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During my years as a blackjack and roulette dealer I watched a lot of people lose a lot of money. I also saw a few players win money — I’ll get to that in a moment.
Oddly, most of my coworkers loved to gamble. You would think they’d know better, since all of their wages (and all those pretty buildings) are paid from gambling losses.
I didn’t (and still don’t) share their gambling habits. On the other hand, it can be fun to hang out in a casino, especially if they have free drinks.
So I understand why people might budget a little bit of money to lose at the slot machines or table games.
Of course it would be even more fun if you could do better than limit your losses, right? It would be great if you could make money at casinos.
Well, you can! And 44 states have casinos!
Here are ten ways to make money at casinos, along with some ways to save money by going to a casino, and — in case you need to satisfy your inner gambler — a way to risk a little money to win big.
Table of Contents
1. Become a Card Counter
Regular blackjack gives the “house” (the casino) an edge of about 0.5% to 3.0% depending on the rules and how well you play. However, at times the game is in your favor as a player.
Specifically, you have an advantage when the remaining cards include more aces and face cards than normal.
To know when this situation has developed you can track the cards using a simple plus-or-minus count, and then bet more when the count is right.
You can learn card counting in a few hours, but to be proficient while playing at a busy blackjack table takes many more hours of practice.
Keep in mind that casinos can ask you to leave, even though card counting isn’t illegal. Where I worked management tolerated small-time card counters.
They probably figured that having a few winners encouraged the less-disciplined players to keep trying. The edge from good card counting is only 0.5% to 1.0%.
So, for example, if you play at a table with a $5 minimum and alternate your bets between $5 and $50 (when the count is right), and there are 50 hands dealt per hour, you might bet a total of $700 per hour, for an expected profit of just $7 per hour (with a 1% edge).
Clearly, to make some serious money you have to be good and bet more.
By the way, having the odds in your favor doesn’t eliminate the ups and downs. I can tell you from experience that even the house, with a larger statistical edge, loses on some days.
So with bets of, say, $25 to $100, you may do well in the long run, but you have to stomach nights when you lose thousands of dollars.
Still, if you do it right, you’ll be ahead in the long run, so you’re working, or investing, not gambling.
2. Try Credit Hustling
Credit hustling is simply looking for leftover credits on slot machines. Players often forget and leave without cashing out.
On slow nights when I had no players at my blackjack tables, I used to watch credit hustlers checking the machines, and they sometimes found credits.
A Daily Mail article on people who live in the tunnels under Las Vegas reports on one couple that survives by doing this.
They once found more than $900 in a single machine, although finding a dollar or two is the norm.
While not illegal (if the credit have been truly forgotten and abandoned), casinos don’t care for credit hustlers, so you’ll normally try to keep a low profile.
3. Join A Players Club
Almost every casino has some sort of “players club” you can join for free.
Apart from earning points as you play, which can be redeemed for freebies of all sorts, you also usually get some rewards up front for signing up.
For example, many casinos offer “match play” money. That might be $5 coupons or chips, for example, but you have to bet $5 of your own along with each one.
You can lose, but when you win $10 for betting $5 of your own money the odds are with you even at the worst games.
If you round up enough of these deals you can be pretty sure you’ll make a profit playing just long enough to use up your match play.
Casinos may offer a free meal or other goodies for joining the club too, which at least saves you some money.
4. Take Advantage Of Promotions
The casino where I worked handed out out $10 in free play to everyone who walked in the door (for a while anyhow).
Some couples came every day to get $20, playing perhaps 50 cents each in the slot machines before leaving with the rest of the money.
When my wife and I lived in Florida we went to a casino where they gave us each $5 in free slot machine play, and a free dinner, and free wine.
The catch was we had to play at least 100 times, but at nickel machines with a 12% house edge the expected loss is only 60 cents (100 x 5 cents x 12%), so, by playing slowly, we left ahead (and full) every single time we went.
Watch for any promotions at casinos near you, and see if there is some way to turn a profit from them.
5. Become A Good Poker Player
When you play against the casino, the house has the edge, but when you play against other players, you can have the edge if you’re good.
