ever been banned for dice control just haven’t experienced it or don’t know anyone who has been unfortunate enough to be “asked” to leave the casinos or threatened with arrest should they return. Trust me, it is not fun. Trust me, it has happened.
Although Atlantic City cannot technically ban an advantage player, it can make your play a PITA (pain-in-the-ass). One night in 2002 or 2003 (memory fails at the moment), John “Skinny” in front of 10 witnesses was almost physically assaulted by a Pit Boss named Francis at the Claridge. John is an excellent dice controller and had just rolled his 26th number. He is also a BIG bettor, often orange chips. The dice scooted over to the box person’s side of the table, out of the view of Francis who was hovering over the game like a buzzard. Francis leaped over to the table and started yelling at Skinny.
We had about eight other people at the table including Marilyn “the Goddess,” Charlie “Sandtrap,” Jack “the Raging Baritone,” Dominator, Jerry “Stickman” and some others whose names I have forgotten at the moment.
John “Skinny” had indeed hit the back wall with both dice. We all saw that, as did the dealers. But when asked about it, the dealers stayed mum – obviously they didn’t want to contradict their raging boss. Several rolls later, Skinny did miss the back wall. At that point, Francis leapt across the table – and I mean across the table with his whole body – going after Skinny who backed up. If I were writing fiction I’d have had Francis foaming at the mouth during this encounter. He wasn’t foaming, just slobbering and spitting.
Francis said he would take the dice away from Skinny if he missed the back wall again. The floor person and box person helped Francis get off the table. Skinny sevened out a few rolls later and took all his orange chips and colored up. We all colored up.
There was a casino manager at Trump Plaza who also tended to go berserk when we played there – this was probably eight years ago. He’d come down and start threatening to take the dice away if we missed the back wall. For some strange reason, some casino people (and some players) think that is what a dice controller is trying to do – miss the back wall. Not so. Since the throw is geared to hitting the back wall, a back wall miss is probably just a random throw. (I am discounting those few players who can actually do a “kill shot.”) I have information about the back wall in “Cutting Edge Craps.” It isn’t always what it seems.
Maybe the all time record for being barred for craps happened at Bally’s in Vegas when 17 of us – yes 17 of us – playing at two different tables were “asked” to leave in a most disgraceful way. It seems both tables had shooters who were wickedly on fire – happily I was one of them. The casino was losing a lot of money. (Not all dice controllers are small bettors although that is another myth that seems to have circulated.) The suits and security guards came over in force. They stopped the game. They surrounded us.
Since true nastiness reigned during this, one of our players Arman “Pit Boss,” got into a face-to-face shouting match with the casino manager. If Arman had gone totally nuts (he’s a former soccer player and strong as a former soccer player), that casino manager would have been toast. We pulled him away and all 17 of us left the casino.
I am now writing a chapter in a new book about the experiences I have had in the area of ungracious behavior by casinos. I go into detail about such cases.
Why did my bannings happen? I only have myself to blame. I ruined myself in Tunica because I kept going back and back and back for more. I should have lessened the length of my stays, not played at the same casinos time and time again. I didn’t follow my own advice. Same thing happened at Bellagio. Same at Treasure Island. Same at other Vegas casinos. But I’ve also experienced (too many times!), the tap for blackjack as well.
casino, would you let you play? Can you blame themfor their treatment of you? You're one of the few
really famous people in the gaming world, you've
written books on how to beat casinos at various games,
and here you are playing at their casinos, rubbing it
in their faces. What would you expect them to do.
What would you do if you were in their place.
You really can't have it all. You can't write books for decades,
have TV shows done about you, become world famous,
and expect casinos to treat you any different than
they do. You're like John Dillinger complaining because
they kick him out the banks he goes into. Being an
unknown is every AP's trump card, most guard it with
great care. As you've just shown, with good reason..
Frank and his fellows should as a matter of good business sense be welcomed into each and every casino they visit. Here is why...
Gambling is built on a dream. Just as golfers take to the links dreaming of playing one hole during their round just like Tiger and Jack ('Honey, I birdied no. 14 today!), gamblers visit the gaming tables dreaming of the big score.
Casinos need the Frank Scobletes of the world, making money and writing of their big scores. So the rest of us have something to dream about when we walk through the door.
I see it somewhat differently. I used to recommend Tunica as the best place to gamble in the country in the 1990s. I wrote articles for several newspapers and magazines down there. I did a radio show each week. I probably sent them thousands of players. (It was the best place to play in the 1990s on the whole.)
Bellagio is no different. When my team (The Five Horsemen) played there before anyone knew we were there, maybe that would have been a time for them to ask us to leave. However, once word got out that we played there, the place became packed with random rollers looking to play with us, unskilled dice controllers wishing to play with us, and others wondering where all these craps players were coming from. Indeed, we once had over 20 people follow us into the casino from Las Vegas Blvd. The week I was banned from Bellagio, there were easily over a hundred players from GTC or friends of those from GTC who packed the place. I would say most of these players were random rollers; their spouses or significant others were probably playing other games as well.
