As I write this, I’m off the coast of Florida, aboard the Icon of the Seas, presently undergoing a somewhat shaky shakedown cruise. Unfortunately, Yr. Humble Blogger has been stricken, not with mal de mer, but with the aftereffects of what was probably undercooked food, of unknown provenance. As such, I’m ill-positioned to provide any more industry news and analysis until we dock on Friday. Wednesday’s dinner was spent surrounded by loathsome, loudmouthed Wall Street fatcats. Now I now what Hell is like and really don’t want to go there. Perhaps that’s what made me ill.
Hope you feel better soon.
Your being on a ship brings up a question I’ve had since a cruise i took in late 2014. Who has authority over the casino on a ship? Who guarantees that the gaming equipment is legitimate?
I ask because on that cruise almost ten years ago, every time I got cranking at the craps table, whether Do or Don’t, they’d change the dice–and a hot table would go ice cold, or a cold table got hot. There was no time element to the changes, either; a shooter would be doing well, “New dice”, and a seven-out would follow within a few rolls. Some of us would make money betting Don’t, “New dice”, and the table got warm to hot. I got back to even, then quit playing craps and played blackjack the rest of the trip.
Raymond, that is a superb question. I don’t know the answer offhand but I’m going to strongly recommend to Deke Castleman that we address it in Question of the Day. Sound good to you?
Sounds cool, so long as you think it’s a question that will interest others. As I’ve found out in many aspects of my life, just because something interests me doesn’t mean it will interest others (or anyone!).
Most always, the cruise ship casinos are not set up to cheat. If they did, there would be someone that would spill the beans, like a disgruntled employee, somewhere. For slots and VP, the machines house hold is set pretty much as high as possible. No reason to cheat. Besides, any machines on the ships made by the companies that supply machines to Nevada, such as Game King, Ballys, Aristocrat, etc., have to be made the same way, and cannot be tampered with to cheat. As for craps, I have played plenty, and have not seen anything like Raymond spoke about. I have seen the dice change, but did not notice anything funny. Have won and lost, same as any land based casino. Card games are a different thing. I have been told that the shufflers are set up like slot machines, and set up cards accordingly, using an algorithm similar to a slot machine, with crappy odds. On Princess, the game deals each spot out, player or not. The dealer gets first or last spot. No matter how many players, the dealer always gets the a hand in the same place, so it can be set up.
CSMs, with the dealer spot known? Sounds like a great recipe for easy deck stacking. Nothing too overt, but an awful lot of dealer blackjacks and 20s. I already suspect CSMs of providing a huge number of 5s on dealer 16s, 5s and 6s on dealer 15s, etc. That’s why I don’t play against CSMs–I can’t see how they “shuffle” and can’t be sure they’re dealing off the top.