Rayville man works to even odds at casinos
A Rayville man hopes to help pass legislation which will change the way casinos do business in Louisiana for the better.
“Not only does this bill give fairness and clarity to the people,” Cliff Dodge said. “It will increase the state taxes by large numbers.”
Dodge said the legislation would require casinos to display all payout percentages of each paid play and show the average daily theoretical percentage payout on all machines.
“In my past visits to many casinos and discussions with thousands of casino players, we have found in the past couple of years, the casinos have changed their average daily theoretical payout percentage,” Dodge explained. “The casinos have come together, forming an allegiance against the people. Casino’s no longer compete against each other, because many are now owned by the same company. No company should own more than two casinos in the state of Louisiana. All this has taken place since president Donald Trump has taken office. We feel if our great state of Louisiana is to have gambling, it should be completive gambling. Not organized gambling against the people.”
Dodge claims the current system is not only unfair to the people, it is costly to the state because the fewer jackpots paid, the fewer tax dollars the state receives.
“The way the law is administered is old and obsolete,” Dodge said. “Change is long overdue. We need to move into today’s high-tech industry, for our security. This would be less costly to the state, thereby saving tax dollars and much more efficient than today’s methods.”
Dodge says for the casinos to show fairness and clarity to the people, they would have to display all payout percentages of each paid play and show the average daily theoretical percentage payout on all machines.
“These are the two most important percentage payouts that will show fairness and honesty to the people,” Dodge said. “However, there is no law stating that matter. As the law now stands, the casinos can and do change these two payouts at will and keep them hidden from the people.”
Dodge said the law allows casinos to adjust their theoretical percentage payout between 80 and 100 percent.
“At 80 percent, the people’s chances of winning are unbelievably small, thereby reducing the state taxes,” he pointed out. “No jackpots, no state taxes paid.”
Dodge said he does not believe a law requiring all casinos to display in open view for the player on each machine, the payouts on each paid play and the theoretical percentage payout on that machine.
“This would not change any percentage of payouts, nor, would it harm the casino in any way. They may complain about the cost of changes made on the machines,” Dodge said. “However, all the casino must do to comply with this law is simply print on a card the payouts on each paid play and the theoretical percentage of payout on that machine.”
Dodge noted the casino’s choice of percentage of payouts remains theirs. The only thing this bill does is give the player the knowledge of the odds they are playing against.
“This bill would give the people the opportunity and freedom of choice as to whether to play against these odds or not,” Dodge said. “As the law now stands, these odds are hidden from the people, thereby, taking away their freedom of choice.”
He added that if the state wished to increase income taxes coming from the casinos, it could simply decrease the theoretical percentage payout, making it, 90 – 100 percentage payouts.
“This will increase the number of jackpots,” Dodge said. “The jackpot winner will be happy to pay the state tax. This makes the state happy. The winner is happy and the casino is happy because of the increase in customers. Making this law, a win for all.”
Dodge believes this would also bring in more players to Louisiana casinos because of the state’s fairness and clarity law.