As a casino manager, if I knew someone could be beat my casino I would do a very simple thing. Does this person bring in more business because he is playing here? If so, let him play. We'll make money even if it isn't off of him. In the case of a couple, one a slot player and one an advantage-player, as a couple do they lose more than they win? If so, let them play.
Sometimes I think the casinos are penny wise and pound foolish.
Unfortunately it doesn't work that way.
Exactly. And probably never will.
But conversely, casinos also generate an aura for themselves by doing bannings. And that aura is, of course, the fact that banning alleged Advantage Players means, after all, that it must be possible to beat a casino.
So, probably, bannings will continue.
As a casino manager, if I knew someone could be beat my casino I would do a very simple thing. Does this person bring in more business because he is playing here? If so, let him play. We'll make money even if it isn't off of him. In the case of a couple, one a slot player and one an advantage-player, as a couple do they lose more than they win? If so, let them play.
Sometimes I think the casinos are penny wise and pound foolish.
This is hardly limited to casino management. In fact it is universal in management I feel, one of the reasons I no longer care much to get back to mid-level management. Upper-management can say, 'hey the place did great this month!' But mid-level from say floor to box-man can have their bosses point to a winning player and say, 'how did you let that happen?' Since most lower-level managers sooner or later get a job goal of not being hassled they ban the winning player. When the drop is off that falls somewhere else. They can retort that the hold is better. But the bottom line falls. That comes back to upper management.
As a casino manager, if I knew someone could be beat my casino I would do a very simple thing.
FrankS's multi-billion dollar casino opened yesterday in Las Vegas Nevada.You are walking thru your table game pit and notice a quite a few Blackjack dealers really talking a lot with their players
and not really dealing the game while talking.
Watching the Craps action, you notice DIs are taking between 10 to 20 seconds
to roll the dice on average as compared to 1 to 2 seconds for those that do not fuss with the dice
and many of their (DI) rolls are short, not even hitting the back wall with one or both of the dice.
You wonder in your mind as you make it to your million dollar office and sit down,
the less number of hands per hour at BJ and the less number of rolls per hour and higher # of short rolls at Craps
could some how change your bottom line for the worse.
You call one of your bean counters in and have her look into it.
You go to lunch and come back to a report on your desk about the matter.
Just as you thought, those actions cost the casino real $$$ and a lot of it over a years time.
You have a board meeting tomorrow too.
Do you make any changes to the chatty BJ dealers and the DIs at YOUR craps tables??
or
Do you just let the BJ dealers talk and talk and not deal at a decent pace
and the local DIs still taking a long time to roll the dice with many short rolls still continue??
The crowd a person of your noteriety probably brings is not the crowd these casinos are looking for... For example if you are teaching players not to bet on other random rollers, you are packing the tables, yet slowing down their money!!! The words 'school and practice' are automatically time consuming words.. And time is money on their clock.
Second, The 'let me win and I'll bring you the losers' pimp roll is played out. These games sell themselves... If they stopped every DI at the front door, the table would still be full. It's easy to think of what you do now, but can you even remember the allure of what got YOU TO THE TABLE?. There will be 'another you' right behind us. Having to learn, take losses, finding a crew, and then getting banned later, too. The cycle never stops
When playing craps games, you’re required to toss the dice down the table and towards the wall. You don’t actually have to hit the wall every time, but you’re expected to make a reasonable attempt at doing so.
Casinos enforce these rules, because they don’t want advantage gamblers beating them. By requiring players to bounce dice off of a textured backwall, casinos presumably accomplish their goal of thwarting advantage players.
However, controlled shooting (a.k.a. dice control) is a proposed method of circumventing the house edge. Controlled shooting sees you grip and toss dice the same way every time, in hopes of producing desired results.
Of course, you have no chance to consistently roll the numbers you want. But dice control at least offers the promise of producing desired numbers once in a while.
The big catch, though, is that controlled shooting doesn’t come naturally. Even Dominic LoRiggio (a.k.a. The Dominator), who’s known in some circles as the craps GOAT, worked for countless hours to perfect his toss.
LoRiggio and certain other gambling experts contend that you can pull off dice control with enough work. That said, I’ll discuss how this technique works along with tips for perfecting it.
How Does Controlled Shooting Work?
Dice control begins with the way that you grip the dice (a.k.a. setting). The goal is to hold the dice in a manner that exposes the number combinations you want while hiding those you don’t.
I’ll get more into this concept later on. But an easy example is when you grip the dice in a way that hides combinations that produced seven.
Working on your release and toss is the next step. You want to roll the dice in a consistent manner so that you have a better chance of tossing desired numbers.
Most controlled shooters measure their success rate through the Sevens to Rolls Ratio (SRR). This term refers to the ratio of rolls that result in seven versus those that don’t.
If you play craps without any skill, your average SRR will eventually work out to 6:1.
The aim is to practice enough to the point where you can alter your SRR ratio over time. Assuming your SRR improves to just 6.3:1, then you’ll have an edge on casinos.
You must devote hours to practicing your toss in order to make this happen. Some craps players rig homemade tables so that they have a cheap practice area. Others actually purchase real casino tables and store them somewhere in their house or garage. Of course, craps tables cost quite a bit and take up a 12×14 area.
