So you've probably all seen them, some guy sat in the middle of ogrimmar offering to double your money on a roll of *some number or higher*. Thing is, they are generally on low level characters, with some suspicious name and guild, will probably just log off if you do a large bet and normally end up banned after a short period of time.
This guide is going to be short, but concise on how you can set up your own casino to rake in big profits.
Contents
- Forewarning
- The official rules on casinos in EU
- Staying Legal
- Tips to start
- Games + odds
- Taking bets and playing the games
- Winning streaks are good for business
- Final words or questions
1. Forewarning
Despite this guide talking about running a casino within the EU rules, you must be prepared to eat some suspensions on your account from disgruntled customers reporting you and GM's who don't know the rules applying suspensions. Don't panic though, I have been suspended for this on my account many times, however as long as you exist within the rules of EU casinos, with one email you can get the suspension removed. I apparently now have a note on my account that GM's can see to help stop them applying more suspensions, granted, I have taken a couple since that note was placed, however on a whole the suspensions have been reduced 90%.
2. The official rules on casinos in EU
The rules on EU casinos are a tangled mess of other rules mixed together. However, upon speaking with several GM's and a senior GM this is what it boils down to.
You are entirely allowed to run a casino as long as no advertising of the casino takes place in any ingame channel, this includes /g /1 /2 /s /y /p /raid /rw etc etc etc. It also goes as far as if people want to ask you the rules, you can not tell them ingame.
To mark out how important this point is, im going to say it again. You can not discuss the casino in any way, shape or form ingame. This includes congratulating someone on a win, discussing the rules, people asking if you run a casino, people asking minimum bets etc etc etc.
There is no rule stating it has to be even odds. You are allowed a house advantage. As long as you pay out according to your rules it is fine.
3. Staying Legal
So how do we stay legal yet let people know about our casino? Well it's simple, the guild website. Whilst advertising your casino directly ingame is against the rules, advertising your guild website is not. So on our guild homepage, we have an "entertainments" section. Clicking on that takes them to a page with all the relevent information. The games we offer, the payout structures, the minimum bets. How to get in touch to play.
Additionally and rather obviously, don't go scamming people by not paying out. People will try all sorts of dirty tricks, eg rolling 20-100 rather than 1-100. Just ignore the roll and wait until they do a proper one, or trade them their gold back.
To help ensure people get paid out correctly, after each roll, trade their winnings back before taking any new bets.
For example. Josh trades me 1k gold and rolls 80. I trade Josh 2k back. Josh then places his next bet with me by trading 1k gold to me. Long winded? Yes. More secure, deffinately.
4. Tips to start
1) You will need lots of gold (50k-100k at least). Why? Well running small stakes casinos has its niche, but will make you very little in the long run. All the games I run have a 1k minimum bet and no maximum bet. I am currently averaging 50-100k profit a night with these bets.
2) Use your main character in its guild. Get a repuation for being a good host. People don't trust level 1 alts. A good geared player in a respected guild carries a lot more trust and will get you more customers.
3) Be prepaired to pay out early. Sometimes streaks will happen just as you start and you'll end up down. Stick it out. In the end you will always win.
4) Be a good host. Offer bonuses and free rolls to regular customers. People who wager with me often get a free 1k roll at the start of the night on 50/50 odds. They appreciate it and they keep coming back for more.
5) Be prepared to take large wagers. Most WoW gamers use the martingale betting system. Martingale (betting system) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In essence, they will keep doubling their bets in an attempt to win and make their money back, good in theory? But in a house advantage situation, its simply good for business.
5. Games + odds
Here are a list of games I offer and the odds by chance they have (not weighted for payouts).
Doubles - Roll 55 or higher, double your money. 5% House advantage. (Most popular game)
Tripples - Roll 65 or higher, double your money on 65-90. Tripple your money on 90-100. 15% House advantage
Blackjack - Customer makes a 1-10 macro. And rolls to get as close to 21 as possible without going over. 1 Counts as 1 or 11. Dealer then makes the same macro and trys to beat the customer by getting as close to 21 as possible without going over. Unlike regular blackjack in real life the dealer in this blackjack doesn't stop at 17+. We keep rolling until we win or bust. Aprox 20% house advantage.
Roulette - Customer trades multiples of 1k and states an equal amount of numbers between 1 and 36 to however many K they traded. Eg if he trades 4k he could chose 4 numbers. Dealer then rolls 1-40. If the number chosen by customer comes in it pays out 36 to one. 10%+ House advantage.
6. Taking bets and playing the games
So you've advertised your guild and people want to play with you. After getting in touch via MSN, Skype or ventrillo (or any IM out of game) the person needs to join your group. For clarity + safety we ask the player to state their game first using a shortcode listed on the website, eg Doubles is "2x" Tripples is "3x" Blackjack is "BJ" Roulette is "Ro".
They then trade the gold and the game starts. When the game is over, if the customer wins they trade you, you then pay them off and they re-trade you if they wish to make a new bet. Always make sure you pay out the previous winnings before taking the new bet or playing again unless you allow LIR.
We also allow them to LIR (let it ride). In which case the dealer keeps the bet and winnings and the game goes for another round without trading. Eg if they played doubles for 1k and won, then LIR, the next bet would be for 2k, so they either win 4k or lose it all.
Simple as that.
7. Winning streaks are good for business
Every host's worst nightmare is that lucky customer who starts with 1k and wins big. Now the instinct to make back that gold is to scam the gold off a big bet. But don't. Infact someone who wins big is your best source of income over time. This guy is likely to a) come back for more, which is what you want and b) bring his friends.
Recently I lost 72k on a go on roulette. It did sting but the guy went away happy. The next day he was back with 2 of his mates. Not only did he lose the 72k back and 10k more, but his friends lost ~ 20k each also. Overall, this customer netted me 50k profit by the time he had no gold left to bet any more.
Alternatively you will get people who lose and become very abusive. Simply do not respond to them ingame and discuss it using outside IM. Inform them you are breaking no rules and the risk was all theirs. Do not be nasty or abusive to them back. Maintain your composure and stay a good host. Most will chill out and come back to try and win their gold back.
8. Final words or questions
Well that should hopefully give you a little insight into running a legal EU casino. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
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