Honest online casinos? Don't make me laugh!

One of the most important rituals is the process of closing the gaming day in a casino. It usually happens in the early morning, between six and eight o'clock, when, having played to their heart's content, visitors go to rest after a fun night. First, they "close" the tables where there are no players: the dealer opens the fleet where the chips are stored, puts them on the table in front of him, and the inspector writes down their number in a special register, slang for "luzhkovka", in honor of the beloved and adored mayor. This process takes place in the presence of the pit boss and/or manager, but always under the constant supervision of video surveillance (usually in small casinos they closed all the tables one by one, while in large ones this was often done "wholesale", several tables at a time, so as not to stretch the process out in time). The result of the table's work is compared with the similar indicator of the "vigilant eye", and in case of a match, the inspector puts the chips that are present in excess in the fleet [36] into a special open box - a tray - and with a filled "luzhkovka" goes to the cashier to hand over the excess and receive the number of chips of those denominations that are in shortage at the time of closing, necessary for the formation of the fleet. Having brought the missing to the table, the dealer adds to the incomplete stacks to an even number and again checks with video surveillance for completeness and full combat readiness for the next working day. As a rule, the filling of the fleets on the tables with card games was the same. This was done for the convenience of counting and the possibility of replacing one fleet with another during the count [37]. If there were still players in the room, the process looked like this: the fleet from the already closed table is exchanged with the fleet of the table where the game is going on, and it is closed using the technology described above, but without the presence of guests. But this option is unacceptable for roulette: all the chips are placed on the playing field and they simply cannot be taken and moved in one movement. Many establishments, not particularly concerned about the comfort of visitors, forced roulette players to move to another table. In those places where customers were loved and appreciated, especially if they were VIP guests, such a table was closed “on the fly”, without interrupting work and without moving players. This is where the participation of video cameras was most relevant. In parallel with the count, pit bosses filled out cards of visitors who played during the day [38]. If the job responsibilities were performed correctly, the pit boss “closed” the guest, entering information about the game immediately after his departure. Some difficulties were caused by the "survivors", but there are little tricks in the casino that allow you to determine the approximate number of chips a guest has (real professionals have an error in counting of ±100 dollars, and this refers to guests who have exchanged large amounts, and not "passengers" with a $200 exchange), even if the person hides the chips in their pockets. When all the tables are closed and the guest cards are filled, it is time to count the tips. All the tip boxes (boxes similar to the drop box) are collected on an empty table, the contents are poured out of them, and the result is calculated. When all the "white" papers are filled and the total result of the casino's work for the day is calculated together with the tips, the cash desk begins working. In accordance with the instructions received from the senior cashier, they prepare new papers with the result already printed on them for each table separately, which are necessary for the signature of the dealer, inspector and manager. The cashier's signature is already on them. The senior cashier determines what result of the gaming day should be shown in the report sent to the state tax authorities. It is these second papers that go to the Federal Tax Service, while the first ones are sent either to the office, as in the cases of "Marrakesh", "Sovereign" and "Sovereign", or to another secret place, as, for example, they did in the "Old World". Usually, the second papers showed a result close to zero. There was never any control from the state over the process of closing the gaming day. Which allowed numerous casinos to underpay huge sums of money to the treasury. But someone from the officials, apparently, guessed about something like this. As a result of long and prolonged torment, the wheel was invented once again: years later (we are still at the turn of 1997-1998, and the creative process of inventing ended only around 2005, and came into force of law even later) each of the casino gaming tables was taxed. The tax amounted to 150,000 rubles per unit of equipment (the machines "weighed" less), which at the exchange rate at the end of 2009 was equal to 5,000 dollars. To win the money necessary to pay for all the equipment installed in the establishment, the casino, located on Novy Arbat, needed a little more than one gaming day, or even less. But if you use the saying that a black sheep gets at least a tuft of wool, our legislators were happy.

The new Russian general manager was given a specific task: to constantly produce results. And how he would achieve this was of no concern to him. To make it easier to understand, a hint followed - a call to action, in the form of two lemmas: - the casino must always win; - a person who came to play "Marrakesh" already owes. (It does not matter that he does not know about it yet. The main thing is that we are aware. Our task is to convey to him the information about the debt so that he would take all the contents of his pockets and wallet as soon as possible and, preferably without "torment" and unnecessary struggle, with a feeling of "lightness and freedom" quickly leave the casino.) And they began to "bombard" all visitors in every possible way. They didn't disdain anything: they let "lucky" dealers "live" at the tables, pathetic losers who dared to give away "a piece of collective farm land" were immediately kicked out, without even a chance for the slightest rehabilitation: the dealer loses, and he is immediately replaced, without waiting for the expiration of the allotted time at the table. In the gaming room, right in front of the guests, it was allowed not only to make a remark, but even to yell at a subordinate. The pit bosses were driven into such a framework that all their actions were obstructed, with the exception of those cases when they "guessed" the dealer's choice. And how to guess? The croupier does not have it written on his face that "today I will win at poker, but lose at roulette." A losing dealer could not be put at the working tables for days. All efforts to achieve a result! Many pit bosses even began to believe in omens: when you stand on your right leg, tucking your left, the ball will hit an empty number. But if you change your stance, it means you'll lose, and you'll get a dressing down from the manager right away. Alexander Schumacher with his checklist in the refrigerator is nothing! Everything was cooler here! Some Moscow casino managers even thought of inviting a priest to bless the gaming room! I can't speak for Marrakesh, but Arkady saw the process of blessing the Gosudar casino with his own eyes. Particularly suspicious employees resorted to occult help. One of the first Russian managers at Gosudarina said that his grandmother, having learned about her favorite grandson's promotion, suggested that he exchange a certain bill for small change to attract good luck, so that he could carry it in his pocket during work shifts. Allegedly, with the help of magic coins, you can achieve a positive result. Every time he put his hand in his pants pocket, the sound of kopecks knocking against each other was heard throughout the casino. What kind of good attitude towards visitors could we talk about? Only at the level of the dealer-inspector staff. Among the rank-and-file employees, there were many professionals who were able to provide not only high-quality service in terms of running the game, but also simple human communication, so often required by visitors. But as soon as a person left the staff, moving to a middle management position, he immediately accepted the rules of the game proposed by Sergey, and turned into a hater of clients. Concessions were not made in "Marrakesh". The principle was: if you don't like it, you're free! Even in matters not related to the game.

