Dear Mark,
Please pardon this simple question, but could you explain what you meant when you stated in a column being paid "less than true odds." - Stan B.

True odds, Stan, is the ratio of the number of times a favorable event will occur as compared to the number of times an unfavorable event will happen.

As for "less than true odds," here-tiz in common talk with an example: Suppose you and I flip a coin, a dollar a pop. If you lose, you pay me a buck. If you win, I pay you only 95¢. Sound fair to you, Stan? Even though the odds of winning are a 50-50 proposition, the game becomes inequitable when instead of you getting paid $1 when you win, you're only getting 95¢.

Though getting shortchanged a measly nickel doesn't seem like much, it adds up as the number of coin flips increases.

Casinos use this same concept, being paid less then true odds, when you win a bet at most casino games. Note any casino paytable

This difference between true odds and less than true odds is called the house edge, a percentage of each bet you make that the house takes in. The reason you are not paid true odds when you gamble is that you need to make a payment, an entertainment tax if you will, for the casino letting you play in their joint.

Dear Mark,
I had a friend who told me he made a few thousand dollars a year just by walking around in casinos and looking for slot machines that had money left in the tray or in credits. Sounds like a way to make some extra cash. Is this legal? Who owns that money anyway? - Laurie J.

Whose money is it? T'aint your friend's, Otiz the casino owners.

I've done this question before, and normally I wouldn't repeat it, but just this last week I personally observed two elderly gents trying to get buffet funds by circling the casino floor looking for credits and loose change, so it has earned a repetition.

"Sea gulling" as it's called in gamblese, is illegal. It means purposively circumnavigating the casino floor looking for orphan coins or credits on a slot machine, or even change on the floor.

If your friend continues to make a full-time occupation of cruising the casino on the lookout for easy pickings, he will eventually be caught and asked never to come back, or " permanently 86ed" in casino-ese. Luckily, if your pal Sticky-finger is caught, there is no soundproof room with a glove-vice waiting.

But that doesn't mean there are not those like your friend who seek to make a living scavenging the millions lost each year by gamblers who forget their stored credits (winnings). Of course, I know, Laurie, that you are not a casino conniver looking for an easy score.

But a tip to you and other slot-playing patrons: before you walk away from any slot machine, don't forget to press the cash-out button.

Play casino games now!