This is a corollary to the debate on using financial markets for laundering by placing bets on both directions. Apparently, casinos are now on the lookout for people who are teaming up to play both halves of a bet. One casino kicked out two guys who apparently were betting on pass and don't pass on the craps table. Why were they bothering? Was it laundering? Nope. It turns out that casinos hand out free "comps" based on the amount of betting that you do. This is called being "rated." They notice that you're betting $10 chips and figure that the math shows that you'll probably lose x dollars per hour. Then they give you free room and food to show their appreciation. The casinos have elaborate computer tracking systems that would scare privacy activists. They watch you're trading and try to give you free amenities worth up to some fixed percentage of what the odds say you'll lose. The article that I dug this out of said the percentage was often 30%. (I think it was in this morning's NYT.) So these guys were betting like crazy to make it seem like they were high rollers who were entitled to big comps. -Peter