Once you have the equipment, you can proceed to pouring hours into the matter. Professionals like LoRiggio and Frank Scoblete suggest that you practice a few hours daily over the course of several months.
Hard work doesn’t guarantee that you’ll become an expert controlled shooter. However, it does improve your chances of becoming profitable.
Tips for Improving Your Dice Control
Understanding how dice control works and that you must practice for hours is a great start. But you’re not going to win if you’re practicing the wrong habits.
Therefore, you want to know the correct techniques before beginning on a dice-control control journey. Here are some tips that can get you started in the right direction.
Develop the Right Grip
Craps players have developed a large number of grips over the years. However, you really need only concern yourself with one of them in the beginning: the “blanket roll.”
This grip is fairly easy to use and works great. The blanket roll calls on you to hold the dice in a V shape with the threes facing up. You want to use this grip after the come out roll, when a point number has been established.
As you probably know, your goal after the come out roll is to toss the point number before seven. The blanket roll hides sevens combinations and makes this objective more possible.
Use the Proper Release
You probably release the dice without thinking under normal circumstances. Controlled shooting, however, requires you to put more thought into the matter.
First off, you should let the dice roll out of your fingers in a soft manner. The last thing you want is a backhanded throw that sends the bones flying towards the wall. More velocity increases the chance of randomness, which is your enemy in this matter.
You also need to keep your hands and arm low upon releasing the dice.
The idea here is to avoid swinging your hand upward and sending the dice on a longer path towards the wall. Instead, you want them moving towards the backstop in a soft and controlled motion.
Toss With Consistency From the Same Spot
Continuing off the last point, you also need to roll the dice with the same consistency every time. This means using the same tossing motion and arm speed.
Likewise, you want to perform your tosses from the same spot of the table. By always standing in the same spot, you’ll develop even more consistency.
Yet one more thing to keep in mind here involves leaning over the table as far as you can during the throw. This action reduces the distance that the dice must travel before hitting the wall.
Keep Your Hands Dry
Dice control can be an emotional affair in the casino. After all, you have other people around the table and money on the line.
This pressure may cause you to sweat once, especially when you’re not doing very well. A sweaty hand makes it more difficult to continue tossing dice the same way that you need to every time.
Practice and success help you avoid this problem. Until then, you should hide a small container of chalk dust in your pocket and use it from time to time to keep your fingers/palm dry.
Don’t Give Away Your Controlled Shooting
Dice controllers aren’t harassed by casinos to the extent that blackjack card counters are. Furthermore, nothing about controlled shooting is illegal.
Therefore, you should work on gripping and tossing the bones in a natural manner. You’ll still be using controlled shooting, but you won’t be taking 30 seconds to load up and toss every time.
Should You Ultimately Pursue Dice Control?
You can see that dice control requires lots of effort. That said, you don’t want to jump into this advantage play technique lightly. Instead, weigh the pros and cons to decide if controlled shooting is worth your time. Only then will you know if it’s worth trying to develop this technique.
One advantage to dice control is that it’s largely allowed. As long as you aren’t slowing down the game, you’ll be allowed to set the dice and line up for your toss.
Is Shooting Craps Illegal Game
Again, you want to ultimately disguise your controlled shooting if you’re successful. But in the beginning, you may take your time (a reasonable amount of time) without the casino harassing you.
Another benefit is that dice control is a fun way to make money through gambling. Unlike card counting, you’re actually using a physical skill that can be practiced.
One more advantage is that dice control is a fairly cheap way to get into advantage play. Compared to counting, where you’re called on to bet hundreds of dollars during a favorable count, controlled shooting only requires making small wagers.
Of course, you can pump up your bets at any time. But the best course in the beginning is to place small wagers until you can win in a casino environment.
The one downside to controlled shooting beyond the intense practice is its debatable success. Dice control hasn’t produced any verifiable success stories (e.g. MIT Blackjack Team) beyond the self-proclaimed exploits of LoRiggio, Scoblete, and several other authors and experts.
Therefore, you need faith that controlled shooting can ultimately work. As long as you believe that dice can be manipulated to some extent, then you may enjoy controlled shooting.
Conclusion
Dice control seems impossible. After all, you need to toss the dice down the table in an effort to hit the backstop. But you can improve your chances of being a winning controlled shooter with the right tips.
First off, you need the correct grip based on the situation. If you’re trying to avoid tossing a seven, for example, then a classic blanket roll should do the trick.
Next, you need to focus on releasing the dice properly. The goal is to release the dice softly and close to level with the tabletop. Of course, thinking about this feat and pulling it off are two different things. Proper practice is necessary in order to develop a consistent tossing motion.
Is Shooting Craps Illegal Immigrants
Is Shooting Craps Illegal Play
Finally, you don’t want to make it too obvious that you’re a dice controller. Casinos will be more apt to ban you if they’re losing heavily.
Is Shooting Craps Illegal Poker
Before you set out on this journey, you really need to decide if controlled shooting is worth the effort. Provided you think so, then the tips presented here will help you get better.