During his year in power, although he failed to create a team of like-minded people speaking the same language, he was able to use carrot and stick (a purely English approach) to ensure that his commandments were followed. This was enough to attract people to the casino and to have a consistently high drop — the most important indicator of a casino's viability : after all, the more money is exchanged for the game, the more the establishment gets. If the percentage of the monthly result is 40% of the drop, then we can talk about the excellent work of the management team; 30% is an excellent result to strive for; with a norm of 15–20%, it is necessary to analyze the work and try to find mistakes and omissions: somewhere, something is going wrong. And the casino under Jena constantly "made a result", even despite serious "hits" from Nikolai Sadulovich and some other players.

Explanation of terms used in casinos for statistical reporting. DROP — the amount of money exchanged for the game (remember the story about the gypsies with their drawn dollars and the drop box where the money exchanged at the table was put?). Example: a client came to the casino, exchanged 200 dollars at the cashier, bet them on red, lost and left. His drop is 200 dollars. Some Moscow gambling establishments, in order to simplify the procedure for calculating drops, introduced drop chips into circulation, issued when exchanging money and differing from the game chips in color. FALSE DROP — a false drop. It is very important to be able to distinguish it from a real drop. Example: a client came to the casino, exchanged 200 dollars at the cashier, bet them on red, won. Bet again and won again. Went to the cashier and took 400 dollars, returned to the roulette, bet 200 on red and lost. Chips ran out. He went to the cashier, changed 200 dollars — these 200 dollars are a false drop — casino money put back into the game. CHIPS IN — chips put into the game. Example: Vasya and Petya came to the casino. They each changed 200 dollars at the cashier. They went to play roulette, and Vasya bet on red, and Petya on black. Black came up. Vasya lost, and Petya doubled his bet. Vasya has no more cash, but he wants to continue the game, and he borrows 200 dollars from Petya in chips he just won. These 200 dollars, borrowed chips, are what is called CHIPS IN for Vasya, but for Petya they will be recorded in the CHIPS OUT column — chips taken out of the game by a specific player. Ian, like any normal general manager, also had his own "quirks". And they were directly related to statistics. Based on its data, he assigned the size of the reward for each of the managers, determining the contribution of his shifts to the overall result of the casino for the month. Tolyan had the worst indicators. And there is a logical explanation for this: he always worked only the day shift. And during the day, clients did not come often, so in the case of the most elementary loss of even a small amount, the probability of winning back was extremely small. For example, a person would come, exchange 200 dollars, win the same amount and leave. And Tolyan's drop = 200 and the result = -200. The shift has -100%. And there are no more visitors.

How does a modern person imagine a casino if he has never been there? The first thing that comes to mind is one-armed bandits. It sounds extremely funny. It is clear that we are talking about slot machines, but when a person finishes the sentence with the words "one-armed bandits", a picture immediately appears in the head that it is in the casino that all the cripples of the criminal world are found, punished for something by their brothers by cutting off one of their two front limbs. After the "one-armed bandits" come quite normal and outwardly healthy representatives of the criminal world, without whom, by common opinion, no establishment of this kind can do. And then it all started: girls of easy virtue (the question arises, what are they doing there? This is not a street or a brothel, but we don’t think about it! They said that the casino needs prostitutes, so they are there, and that’s it!), card sharps and all sorts of swindlers who are just waiting to fleece the inattentive visitor. Alcohol flows like a river, and all sorts of strange individuals offer forbidden pleasures. And not a word about Her Majesty the game! Well, who will think about it? It’s all set up! Forget all hope, ye who enter here... First, they will give you free alcohol to drink, stuff you with various narcotic and psychotropic drugs to the point of insanity, then hand you over to the tender hands of priestesses of love, after that the sharpers will empty your pockets, and if there is anything left, then you will definitely not escape from the "one-armed bandits", and if you do escape, then you will meet not crippled invalids, but real bandits, and after them you will either be "put on the meter", or completely forget the way to this den!

In essence, casino and fair play are synonyms. But for some unknown reason, they came into conflict with each other. And now the average person, who has never stepped over the threshold of an official gambling house, believes that everything in the casino is rigged, it is impossible to win, and that the owners of such establishments are ready to use all means of scientific and technological progress, just not to let the visitor leave with money. A logical question arises: "If everything is rigged, why do people go there?" To which you are immediately retorted: "And where did you see people there? Only crooks and bandits!" And on this rosy note, the conversation, as a rule, ends, because further discussion becomes simply meaningless.