CHUCK-LUCK.
This game is sometimes called Sweat, and again, but erroneously, Hazard. It is played with three dice, which are usually thrown down a funnel in which several cross-bars are placed. The player is offered five different forms of betting, all of which appear on the Layout, and which cover all the combinations possible with three dice.
The Raffles are sometimes indicated by a representation of one face of a die. Bets on single numbers pay even money, if the number bet on comes up on the face of any of the three dice. If it comes up on two of them, such as two deuces, it pays double; but if all three dice are alike it is a raffle, and the house takes all bets not placed on raffles. Bets on the numbers from 18 to 3 are upon the total count of the pips on the upper faces of the three dice. The small figures under these numbers show the odds paid; 14, for instance, pays twelve for one. All raffles pay 180 for one; the same as 18 or 3.
Bets on High and Low, Odd or Even, pay even money. High throws are all above 10, and low throws are all below 11. This would be perfectly even betting if the house did not take raffles. Some houses allow a player to bet on raffles generally; that is, to bet that a raffle of some kind will come. Such bets are paid 30 for 1.
The percentage of the house, even in a square game, may be seen from the following table, which gives the odds against the event, and the odds which the house pays:—
| The odds against | 3 | or | 18 | are | 215 | to | 1; | the house pays | 180 |
| ” | 4 | ” | 17 | ” | 71 | ” | 1 | ” | 60 |
| ” | 5 | ” | 16 | ” | 35 | ” | 1 | ” | 29 |
| ” | 6 | ” | 15 | ” | 20½ | ” | 1 | ” | 18 |
| ” | 7 | ” | 14 | ” | 13¼ | ” | 1 | ” | 12 |
| ” | 8 | ” | 13 | ” | 9¼ | ” | 1 | ” | 8 |
| ” | 9 | ” | 12 | ” | 7¼ | ” | 1 | ” | 6 |
| ” | 10 | ” | 11 | ” | 7 | ” | 1 | ” | 6 |
Cheating. There are endless ways of swindling at Chuck-luck, the most modern being to turn the dice over after they have reached the table through the funnel. This is done by an apparatus under the cloth, the dealer looking down the funnel to see how the dice lie, and then adjusting them to suit himself. Another method is to hold out one die, throwing only two down the funnel, and slipping the third down the outside, turning it so that when it is combined with the two already in the funnel it will beat the big bets on the layout. Raffles can be forced in this way whenever the two dice in the funnel are paired.