Gambling Games

Sometimes, it seems to me that there are a dozen new games being featured on every online and land-based casino I visit, with more games being invented constantly by enterprising game manufacturers in the industry. Several games are enhanced versions of classic casino games with an extra jolt of steroids, while others are completely brand-new right out of the figurative box. With this thought in mind, I decided to take a look back at a few of the classic casino games that have stood the test of time.

Poker

The most popular version of poker being played in casinos right now is Texas Hold’em. The popularity of this game is said to be credited in a major way to its exposure on television, where thousands and perhaps millions of people have watched famous celebrities play Texas Hold’em for high stakes. But you’ll need to get a lot of experience playing low limit games and learn the ins and outs of this poker game before you can consider yourself worthy of playing in a high stakes tournament in the casinos.

The games you may have seen on television are No Limit Texas Hold’em games. What does no limit mean? It means that all the chips can be wagered at any time a player wishes. This makes for exciting games on TV, but if you’re a beginner, you’re better off playing Limit Texas Hold’em games first. The money you can bet on each round is limited, and the betting rounds are more controlled to begin with.

Blackjack

Another popular card game that has been an institution in casinos, blackjack can be played with one deck, up to six or even eight decks of cards. The cards are held and dealt out by the dealer during one-deck or two-deck blackjack games, while a “shoe” is used to deal out cards in games using three or more decks. Nowadays, though, continuous shuffling machines are being used in more and more casinos. These continuous shufflers can automatically shuffle as well as deal out the cards, making it easier and more precise for the dealer to deal cards to the players, while thwarting attempts at card counting.

No matter how many decks are used, the basic play remains the same for blackjack – beat the dealer. If a player gets a higher count than the dealer’s without going over 21, you win the round. A “bust” means you’ve gone over the count of 21 on your hand. If the dealer busts, you win. If you bust, you automatically lose, whether or not the dealer busts his hand also.

Roulette

Roulette is a classic game where you try to predict the correct number that appears after the spin of the wheel. Aside from betting on a single number, players at roulette can also bet on a combination of numbers, wager on the color of the winning number, or whether it is going to be odd or even.

There are two different roulette wheels being played in casinos everywhere. One is the European wheel, which is the older version. It has 37 numbered slots from 0 to 36. The single zero slot makes the house edge 2.63. The second roulette wheel is the American one, a modified version of the European wheel. This version has added a double-zero slot to the already-present zero, making 38 numbered slots altogether. Because of that extra double-zero slot, the house edge increases to 5.26 wherever the American wheel is used.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday considerably raised its expectations for inflation this year and brought forward the time frame on when it will next raise interest rates.

However, the central bank gave no indication as to when it will begin cutting back on its aggressive bond-buying program, though Fed Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged that officials discussed the issue at the meeting.

“You can think of this meeting that we had as the ‘talking about talking about’ meeting,” Powell said in a phrase that recalled a statement he made a year ago that the Fed wasn’t “thinking about thinking about raising rates.”

As expected, the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee unanimously left its benchmark short-term borrowing rate anchored near zero. But officials indicated that rate hikes could come as soon as 2023, after saying in March that it saw no increases until at least 2024. The so-called dot plot of individual member expectations pointed to two hikes in 2023.

Though the Fed raised its headline inflation expectation to 3.4%, a full percentage point higher than the March projection, the post-meeting statement continued to say that inflation pressures are “transitory.” The raised expectations come amid the biggest rise in consumer prices in about 13 years.

“This is not what the market expected,” said James McCann, deputy chief economist at Aberdeen Standard Investments. “The Fed is now signaling that rates will need to rise sooner and faster, with their forecast suggesting two hikes in 2023. This change in stance jars a little with the Fed’s recent claims that the recent spike in inflation is temporary.”

Markets reacted to the Fed news, with stocks falling and government bond yields higher as investors anticipated tighter Fed policy ahead, including the likelihood that the bond purchases will slow as soon as this year.

“If you’re going to get two rate hikes in 2023, you have to start tapering fairly soon to reach that goal,” said Kathy Jones, head of fixed income at Charles Schwab. “It takes maybe 10 months to a year to taper at a moderate pace. Then you’re looking at we need to start tapering maybe later this year, and if the economy continues to run a little bit hot, rate hikes sooner rather than later.”

Even with the raised forecast for this year, the committee still sees inflation trending to its 2% goal over the long run.

“Our expectation is these high inflation readings now will abate,” Powell said at his post-meeting news conference.

Powell also cautioned about reading too much into the dot-plot, saying it is “not a great forecaster of future rate moves. “Lift-off is well into the future,” he said.