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Question of the Day - 03 October 2021

Q:

I once saw a game played with 3 dice in a cup at Foxwoods. It had a large illuminated table top to lay bets on all the various outcomes that 3 dice could produce. It seemed to be popular among an Oriental crowd and I assumed it was an Asian game. I thought I might see it at Resorts World, but never came upon it while there. I have never seen it anywhere else but Foxwoods. Does it ring a bell to the point you know the name of the game? If you do know the game, do you know if it is anywhere in Vegas?

A:

This sounds like sic bo to us. 

According to WizardofOdds.com, sic bo is an ancient Chinese dice game that's very popular in Macau. The game uses three dice and a table, as you saw at Foxwoods, with a variety of betting options based on the various results of rolling the three dice. The WizardOfOdds page goes into minute detail about the different bets and their house edges and the varying rules by jurisdiction, covering Macau, Australia, and Atlantic City. Though the game used to be much more common here, Las Vegas isn't mentioned on the page. 

As far as we know, the only casino that offers sic bo in Las Vegas is the Venetian. At least the last time we were there, they had one table. That makes sense, since before the pandemic curbed international travel, the Venetian hosted plenty of Asian players as a result of the cross-marketing with its Macau and Singapore casinos. Whether or not sic bo survives the sale of the property later this year is anyone's guess, but we tend to doubt it. 

 

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Comments

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  • Kevin Lewis Oct-03-2021
    It's sick, bro
    I'm amazed that this game is popular at all. The house edge on the various bets ranges from bad to horrible. It's a money-muncher.
    
    Asian gamblers prefer games that have no strategy (or control over the outcome) and bets that are resolved quickly. Couple that with a gigantic house edge, and you can imagine how much the Macau, etc. casinos rake in--especially given the huge average bets made there.

  • AL Oct-03-2021
    Sic Bo
    I don't mean to be stuffy or priggish or put anybody down, but I want to inject the fact that the proper name for game is Sic Bo (i.e., with initial capital letters). Oh, the clear majority of the references you'll see either in print or on the Web will be in all lower-case, but that doesn't mean anything. Especially on the Internet, ignorance and indifference and errors abound, so that fact that something is the majority occurrence means nothing. I saw a Sic Bo game at New York-New York in the early or mid-2000's, and it definitely did not have the label "sic bo"; it was either "Sic Bo" or "SIC BO". But let's get to the game itself. Outside of "even-money" bets ("Big" and "Small"), which have a house edge under 3%, the bets' house edges range from bad to horrendous. With its lights and its interesting and somewhat unusual table layout, the game can really draw you in and tempt you to make the more-intriguing "number" bets, but they're probably only going to clean out your wallet.

  • Kevin Lewis Oct-03-2021
    "sic bo" is correct
    The term is Chinese for "dice pair," so it's a (semi-) descriptive name for a gambling game, and there's no reason to capitalize it, any more than to capitalize "blackjack," "roulette," or "craps."
    
    Aside from that, the Chinese language doesn't have capital letters (or letters at all), so capitalizing the game's name would just be a Western affectation.

  • Howard M Oct-03-2021
    Fiesta Henderson
    Sometime back between the late 1980's and mid 1990's, Fiesta Henderson had one table with a similar game, but not Sic Bo.
    I don't recall if rotating shooters used 3 dice, or 2 pair, or more. I only remember a dice game using more than a pair at a time with table graphics depicting various dice outcomes. It was always mobbed with players, with an incredible amount of chips being bet.
    Perhaps you can find out about that one and discuss its brief history.

  • Fumb Duck Oct-03-2021
    Sick Bo
    I remember seeing it in Reno and at the Sahara and maybe the Stardust many years ago.
    
    I'm surprised Palace Station doesn't have it for their large Asian clientele.
    
    It's a stupid game. Should be popular with millennials.