There are plenty of online tutorials on how to win at casino poker, but keep in mind that the house takes a cut of every pot, so you have to be significantly better than the other players to come out ahead.
As someone who has won money at poker (and chess) without much skill, I can tell you that the key is to play against weaker players.
Going against stronger competitors might help you prove something, but if you want to make money, look for tables with weak players.
6. Play In Slot Tournaments
Slot tournaments usually involve playing to see who does best in a set time, using machines set up with fake credits.
These events encourage fast play and are meant to get people into the casino, where they might gamble their own money before and after the competition.
Googling “free slot tournaments vegas” turns up (at the moment) a couple options, including one tournament that cost nothing and has prizes of up to $500 in slot play (you may have to play it through a machine, and then you keep whatever you’ve won).
Even tournaments with an entry fee can be money makers, because the prize pool often significantly exceeds the total of the entry fees.
In other words, if you’re good, and you play in a dozen tournaments, you’ll probably win more than what you spent on entry fees.
7. Play A Biased Roulette Wheel
There are 38 pockets on an American-style roulette wheel, and a “straight-up” bet pays 35-to-1 when you win (plus you keep the bet). You can see that this is a losing proposition.
But what if, instead of each number coming up randomly 1-in-38 spins, some numbers came up more often than they should?
It happens.
When I ran a roulette table one of my customers made a profit of $80,000 over the course of 16 months or so. I met him at a coffee shop after I quit, to get the whole story. Here’s the short version:
He wrote down the winning numbers for 5,000 spins (it took weeks). The number 2 was winning an average of 1-in-28 spins.
He bet $5 repeatedly on that number. On average, he lost $135 for every 28 spins (27 losses), but won $175 (35-to-1 payout) when the number 2 came up, for a net profit of $40 per 27 spins.
There are various possible reasons for a bias, ranging from a sticky pocket (temporary) to manufacturing imperfections (a more durable bias).
The good news is you don’t need to know why a certain number comes up more often to take advantage. You just need to verify that it’s a true bias (which takes thousands of spins).
I’ll let others teach you more about biased roulette wheels, but I’ll warn you that it’s tedious work to find one, and even with an edge you’ll have losing nights (my customer sometimes lost over $700 in a night, even though he was far ahead in the long run).
8. Identify A Roulette Dealer Signature
Some dealers may habitually (unconsciously) repeat certain patterns when they spin the wheel and the roulette ball, which makes the winning pocket more predictable.
My experience? On a slow night with no players a pit boss and I each chose a number and alternated spinning the wheel and dropping the ball, betting a dollar for each win
I came out $14 ahead in couple hours, meaning I spun my number 14 times more than he spun his.
So I strongly believe dealer signature is possible, and even gambling expert Frank Scoblete agrees, but how often it happens in real play, and whether you can take advantage of it… well, who knows? But here’s what you might look for…
Note the number passing by at the moment the dealer releases the ball, and note the winning number. After doing this many times (with the same dealer) look for a pattern.
For example, a dealer might be so consistent (in the speed of the wheel and the ball) that the ball lands in a certain “section” of the wheel (in relation to the release point) more often than it should.
If it lands in a section that covers a third of the wheel, but lands there half of the time, you have a signature.
Now it gets trickier. If the target section is, say, the 13 numbers starting 4 pockets to the left of the release number, you have to identify the release number and quickly place bets on as many numbers as possible in the target section, before betting is closed.
Could it work? If not casinos wouldn’t be so quick to change balls, change dealers, and move roulette wheels when it looks like people are winning. Where I worked they did all three often.
Good luck!
9. Use Casinos For Business Networking
I heard a lot of conversations at my tables. Sometimes they resulted in players getting new clients or developing new business relationships.
And I learned about how to make money from scrap metal from one such conversation.
It’s common for players to talk to other players at a blackjack or roulette table, which makes a casino a great place to network and find new ways to make money.
And watching how players handle those stacks of chips in front of them can tell you a little about whether you want to do business with them or not.
10. Get A Casino Job
In 1994 I was making $14 per hour dealing blackjack and roulette. A BLS inflation calculator tells me that’s the equivalent of $24 per hour in today’s dollars.
And, in fact, a friend who still works at that casino says she makes over $20 per hour.
