My Raging Douchebag

[sidereal]

The Roulette board is mostly self-explanatory.  Pick a number (don't do this), pick two numbers by putting the chips on the border between them, pick four numbers by putting the chips on the corner, pick a color, pick odd/even, pick a third of the numbers in the little boxes for that, pick a column. . .  You basically just throw chips around until the croupier tells you to stop.

Roulette's actually not a bad way to spend time.  It's a sucker's game by 'real' gambler standards since there's no skill and the house edge will bleed you to death over time.  But the edge isn't huge. . if you play black/red or odd/even you'll win almost half the time (for a 1:1 payout).  If you play mostly 1:1 bets and drop a few on a number here and there you might get lucky.  Roulette wheels tend to be near the entrance, because casinos have learned that people like to bet their winnings or whatever they have left on 'one last spin' hoping to get lucky.  Casinos make a lot of money with that one.

Craps is a little more complicated, but you can pick it up in an hour.  It also usually has the smallest house edge (depending on how they wiggle the payouts) so you can play it and be slightly respectable.

[WayAbvPar]

I would suggest either checking out the library or buying a book about casino games, preferably one that teaches you some basic strategy. It will make a trip into the casino much less intimidating, and might even make it profitable (or at least make your money last longer). However, remember- casinos don't offer games that aren't tilted in their favor.

Poker is the only exception: you are playing against other players, not the house (they just take a percentage out of each pot).

[Viin]

Good idea on the book - anyone have a general casino gambling book to recommend?

[WayAbvPar]

Check out Conjelco. They have tons of gambling books; the poker books they sell are the best in the business IMHO. Haven't read the casino gaming ones, but I would expect them to be similarly good.