For any of you blackjack players out there who have visited the Winstar Casino to have a go on their tables; you may have been surprised to learn of the .50 cent fee they impose for each hand played. On numerous occasions when the house was asked "why the ante"?, their response would always include something to the effect that "The State of Oklahoma mandates that we charge this ante". Tied into this statement would be words like education for Native Americans, schoolbooks or that the monies are to be used for promotional purposes and would therefore be returned to the players in giveaways, etc.
What strikes me as particularly odd is that nowhere have I seen in the rules governing blackjack by the State does it say anything about a mandatory ante. It does say that the State will receive a percentage of the net revenue generated but I have still not seen proof that the State directs the Winstar to charge this ante/fee to the players.
Is The Winstar deceiving all of its players and if so why would the State of Oklahoma want to allow the Winstar to use them as a scape goat? Isn't this really just a fee? Ante- isn't an ante part of the award won by at least one of the involved players? How does the State monitor this supposedly mandated ante? In order to do so the State would have to watch over each table, count the number of hands played by every player, over 19 hours, every day. This would have to be done to assure the correct amount of ante money generated is paid to the State. How much money is generated from this fee? On an individual basis the perception is "well it's only .50 cents". Stop and add this up, play 20 hands and it cost you $10. Below is an assumption based on observations meant to determine the amounts of revenue generated, realizing of course that the casino would only know the correct amounts. This is simply an assumption, actual number of players and hands played will vary.

7 maximum # of players per table
38 tables
266 maximum # hands per round

*5min. average time to play one round ( This to is simply a guess it could be moreit could be less, we had to start somewhere)
*Tables are open 19 hours per day (10am-5am)
*Lets say 18 hours of actual playing time to consider dealer changes, chip restacking, etc
*1 hour contains twelve 5min intervals therefore each table would at maximum capacity play 1512 hands per day (7 players, each player playing 12 hands per hour in an 18 hour period)
*Now multiply 1512 hands per table by 38 tables and you have the maximum number of total hands played under these criteria the total being 57,456
*Apply the .50 cent ante to 57,456 hands per day to determine the maximum revenue generated, that total is $28,728
*Because not all tables are always going to be used during the 19 hours open nor are they always playing with 7 players per table, an estimate must be used.
Here are a few calculations based on the theory above. The house generates the following:

Per Day / Per Week / Per Month / Per Year
$28,728 / $201,096 / $871,416 / $10,456,992 At Maximum 266
$14,364 / $100,548 / $435,708 / $5,228,496 w/ 133 players
$9,576 / $67,032 / $290,472 / $3,485,664 w/ 88 players
$7,182 / $50,274 / $217,854 / $2,614,248 w/ 66 players
$4,788 / $33,516 / $145,236 / $1,742,832 w/ 44 players


Think about it, why would anyone want to pay someone else to take their money. The odds will always favor the house, to now pay the house this additional fee is ridiculous. You are wagering your money against equal amounts of their money, in a game that favors them and you are paying them for this chance, stupid, stupid, stupid.
One theory I have regarding the .50 cent fee/ante and the reason for the possible deception is the Winstar is having you the player pay the State for the Winstar to have the right to offer blackjack. The $200 Million +/- of revenue generated from losing gamblers is not enough to pay the percentage owed to the State of Oklahoma apparently. The States cut of these monies is only factored on the table games after winners have been paid, the State collects nothing for the bingo style slots. Until someone can offer proof that the State indeed mandates the Winstar charges the ante I'm inclined to believe this theory. The fact that the Winstar has altered their explanation recently to now say that the ante is required by the State and half the money goes to the casino and half to the State suggests something is wrong here. In this country there is nothing wrong with a business making a profit for itself. Native Americans should certainly have the right and chance to make a living. What's wrong is it should not be allowed if indeed they are deceiving the public.