posted
Comment: I was curious about the veracity of the following claim:
A group of statisticians decided to hold a professional conference in Las Vegas. A Vegas casino offered free hotel rooms to the conference attendees, as it typically does for such events, figuring it would profit from the gambling the attendees would do in the casino. However, none of the statisticans did any gambling, because they are so familiar with the odds. As a result, the casino never again offered free hotel stays for statistician conferences.
Thanks if you can help!
(I don't really see how the casino would monitor the gambling habits of all its hotel guests, so this rumor sounds suspicious to me, but I've heard several people claim it to be true, so I was wondering if you could settle it!)
Posts: 36029 | From: Admin | Registered: Feb 2000
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quote:Originally posted by snopes: (I don't really see how the casino would monitor the gambling habits of all its hotel guests, so this rumor sounds suspicious to me, ...)
When you buy gambling chips at the hotels casino, can you get them charged to your room? That would be a way of monitoring the gambling habits of your guests, at least to a extend.
Another way would be drinks from the casino's bar charged to the room.
I've never been to Vegas, so I don't know if that's possible.
Don Enrico
-------------------- My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling, but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places. - Pooh Bear Posts: 2209 | From: Hamburg, Germany | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Casino Comping is used to monitor how much a player gambles.
quote:A player has an average wager of $100, gambles for eight hours and makes roughly 60 decisions per hour. A computer chip then multiplies the above figures by Blackjack’s win percentage, set at .0214, and crunches out a figure of $308.
That’s how much a player is worth to the casino because that’s likely how much he’ll lose playing Blackjack. Casinos then give back, in freebies, 10 to 30 per cent of the player’s value.
Note that it doesn't matter how much the player actually wins or loses, it's how much they are likely to lose.
-------------------- "You learn something new every day if you're not careful" - Wilf Lunn Posts: 893 | From: Durham City, England | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
But that is to determine (or rather, estimate) how much a player gambles - e.g., what somebody does who already entered the casino in the first place. It doesn't help you (as the owner/manager of a hotel-casino-complex) to find out whether or not a guest in one of your rooms does gamble at all.
ETA: The best way to proof or debunk the claim in the OP would probably be to call different hotels in Vegas asking to make reservations for the Semi-Annual Meeting for People who Like statistical Experiments (SAMPLE)
Don Enrico
-------------------- My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling, but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places. - Pooh Bear Posts: 2209 | From: Hamburg, Germany | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
"There are lies, there are damn lies, and there are statistics"
Believe it or not, it was a Navy chaplain who used to wear that shirt....
-------------------- "Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing." --William James Posts: 8 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote: A group of statisticians decided to hold a professional conference in Las Vegas. A Vegas casino offered free hotel rooms to the conference attendees, as it typically does for such events
When was this rumor started? I've attended and scheduled conferences in Las Vegas dozens of times since 1996. Neither I nor anyone in the conference has ever been given a free hotel room. We've been provided with very good rates (depending on the hotel), but never free.
quote:However, none of the statisticans did any gambling, because they are so familiar with the odds. As a result, the casino never again offered free hotel stays for statistician conferences.
Hmmmm...even statisticians and actuaries enjoy games now and again. And anyone can get hooked on gambling. Just because you know the odds and understand them doesn't mean you believe that it is impossible to win...even to win big. Many people who are incredibly adept at math are habitual gamblers and gambling addicts.
quote:(I don't really see how the casino would monitor the gambling habits of all its hotel guests, so this rumor sounds suspicious to me, but I've heard several people claim it to be true, so I was wondering if you could settle it!)
It can't necessarily track all the guests, but can track those who sign up for the players club.
-------------------- "The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." - G.K. Chesterton Posts: 1514 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: May 2005
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posted
When I was in Puerto Rico, some people from our group had figured out that they could "beat" the casino but slowly playing quarter slots for hours and taking advantage of the free drinks, spending considerably less than the drinks would have cost at the bar. Since the company paid for all we could drink before and during meals, I didn't see any point in drinking more than the 7 or so drinks a day I was already getting, but for the near-alcoholics, I guess it worked out okay.
-------------------- "If I didn't see it and didn't know it was a real news report, I wouldn't believe it. I mean, how nutty can you get?"-Pat Robertson Oct 26, 2006. Posts: 2936 | From: Mean Streets of West Virginia | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
I was hoping to find an audio clip, but no luck. Still, this seems appropriate.
"Statistician's Blues" by Todd Snider:
They say 3 percent of the people use 5 to 6 percent of their brain 97 percent use 3 percent and the rest goes down the drain I'll never know which one I am but I'll bet you my last dime 99 percent think with 3 percent 100 percent of the time
64 percent of all the world's statistics are made up right there on the spot 82.4 percent of people believe 'em whether they're accurate statistics or not I don't know what you believe but I do know there's no doubt I need another double shot of something 90 proof I got too much to think about
Too much to think about Too much to figure out Stuck between hope and doubt It's too much to think about
They say 92 percent of everything you learned in school was just bullshit you'll never need 84 percent of everything you got you bought to satisfy your greed Because 90 percent of the world's population links possessions to success Even though 80 percent of the wealthiest 1 percent of the population Drinks to an alarming excess More money, more stress
It's too much to think about Too much to figure out Stuck between hope and doubt It's too much to think about Pick it now
84 percent of all statisticians truly hate their jobs They say the average bank robber lives within say about 20 miles of the bank that he robs There's this little bank not far from here I've been watching now for a while Lately all I can think about's how bad I wanna go out in style
And it's too much to think about Too much to figure out Stuck between hope and doubt It's too much to think about That's right It's too much to think about Amen It's too much to think about
-------------------- Where's the challenge in wassailing at Christmas? The place is lousy with wassail! Posts: 232 | From: Raleigh, NC | Registered: Jul 2006
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