Table Games Craps $100 minimum table, observation

So I was at Maryland Live! on a busy night (possibly a Friday).

Craps table was $100 minimum, and table was almost full. The only player at the table making any bets was the shooter, betting the don't pass for $100, no odds. Literally, the entire table waited until the dice was in their hand before making any bets. And each shooter would simply bet the don't pass.

How is this profitable for the casino?

Nearby, the "cheap" $25 table was more crowded, but most people simply betting the pass line with odds, or maybe the field. Not many place bets.

I guess the they are keeping the big $$$ table open, hoping a whale steps up to the $100 table, and places all of the numbers.

 

Sooner or later the variance catches up in the casinos favor. Look at it as a sine wave.

 

When you say "their", do you mean every player would only bet when they themselves were shooting? And that everybody was only betting Don't?

A crowded $25 table for a casino is kind of equivalent to "grinding" for a player - with bets spread out all over the place, there's going to be some winners on every roll, but chances are the house gets most or all of back + more when the seven eventually comes. Just watch a long roll sometime, and see how they pay out a few players each roll and then how much they rake in when the entire table is covered with chips and the seven comes. The longer the roll, the more chips are usually on the table when it comes.

But if everybody's playing the same Don't Pass on a $100 table, then it's a binary event - everybody's gonna win or lose at the same time, with some no-decisions in between. I don't know how big Maryland Live is, but any Vegas casino isn't going to sweat that action especially if people are flat betting, because basically nobody ever walks away when they're ahead.

 

I've been hitting Maryland Live! At Hanover for a few weeks now and have seen the same stuff going on. Also praying they bring down some mins as soon as Baltimore gets their new casinos

 

Maryland Live! does have one or two tables at a $15 minimum most mornings. However, as soon as the tables get busy, they up the minimum to $25 (usually no later than about 10AM). I've seen the $100 table(s) at night. My observation is that there is usually one or two people actually playing on it with everyone else just watching. I think a buy-in at a table like that would be a few thousand in order to stay on it long enough to catch a streak.

 

I have seen similar scenarios what the OP mentioned a number of times.
You have Table A packed 2 people deep with low limit.
Table B has 0, 1 or 2 people at higher limit yet they won't consider lowering the limit.

 

correct. I watched for a complete orbit, and during each shooter there was only one bet on the table, and that was the shooter flat betting the don't pass, with zero odds.

If the Baltimore Horseshoe does it right, MD live will lower their minimums a bit due to increased competition. That said, when the MGM National Harbor opens, I bet you'll see $5 tables at MD Live, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Hollywood's casinos in Charles Town and Perryville completely shut their doors for good.

Do yourself a favor, and make the drive over to the lower delaware casinos (Dover, Harrington) as they usually have $5 craps during off-peak hours. Hit Harrington on the weekend, and on occasion, you'll find that odd carnival game of Crapless Craps in action! Before DE, I'd only ever seen that variant of craps at the Stratosphere in Vegas.

I too have seen the rare $15 table on a weeknight here or there, always packed with tons of action!