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The writer argues that if a western Massachusetts casino is to be successful, its operator must be willing to offer games that appeal to savvy players.

AMHERST - Since the Legislature approved casino gaming and Gov. Deval Patrick signed it into law, there has been a lot of posturing by proponents using phrases like increased revenue, job creation and "keep the money in Massachusetts."

Guess who is never mentioned? The player.

The casino business is not urban renewal, nor is it a government subsidy program. It is a tourist business.

The way a casino makes money is by attracting players who live outside the community where the casino is located. This means offering the players good games. This is generally achieved by having several casinos in one location and letting competition do its job.

This is certainly true in Biloxi and Tunica, Miss., and is even truer in Las Vegas. (Atlantic City remains an enigma to me.)

If we build a single western Massachsuetts casino in, say, Palmer, with games akin to those in the Connecticut casinos (read so-so games) do you really think that someone in Albany, N.Y., would drive all the way to Palmer to play those games? Certainly no one in Connecticut would make the drive.

No, all of the players would be locals. The result would be a net outflow of cash from the local community.

What do I mean by good games? Well, you could offer a few blackjack tables that use two decks and have the dealer stand on "soft 17." Such a game still favors the house, but not by much (0.31 percent house edge).

You could offer "single zero Roulette" (2.63 percent house edge).

You could offer video poker games such as "9/6 Jacks or Better" (99.54 percent return), "10/7 Double Bonus" (100.17 percent return), or "Classic Deuces Wild" (100.76 percent return). I would also like to see some slot carousels that offer a 98 percent return to the player and are advertised as such.

I think you get the idea.

How, you may ask, can a casino offer games with over 100 percent return? The answer is that these video poker games are hard to play correctly; the optimal strategy is quite complicated. So a casino can offer these games and make money on the majority of players and at the same time claim these games will return over 100 percent when played correctly.

In Massachusetts, there will be a five-person committee to oversee casino operations in the state, and according to the newspapers they will have broad powers.

It would be nice if this committee would insist that a certain fraction of the games be what I call "good games."

Of course this would necessitate having at least one member of the committee who understands the nature of these games. But maybe, just maybe, if such a policy were to be put in place, players in other abutting states would hear that Massachusetts offers the players decent games and we would have an influx of outside money coming into our state.

I might play here myself rather than flying to Las Vegas (which is what I do now). In any case, the policy would demonstrate that Massachusetts cares about the player.

Don Catlin of Amherst, author of "The Lottery Book: The Truth Behind the Numbers," can be reached at 711cat@comcast.net.