I’m going to Las Vegas and thought I should do some research into the ways in which I can win some money – or lose it.

One game that caught my eye was Texas Hold’em. It’s a poker game where two cards are dealt face down to each player and then five cards are dealt face up in the middle. At different stages the players bet upon making a hand from the cards they hold and those in the middle. This reminded me of business rates retained by local authorities.

Like in Texas Hold’em, the Government (the dealer) has dealt us two cards we know of: rateable value at a point in time and developments in our area. What we don’t know, and what is slowly revealed to us by the dealer is the business rate multiplier, the level of local share, mandatory reliefs, the number of successful appeals and when the Government will revalue and reset the business rates.