Dealing table games is just one of the many positions you might find at a casino near you. One of my coworkers started as a surveillance officer with no experience, and used the knowledge and experience gained to later build a successful business selling surveillance equipment.
Other positions include slot machine tech, bartender, waiter, cage worker (handling the money), and pit boss.
Also, working in a casino usually means you’re forbidden from gambling there, which might be a good thing for some readers.
Save Money By Taking Advantage Of Casino Freebies
Some casinos have free events at which they put out snacks or even full meals. Other casinos offer inexpensive meals at their restaurants. Watch for these deals as a way to save money on a night out.
Even the free drinks offered by many casinos can make for a cheap night out if you know what you’re doing.
For example, my wife and I play 5-cent slot machines, set the speed to “slow” (keno machines usually have three settings), and, by the time we have lost a couple dollars we’ve had a few drinks and some fun.
Turn $60 Into $600 By Betting The Right Way
Maybe you like to gamble, and you’re smart enough to limit your losses. But how you play still matters.
For example, with a $60 bankroll, if you bet $5 per hand at a blackjack table you can often play all night, but you’ll never be very far ahead at any point.
That’s great if you want to sit there and enjoy the free drinks.
But to win big you need to make bigger bets at some point. For example, if you’re $20 ahead, bet $10 per hand, and if you get further ahead, bet $20 or $40 per hand. To summarize:
Bet the table minimum when you lose, and bet more and more when you’re winning.
Most of the time you’ll lose your $60 faster this way (because you’ll often those big bets), but it gives you a chance to win big from time to time.
I saw many people turn $60 into $600 over the years, and not one player did it by always betting the table minimum.
You have to “press your luck” to win big. Just be sure to bring a limited amount of money, so your losses are not a big deal.
Final Thoughts
You may like to gamble, and if you limit your losses, it’s affordable entertainment. Even better, if you time your casino visits to coincide with promotional events you might get some free food and drinks.
And finally, if you’re willing to do the necessary work, you can even make money in a casino, and without really gambling.
If you know other ways to make money in a casino, share your ideas below … and keep on frugaling!
How prosperous Las Vegas casinos really are?
How much money do Las Vegas casinos make? Source: unsplash.com
Gambling businesses have always been on the shady side of economies. They are treated as high-risk enterprises when applying for a loan or other financial services. Most people stay away from such places, being prudent about their hard-earned money. And yet, Las Vegas casinos seem to defy all the prejudice. They are a symbol of the city, one of its main attractions, and a magnet for betting people from all walks of life.
For sure, people who love to test their luck are numerous. Just to put it into perspective, last year, the American Gaming Association estimated that $150 billion was gambled around the world per year in legal and illegal settings.
So, how prosperous are casinos really? PaySpace Magazine’s team is eager to know that. Are you?
How do casinos make money?
At first sight, the answer seems clear. People place bets in various gambling games. When they lose, the money bid goes to the casino. However, bets also often pay off for the gamblers. One may think that casino owners are betting people too, putting the success of their business at stake. However, it’s not true. As Nico Zographos, dealer-extraordinaire for the ‘Greek Syndicate’ in Deauville, Cannes, and Monte Carlo in the 1920s observed about casino gaming: “There is no such thing as luck. It is all mathematics.” Well, statistics, to be precise.
The casino usually wins in the long run, due to the thoroughly calculated “house edge”. It’s also known as the casino advantage. That edge exists on every table game, lotto, or slot in a casino online or on land. The stats don’t depend on the casino establishment, these are purely mathematical odds of the game itself. The house edges for the most popular games vary from 0,5% to 40%.
In addition, individual casinos get more income when they find a method of increasing their house edge, the amount of time on each game and the average bet size. Therefore, the minimum amount is required in most table games. The maths is simple, the casino expects to make a certain amount of money for each round. The higher the limits, the better probability of attracting wealthy gamblers who like to play big. Players may be also encouraged to bet more by special offers called ‘comps’. Comps are gifts such as airline tickets or tickets to shows or even a certain extra percentage of the total winnings. They can be obtained by participating in a kind of “loyalty program” of a certain casino. Gamblers who receive a club card must meet certain requirements like spending a particular amount of time on a game, reaching a certain number of stakes, etc. This strategy is also advantageous to the casino despite the seemingly extra costs.
