Casino Gambling Etiquette

At every table game, there's a sign detailing the minimum and often maximum allowable bet, before you lay your money down, note the minimum-bet requirement, usually posted on a sign in the far left corner. If you don't want to humiliate yourself, don't toss out a red $5 chip on a $100-minimum table. Likewise, don't put a quarter into a dollar slot or video poker machine. The coin will pass through the thing and clank, embarrassingly, into the hopper.

Table games have strict rules about when players can touch chips or cards, rules that exist to discourage cheats. Many blackjack games are dealt face up and players never touch the cards. And once you make a bet, never touch the chips you've laid down if you are splitting or doubling down in blackjack, push out a new pile of new chips but don't touch the original ones. This rule is to discourage 'past posting', a scam by which cheats sneak more chips on to their bet after peeking at their cards.

You should only handle dice with one hand. Everyone, from the players to the dealers and the bosses, will get very nervous if you touch them with two hands, or make a fist around them with one hand so they can't be seen. Blow on them, shake them and turn them so your favorite numbers are up, but don't hide them for a second. That is how dice cheats use sleight of hand to get loaded dice into a game of craps. And if you must kiss them, instead of touching them to your lips, just pantomime the kiss, no one likes shooters to slobber on dice.

Without exception, you must be 21 to gamble. If you are under 21 and start winning or hit a jackpot that requires you to sign federal tax forms, not only will your chips or jackpot be confiscated, you will be tossed out of the casino faster than you can say, the word 'But…'. You may even be turned over to the Gaming Control Board agent, who has the full authority of the law on his side. The lower your age and the higher you bet, the bigger the trouble you are into.

Most casinos subscribe fiercely to the old tradition that cameras are unwelcome. Generally, it is better to leave your cameras in your room, car or backpack, but as long you are discreet or ask permission, you can sometimes get away with taking photographs in casinos. On the other hand, wherever you go in a casino except the toilets, you will be watched by 'eye in the sky' cameras and taped by video recorders in a central surveillance room. Nowhere on earth is Big Brother busier than in a casino. You better make sure that you behave accordingly.