overtime and teasers?

There are two inter-related concepts about casino profits that most players, and even many longtime casino executives, don't really understand. First, players are paying the house edge only when they win - never when they lose. Put another way, you might say that the house makes money not on customers' losing bets but on their winning bets because the house pays slightly less than the true odds on those winning bets.

If a fellow comes in and makes one bet for $1,000 on the craps table and loses it, he pays nothing for it. But if he wins the bet, he should get approximately $1,028 for his $1,000. Then he would be getting true odds. Instead, he wins only $1,000. So by winning the bet, he pays a $28 vig. By losing, he doesn't. Customers are often a little flabbergasted when I tell them, "I only make money when you win, not when you lose." That may be hard to believe, but nevertheless it's true.

The second thing people don't realize is that a casino does not make its profits by winning money. For example, a fellow came into Vegas World with $28,000 a few Saturdays ago, and lost it in about 10 minutes. Now, we didn't EARN that money. We just WON it. We were GAMBLING and we got lucky. But I can't survive on WON money. I can only survive on EARNED money. That guy's $28,000 is just in escrow. Sooner or later somebody is going to come in and win it back.

Everyday some people win and some people lose. One day per week or month there might be more winning bets than losing bets, but in the long run they even out. The only thing the casino EARNS is the money it retains from winning bettors by paying them slightly less than true odds.