YOU would probably have heard about the businessman here who lost over $26 million in three days of gambling at the casino in Resorts World Sentosa in June.

If the casinos play fairly, it would seem that he has no cause for complaint. But do they? Do the casinos follow the rules?

It is not well known, but the 1995 casino-bidding specifications state that "information on the rules of games and odds of winning must be displayed".

This is part of the Request for Concept's "Key Conditions and Requirements", under which casinos here agreed to operate.

The rule was carried forward to Section 106-1-b-(i) of the Casino Control Act, and requires casinos to "display prominently in the casino the advice or information concerning those rules, the mode of payment of winning wagers and the odds of winning each wager".

This would make our casinos the most transparent in the world. Atlantic City in the United States has a similar rule, but casinos there sidestep it by disclosing the odds in a way that is hard to understand.

The simplest method for disclosure is by revealing the "house advantage". This is the percentage chance that a casino has of winning, and is how casinos talk about the odds internally.

For example, roulette with a double zero has a 5.3 per cent house advantage. This means that, for every $100 bet that is made, the house takes an average of $5.30 and pays out $94.70.

This also means that the gambler pays $100 to get $94.70 back, which is a bad deal - as are all casino games.

SEE ALSO Marina Bay Sands: Inside the casino Resorts World: Inside the casino Man who lost $26 million to Resorts World casino

It gets worse when the rate of play is taken into consideration.

For roulette, it is one spin of the wheel every two minutes.

So after one hour, a player can be expected to lose 80 per cent of his average bet. This is calculated as 0.947 raised to the power of 30, which equals 0.1952.

Thus, a gambler placing $100 wagers would see his money dwindle to $19.52 after an hour of play.

Our casinos would be the first ones anywhere to make this information available to players for all games, including slot machines. The move would increase competition and result in better odds for players.

The only problem is that it has not happened. Casinos have not displayed the odds, as required by Section 106-1-b-(i) of the Casino Control Act.

They should do so soon.

MR LARRY HAVERKAMP

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