When you pick up a company's brochure, you expect to read superlatives about the firm's products, its many virtues and specifics about why you should buy its wares and services.

When I was in Las Vegas recently, I was killing time near the cashier's cage at the Paris Hotel and Casino, waiting my turn in line, when I spied a stack of black-and-red brochures from Caesars Entertainment.One, in particular, caught my eye. It was titled: "The House Advantage: A Guide to Understanding the Odds."Fancying myself as a fairly savvy craps player, I pride myself on knowing the odds on the many possible combinations that can be wagered at the craps table.I know there are some odds which give a player an even shot at winning, while there are others which are wildly in the house's favor.We call them "sucker bets," and those are the bets that the casinos love and cherish most of all.For example, there are 36 combinations possible on a pair of dice. If you were to wager that a one and a one ("snake eyes") would come up on the next roll, you might expect a 36-to-1 payoff, but the payoff is 30-to-1. That difference (about 17 percent) is the house advantage.While this difference is high, it is nothing compared to the Pennsylvania State Lottery Pick 3 house edge. The odds are 1,000-to-1 that your number comes up.So, if you wagered a $1 straight bet, and your number hits, you might expect a $1,000 payout. The truth is that you would get just $500. The house edge is a whopping 50 percent.You might think the casino would keep the house-advantage concept a deep, dark secret, just as most states do, but the brochure I picked up was brutally frank in its warning and explanation."Whether you play slots, craps, blackjack, roulette or any other game in a casino, it is important to remember that games of chance are based on random outcomes and always favor the casino," the brochure says."These games of chance are a form of entertainment, at a price to you, the player; casino gaming should not be considered a way to make money," the brochure warns.I couldn't believe that a company was essentially telling its customers, "Look, if you play long enough, wager enough and bet fast enough, you are bound to lose at our casino."I thought to myself that this is customer honesty in the extreme.But the brochure was just getting started. There's a section on myths and superstitions. "Magical thinking" has no impact whatsoever on the outcome of which dice combination, sequence of cards or the number that will come up on a roulette wheel.Aside from cheating, there's nothing a player can do no ritual and no lucky charm to influence the outcome of any casino game. Superstitions can't determine whether a player wins or loses, because every casino game is based on randomness or chance.While every casino game has its share of myths, craps has some of the most colorful. For example, it is bad luck when a die bounces off the table.Some players will remove their bets, convinced that a seven (a losing roll) will come up next.Some are convinced that "virgin shooters" are good luck. These are first-time craps players. And if this person is a woman, this is considered even better.Such a player who has a good first roll is remembered, while the majority of first-timers who have poor rolls women and men are quickly forgotten.Some are convinced that there are "hot" shooters and others who are "chillers" and can't roll worth a damn. None of this has any basis in fact, especially since each roll of the dice is random.The brochure says to understand gambling, the gambler must realize the concept of "independent events." This means that the chances of a specific outcome remain the same and are not influenced by previous events.For example, if a player has just rolled snake eyes, the player is no more or less likely to roll snake eyes on the next roll.Slot machines are neither more nor less likely to produce a jackpot just because they haven't hit for a while. A player cannot influence the outcome of traditional slot machine play through any decision-making strategy.So-called gambling hot streaks are merely random sequences of events perceived by players to be favorable. The same is true when a slot machine is said to have "gone cold." In time, the overall outcome of the game will favor the casino and always approach the house advantage.In developing this and other consumer-education brochures, the Caesars Entertainment Group says it cares about its customers and is leading the industry in encouraging responsible gaming."That's why we created the Caesars Code of Commitment," a representative said. "It's a public pledge to our guests, our employees, our communities and the environment that we will honor the trust they have placed in us."When the casino itself tells you that you cannot win, that the reason the casino is in business is to make money big money it should be a cautionary warning to anyone who is convinced that he or she is the exception, the one to defy the odds.That mindset makes you the casino's newest best friend forever.Bruce Frassinelli of Schnecksville is a 1957 graduate of Summit Hill High School and an adjunct instructor at Lehigh Carbon Community College.