Online casinos have been hogging all the spotlight lately, especially on the internet in every shape and form. The good old land-based (a.k.a. Brick and Mortar) casinos barely make it into online gambling news, and even when they do, it’s usually on account of some sort of mishap or of something truly outstanding that happened somewhere in such a casino. It’s no secret that the current plight of the online gambling industry (caused mostly by the 2006 UIGEA) is at least partly due to land based casino operators, who fully support a UIGEA like ban to this day.
The problem for land based casinos is however that they won’t ever be able to secure a dominant position online, simply on account of the fact that due to their nature, their offer is only addressed to an infinitely small segment of the online gambling public, namely those gamblers who live near the casino. On top of the fact that online casinos are addressed to pretty much everyone who stumbles upon them, they offer comp points and rakeback schemes, land based casinos would never even dream of matching.
Due to the relatively small investment needed to get an online casino rolling, these online gambling operators can afford to be this generous with their players. Despite all the flashy graphics and the life-like animations though, those yearning for a real flesh and blood gambling experience will still have to visit a land based casino.
Until not so long ago, people were only allowed into land based casinos sporting proper attire. Special behavioral etiquette awaited them inside to make the whole thing even more intimidating for beginners. Nowadays, at least in land based casinos in the US, these limitations are no longer in place. People can wear just about anything to the casino (within the limits of reason of course) and the whole gambling activity has become a lot more informal. These days, the casino focuses on dazzling its would be clients, distracting them and making them forget that there is something called “time” on earth.
No clocks are displayed anywhere in the casino and daylight cannot seep in either. When you enter, thousands of flashing lights, intriguing sounds and colorful sights greet you, and do their best to distract you from applying the optimal strategy at the blackjack tables and the video poker machines, while enticing you to play games on which the house edge is on the generous side.
Don’t succumb to these distractions. Carry your slot club card with you every time you step into a casino to play. While you’re probably aware that casino games are generally negative EV ones, taking advantage of comp points value is a must. Comp points work like rakeback in poker. The full tilt rakeback for instance, or a poker prop deal (which is also a rakeback deal, only one of a more generous kind) gives you a rebate on the money you lose on the poker rake. Casino comp points offer you a rebate on the money you lose at the tables.