CASINO PLAYERS EZINE #112

What is your favorite game(s) other than playing the slots?

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1) Gayle To answer your question regarding largest slot wins, the following is a true story.

When my late husband and I used to go to Freeport on GBI very frequently to stay at the Princess (which has changed named many times and is now shuttered I think), their casino was very, very kind to us. After hearing that casinos of this nature were historically very stingy with payout percentages, we unbelievably hit the mother lode many times. (This is over the course of probably 20 trips, but I know folks who have never hit "the big one" after playing all their lives.)

This was in the era of all coin machines, obviously (probably between '95 and 2000).

I remember well the little carts being pushed around with the red trays of dollar coins that they would hand you. There were an abundance of Red White and Blue machines in the casino for some reason--they had two walls with nothing but RWB's lined up.

One particular machine—that happened to be the one my husband hit the 10K on--would take "spells" of paying out literally for hours. This was the $1.00 three-coin RWB and it would keep hitting the $120, $240, $480 payouts (for triple blue bars , any sevens, etc.) of that nature and you would see whoever was the lucky recipient sitting there with trays stacked up full of dollar coins.

It was not uncommon to see at least $1200 to $1500 (which was 12-15 trays) sitting beside the machine. When you finally decided to stop, you would give one of the attendants a buck to carry your trays to the cashier window!

This casino--The Princess Casino and then The Casino at Bahamia as it was bought and sold--was also the first place I was introduced to Caribbean Stud.

Oh well, just bringing up memories of the "good ole days." Enjoy your writings and thanks for listening. A.

Dear A. Congrats on your win from ‘days gone by’ I enjoyed your email. I remember going twice to the Princess Casino from Florida. It's sad to hear it is gone now. Gayle.

2) Gayle: On a recent trip to Tunica Mississippi, I discovered a new slot machine called Top Gun. Has this machine been reviewed yet? I have a question on the bonus game.

The 2 features of it are making your plane go up, left, right and a barrel roll to run into credits that are added to your score.

It appears to me you have very little control of your plane. Are these controls random or is some control available? You also can fire 3 missiles to shoot down planes to advance to rookie, top gun. I scored hits 2 out of 3 times no matter what number 1, 2 or 3 I fired.

Kerry: I have reviewed Top Gun in Casino Players Ezine #101 here: http://casinoplayersezine.com/email/issue101.htm

3) Gayle: Would love to have your opinion on these machines. On my last trip to the Atlantic City Hilton, I saw Roulette "machines." They are SINGLE zero and payouts seem to be the same (35-1, etc.) I wonder if the odds are calculated as in a 'hand-played' single-zero roulette game; i.e., half of the 5.26% on a double zero table? I hope you have an answer for me.

I enjoyed the machines but not as much as being involved in a "real" roulette table environment. However, if the percentage is cut in half with the single zero it would be worth switching. There is one single zero wheel at the Trop in the high limit room with a $25 minimum that I play occasionally, but it is usually unoccupied and playing alone is no fun.

There is just something about roulette that I love, even with the high casino hold. Suzanne.

Suzanne: On the face of it, these single zero roulette slots sounds like a good thing, but look further, the payout is 35-1, the same payout as a double zero wheel.

4) Christmas isn’t here yet and I am talkin’ taxes—yikes!

However, I did want to pass this along for poker tournament players. The item also includes some interesting tax information about players in general. IRS provides 'win' for tournament poker players. Originally, the IRS stated that casinos would be required to withhold 25 percent of poker tournament winnings over $5,000. However, negotiations between the IRS and the casino industry produced a win for all. Rather than forcing casinos to withhold players' winnings, the IRS will require casinos to report winnings on a W-2G form. Players will continue to be responsible for paying taxes on their winnings at tax time.

Rules dating from the 1970s, the days of the first big poker tournaments, require operators to withhold taxes on pooled funds such as lotteries and racing events. The rules included "other wagering transactions if the winnings are at least 300 times the amount wagered," but did not specify poker.

In repeated attempts to close loopholes and ensure compliance, the IRS has established different tax rules for particular games, inviting criticism for its patchwork quilt approach to regulation. Slot or bingo winnings of $1,200 or more, including wagers, trigger a W-2G, while the reporting threshold is $1,500 for keno winnings, excluding the amount bet. Of about 134 million tax returns received by the IRS in 2005, at least 1.8 million reported gambling earnings totaling $24.9 billion or roughly $13,800 per return.

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