What are the odds?

BILOXI -- The odds of winning at the slots or table games at the Coast casinos are about the same now as before Hurricane Katrina.

Although players have claimed the slots were looser before the storm, the numbers say differently. The most recent statistics released by the Mississippi Gaming Commission show the casinos won 6.65 percent of the money bet on slots on the Coast in 2007, the exact percentage as November 2004 and almost 1 percent higher than November 2002.

But with such small fluctuations, "Overall customers should not notice that at all," said Allen Godfrey, deputy director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

A more dramatic change was noticed in the table games, where 3 Card Poker players lost 10 percent more in November 2007 than the same month in 2004, and craps and roulette players won more than 5 percent more. The numbers aren't exact comparisons, since there were nine more craps and nine more roulette tables before the storm. And one large jackpot payout could dramatically influence the figures for a month.

Godfrey said the Gaming Commission hasn't researched the trends but he wasn't surprised to learn there was little change. "In slot machines they have to pay out between 80 and 100 percent," Godfrey said of the state's casinos. "It has to be approved and it has to pay out." The agency did notice the odds are slightly higher inland.

David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, said casinos would quickly go out of business if they set the slots at 80 percent. "Generally the more competition there is the looser the slots are," he said. Most casinos set the odds above 90 percent and he said they are generally 94 percent on the Las Vegas Strip, and slightly lower in tourist areas where he said gamblers are not necessarily looking for value. The Coast slots for November 2007 were 93.35 percent.

Rick Sorensen, public relations manager at International Game Technology, which makes popular casino games like Wheel of Fortune and Megabucks, said a computer chip in the slot machine determines the percentage of payout. "It can be changed," he said, by switching the chip. But in a very competitive market "and certainly the Gulf Coast is,"

he said casinos would be shooting themselves in the foot to up the percentages because players would notice.

Some slots are programmed to pay off more but smaller jackpots but "it's completely random," he said, and it's the lucky players that find the jackpot games.

Caribbean Poker is a five card poker games, licensing of higher party wins. Players gambling money box in the first place (the original bet). Players, the makers of the five licensing, licensing facing five players, four licensing facing makers, facing a licence on. Players can then assess their hands of the licence, and accordingly the following options.

To licensing (FOLD) - by the audience will be lost under the original bets.

2. Play cards (CALL) - must be in the audience to add additional areas in the original stake twice the gambling money.

Then the game continues, bookmakers will open the hands of the licensing and licensing to compare players. But there must be a hands Makers A and K or better licensing in order to be eligible to play. If the banker not be eligible to continue to play, players can win the same stakes gambling money. If the banker is an A and K or better licensing, and licensing of the hands of the audience than the sign face, players will lose the bet and add districts gambling money. If the player card makers face higher than the sign face, and the original will win the same stakes gambling money, as well as calculated in accordance with the following rules endorsement District dividend gambling money.

Players can choose to join the exotic jackpot.

The amount of the current jackpot will normally displayed on the screen.

Accumulated bets gambling money, a dollar per hand. Whether winning or losing their licences how the cumulative bet any large bets with medals and the player can be calculated in accordance with the following rules dividends.

Grading card in their hands:

Dashun with flowers

The highest level of licensing. All five licensing, and even the same color. For example: A (hearts), K (hearts), Q (hearts), J (hearts), 10 (red)

Flush with

5 licence, and even the same color. For example: 10 (box), 9 (box), 8 (box), 7 (box), 6 (box)

Bomb

4 with plates. For example: 5 (plum blossom), 5 (hearts), 5 (spades), 5 (box)

Hyacinth

Three plates and another two with the same plates. For example: K (plum blossom), K (box), K (hearts), 4 (spades), 4 (plum blossom)

With the flower

5 with color card. For example: K (box), J (box), 9 (box), 6 (box), 3 (box), 2 (box)

Shunzi

Total of five plates (A can be as maximum or minimum licence), for example: 5 (plum blossom), 4 (box), 3 (red), 2 (spades), A (plum blossom)

3

With three plates. For example: 9 (plum blossom), 9 (box), 9 (hearts), A (spades), 8 (plum blossom)

Two pairs

Two pairs of the same plate. For example: 4 (plum blossom), 4 (box), J (hearts), J (spades), A (plum blossom)

A

For example, with two plates: 8 (plum blossom), 4 (box), J (hearts), J (spades), A (plum blossom)

Big

If no one pair of hands with the plates, while the largest

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