Moreover, betting itself is actually only a small part of the total casinos’ revenues. Non-gaming income comes from selling food and drinks, guests visiting in-house entertainment venues or spa facilities, renting rooms for overnight stays, paid parking lots, etc.
The average Las Vegas casino visitor spent $434.70 per night. Source: unsplash.com
In fact, since 1999, revenue generated by non-gaming amenities has exceeded casino revenue in Nevada. By 2013, the direct gaming income constituted only one-third of the total profits made by Las Vegas casinos.
Research conducted by David Schwartz, the former director of UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research, showed that in 2018, the average Las Vegas casino visitor spent $434.70 per night with $285.41 going to non-gaming attractions and only $149.29 placed on gambling.
Furthermore, the share of people who visit casinos without gambling at all, for the sake of fun and new experience seems to grow with every generation. During the 2014 survey, 51% of the responding US Millennials vs 15% of Matures admitted they had visited a casino and not gambled but spent money on non-gaming amenities such as food and beverages.
Revenues and stats
Now that you understand the full picture, let’s get down to the exact numbers.
That’s how much major Las Vegas casinos earn annually:
- The owner of MGM Grand Las Vegas, MGM Resorts International had its consolidated net revenues increase 10% to $12.9 billion in 2019, with $5.8 billion attributed to Las Vegas Strip Resorts.
- Caesars Entertainment that stands behind the famous Caesars Palace generated approximately $4.45 billion in revenue from its casinos in 2019 with $4 more billion coming from non-gaming sources.
- Casino and entertainment resort company Wynn Resorts generated approximately $6.61 billion in revenue in 2019.
- Circus Circus Casinos, Inc. has a comparably modest approximate annual revenue of $115.91 million.
- Las Vegas Sands, the owner of The Venetian, reported Consolidated Net Revenue of $13.74 billion in 2019; whereas its operating income decreased 1.4% to $3.70 billion.
In fiscal 2017, 24 casinos in the Las Vegas Strip area produced gaming revenue of more than $72 million. The average daily revenue of a single casino made up $1.8 million with $634.5 thousand coming from the gaming bets.
169 large casinos in Las Vegas reported total revenues of nearly $22 billion. Source: unsplash.com
In the 2019 fiscal year, 169 large casinos in Las Vegas reported total revenues of nearly $22 billion. Their aggregate net income almost reached $2 billion.
At the same time, casinos in the state of Nevada generated $8.76 billion in revenue from gaming.
Coronavirus impact
The woes of the 2020 pandemic brought sad outcomes to the gambling sites. Being non-essential businesses, nearly all gambling venues and resorts were closed for a long time. Therefore, the losses of casinos are colossal.
Thus, MGM Resorts posted a 91% decline in quarterly revenue for the Q2 2020. The company also had an operating loss of $1 billion compared with operating income of $371 million a year earlier.
Las Vegas Sands announced net revenue of $98 million, a decrease of 97.1% from the prior year quarter. Operating loss was $922 million, compared to operating income of $894 million in the same period of 2019.
Can You Make Money Gambling
Though the casino operators speak about the reopening and recovery processes with hopefulness, their usual revenue levels may not be reached too quickly. Experts believe that a complete recovery to 2019 levels may not occur until 2022 or possibly 2023. Unlike many regional gambling markets, Vegas is heavily reliant on air travel, which is still pretty restricted. The number of international tourists and business travelers who are drawn to the wonders of illuminated casino buildings will be significantly smaller in the upcoming seasons.
Furthermore, the state’s “Road Map to Recovery” limits casino operations to 50 percent occupancy. That is another factor for the revenue decrease in the foreseeable future.
Casino Make Money
SunTrust Robinson gaming analyst Barry Jonas believes Las Vegas needs to return to its “gaming roots” to survive the pandemic crisis:
Today’s gaming market has essentially morphed back 30-plus years in time to when the main focus was recession-resistant gambling, as non-gaming amenities take a back seat.
How Does Casino Make Money
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