The Truth About Casinos: How Do They Really Make or Lose Money?

The house always wins. This is a popular phrase that almost all casino gamblers are familiar with. However, it isn’t some random adage or meaningless saying. It is a fact. Casinos always win. Sure, you may walk into a casino and see someone jumping for joy after hitting a nice payout on a slot machine. You might see a high roller lay the smackdown on a blackjack dealer or some random player cashing in on a Royal Flush in Let It Ride. These scenes play out more often than you might think.

When you play at a casino, you are playing games of chance. However, casinos don’t leave anything to chance. These well-organized businesses have devised a foolproof way of always coming out on top in the end. This tutorial will reveal the truth about casinos and how they make or lose money.

This page is part of our online gambling guides aiming to inform players about the casino industry, bookmakers, casino games and more. We advise our readers to gamble responsibly and play at licensed-only sites.

💸 Do Casinos Lose Money?

So, do casinos lose money? Well, that depends on how you look at it. You can point out that casino gamblers sometimes leave casinos with more money than they had when they walked in. That’s the allure.

Casinos want you to think that you can win money. But, of course, you can win money. With that said, there is something called the law of large numbers.

To keep it simple, let’s take a coin toss, which is a 50/50 proposition, as an example. If you flip a coin 10 times, you might end up having seven heads and three tails. However, if you flip the same coin 10,000 times, the results will be much closer to 50/50, which is the actual probability. As the sample size increases, the split between heads and tails will trend toward the real probability. In other words, you might win today, but the math says that the casino will eventually win that money back and then some if you continue to play.

Because almost all casino bets are skewed in the house’s favour by way of the house edge, the law of large numbers dictates that the casino will always win over the long haul. They may lose in the short term, but they make up for it in time.

🔍 Do Casinos Care if Gamblers Win or Lose?

While casinos want you to lose, they generally don’t really care if you win. After all, they need people to win to maintain the illusion that it’s possible to beat the house. It is that illusion that attracts so many people to casinos online and on land. Even if you win, the casino knows that they will win that money back.

One of the rare times that casino operators take exception to win gamblers is when those punters achieve their success through crooked methods. There are countless stories of shady slot players using a variety of devices to cheat slot machines. Even though counting cards isn’t illegal, casinos frown on the practice and will not hesitate to remove you if you are caught doing it.

Can Casinos Control How Much You Win?

Casinos can control the amount of money you can win. They do this by setting betting limits and implementing payout tables. For instance, if you are playing at a roulette table with a C$100 bet limit, the most you can win back on a single wager is C$3,500. This is because the highest payout goes to straight bets, which pay 35 to 1. It’s no different with slot machines. Payouts are calculated according to your stake and the payout table, although progressive jackpots are an exception.

🎰 What Games Bring the Most Money in a Casino?

Casinos offer a wide range of games. They have slot games, table games, and a variety of other games, including Keno, electronic horse racing, and game-show games, among others. Even though these games are quite different, they all have one thing in common.

Casino games are designed to give the house a statistical advantage. So which games produce the most profit for operators? Generally speaking, slot machines bring in the most profits. This is why the majority of games at online and land-based casinos are slot machines.

What Are The Most Profitable Games?

From a gambler’s point of view, the most profitable games are the ones with the lowest house edge. A lot of casino buffs like to play blackjack because it has one of the lowest house edges at about 0.5%. Of course, that low house edge only applies if you play perfectly. The house edge will be higher for inexperienced players who stray from the optimum strategy. Other games that attract players looking for the lowest house edge include roulette, baccarat, and craps.

One thing that you need to understand is that using terms like “most profitable” is a bit of a misnomer. Instead, these games would be more accurately described as “least unprofitable” from a player’s perspective. Mathematics says that you will lose money in the end, but you might not lose as much.

Are Slot Machines Programmed to Lose?

Are slot machines rigged? Yes, they are, but not in the sense that you may be assuming. If you look at any slot game, you will see that it has an RTP, which stands for Return to Player. This is the average amount of money that a player can expect to receive back. For example, if a video slot has an RTP of 95%, it means that you can expect an average return of $95 for every $100 you wager.

Again, this is merely an average. You might hit the jackpot, you might break even, or you might even bust out. However, you can expect to receive about 95% of your money back over the course of thousands of spins. It’s that law of large numbers at work.

Do Online Casinos Make Money Every Day?

It doesn’t happen too often, but casinos have the occasional losing day. For example, some crazy rich high-rolling VIP placing massive bets at the blackjack table might go on an incredible hot streak and hit the house up for millions of dollars. It’s rare, but it has been known to happen.

A high roller by the name of Mo Chan absolutely pummeled an Australian casino one day to the tune of over $10 million playing baccarat at $500,000 per hand. As you may have expected, the casino was forced to limit his bets after a while.

💰 The Gambler Aspect: Do Most Gamblers Lose?

You’ve probably seen casino ads on television or on the internet that depict lucky winners celebrating with wads of cash raining down on them. As mentioned earlier, this happens. However, the reality is that the overwhelming majority of casino gamblers lose money. Sure, they have their moments of glory, but they almost always come out with the short end of the stick in the end.

There have been countless studies done on this subject. Most have concluded that over 90% of regular gamblers lose money. Furthermore, those who fall into the lucky 10% only make a bit of money.

How Much Does the Average Casino Player Gamble?

The amount of money the average casino player loses is heavily impacted by demographics and regional factors. For instance, men generally spend about twice as much on gambling as women do. The average Australian gambler spends more than the average Canadian gambler. Older gamblers between the ages of 50 and 64 spend about twice as much as those in the 19-25 age group. An Ipsos study found that the average Canadian gambler spends less than $100 per month on gambling.

💡 How Much Money Does the Average Player Lose at a Casino?

The average amount of money that casino goers lose depends on a few factors, such as their bet sizes and the types of games they play. There have been numerous surveys conducted to find the answer, but the results tend to vary. However, averaging out the averages, we can confidently guess that the average Canadian drops about $50 each time they visit a casino.

What Happens if You Win a Lot of Money at an Online Casino?

All gamblers dream of hitting the big one, but it rarely happens. Those who manage to strike it rich at an online casino have reason to celebrate. Those who win smaller progressive jackpot slots usually get paid by the online casino. However, those who win multi-million-dollar progressive jackpots on games like Mega Moolah, Divine Fortune, and Aztec Millions often get paid by the software developer that operates the progressive network.

Can a Casino Refuse to Pay Your Winnings?

It’s no secret that some casinos have refused to pay out winnings. In some cases, it’s because the casino feels that the player has somehow breached the terms and conditions. This is why reading a site’s terms and conditions, and user agreement is important. Any breaches of these policies give the operator grounds to withhold payment.

Perhaps the most common reason for online casinos refusing to pay is that the player has not completed the verification process. In these instances, the casino is prohibited from paying out because the operator is required by law and the terms of their licence to verify all customers. Of course, the easy solution to this is to get verified.

What Game Can Win You the Most at a Casino?

Generally speaking, progressive jackpot games offer the biggest cash prizes. Some of the biggest progressive jackpots in history have eclipsed the C$20 million mark. This is one of the main reasons why slot games are the biggest attractions at casinos.

What Are the Odds of Losing at a Casino?

Let’s just say that the odds are always against you, no matter what casino game you play. However, it really depends on the types of bets you make and the games you play. If you wager on long shots, then you will most likely lose. If you bet on even-money propositions in roulette like Evens or Black, you have a better chance of winning or at least losing less. Remember that the house edge is always working against you. Also, remember that you might get lucky and defy the odds.