Gambling Industry Profits
Gambling is a 400 billion dollar industry. This means there are 400 billion dollars on the table to grab, placed by punters and bettors worldwide. That is the gambling pie. Now, grab a spoon and read how you can take a bite.
First, let’s say a few words about how the big guys work in this business.
The gambling industry is mostly made up of sports betting operators, casinos and poker rooms. These are the industry’s big winners, due to how games are stacked against players. Bookmakers make money due to vig, casinos are guaranteed to profit due to the house edge and poker rooms receive rake from every pot.
If you want to win big and constantly, you need to start a gambling business. No other way around. You cannot take a bigger cut of the gambling pie unless you are one of these companies. Even the most successful poker players and sports bettors cannot compete them in profitability.
The Monthly Revenue Report is a summary of revenue information for nonrestricted gaming activity. Each report reflects 1-month, 3-month, and 12-month data. Prior to 2004, only fiscal and calendar year-end reports are available. MPs have implored online gambling firms to impose a temporary betting cap of £50 a day during the Covid-19 crisis, as evidence emerged that they are pushing punters towards riskier wagers in the.
Yet, these businesses are not one-man shows. Plenty of people work in the gambling venues, from dealers and odds compilers to marketers and public relations staff. They are real businesses with business plans that guarantee them a profit for offering a service to the public. That service is entertainment. Because that is what gambling is.
Entertainment.
For all that people to work and get paid their salaries, gambling companies need big cheques and margins. Otherwise, their business isn’t sustainable.
There are two ways to accomplish that: by either having bigger-than-average profit margins or increasing their turnover. Usually, brand new gambling companies go for the former. As they build up their customer base, they reduce their margins to attract more turnover and compete with the big guys. By the time a gambling operator generates sufficient revenue and net profit every year, their business is safe, as long as they don’t fall behind to competition.
Then, it’s a matter of how many more gamblers find their service attractive. The more they do, the bigger the cut for the company.
Either way, gambling companies are after punters’ money. Those 300 billion dollars. Gamblers are feeding the whole gambling industry. Even in poker where at first glance whales (wealthy bad players) lose to better, regular players. Note “regulars”. Eventually, those regulars will keep playing, paying rake on a daily basis, giving a portion of their winnings back to the poker room.
So, here’s how to stop feeding the gambling industry.
Stop gambling!
If you have been gambling, stop. Unless you are a winner, you need to stop. And since you are reading these lines, you have been losing money. So, stop losing money!
So simple.
Now that your bankroll stopped depleting, it’s time to understand the ins and outs of the gambling industry. That is known as the iGaming industry if you are gambling online.
In gambling, someone has an edge. It’s either you or the man on the other side of the betting line. That usually is the house, standing for bookmakers and casinos. That edge is either predetermined (think of roulette, where you are paid 35-to-1 on a 37-number wheel) or fluctuating (think of betting odds that move up or down).
The best way to comprehend the edge is a coin toss.
Imagine you bet on a coin flip, at less than even odds. No matter your choice of heads or tails, you are going to lose money, in the long run. You are betting on a 50-50 chance but only get paid less than double your money on each coin flip! Depending on how much less you are getting paid, your bankroll will withstand a certain amount of bets.
So, if I’m offering you 1.90 (decimal odds) for each coin flip, your money will end up in my pockets after 200-300 coin flips. That’s how you have been feeding the gambling industry. And that’s what the house edge is all about.
But how do I know how big is your bankroll?
Risk management in gambling
Before you even think of beating the casinos or the bookies, you must understand risk management. Also known as bankroll or capital management, risk management will be the decisive factor in your success. No matter how much edge you gain over the gambling companies, bad risk management will make your betting bankroll evaporate.
If you are going to remember one thing from this article, note this:
Always risk maximum 1% of your gambling capital.
That’s easy to remember, right? Set aside a specific amount of money for your gambling habit and split it into 100 parts. No matter your gambling medium, you should risk no more than one part on each bet you are placing.
That’s pretty much it!
That would also get you in a safe distance from disastrous staking plans, like martingale systems. When the time comes, you’ll move up to more advanced staking strategies than flat betting, such as the Kelly staking plan. Until then though, stick to risking 1 per cent of your bankroll and you’ll be fine.
Remember that this rule applies to small and big bankrolls alike! So, your bankroll’s size doesn’t matter when it comes to risk. Size only determines how much money you will make or lose in currency terms.
Find a gambling system
Now comes the really tedious task of creating a profitable gambling strategy. Finding an edge in the market isn’t easy, I’ll tell you that. If it were that easy, and given the simple risk management rule I explained, everyone would be a winner. But you already know that only 5% or so of gamblers can make it pay.
In order for you to make money, someone has to lose. It’s a zero-sum game, where gambling operators also get their cut. Thus, we need to exploit the market, looking for leaks and biases, like the favorite-longshot bias . The average gambler follows specific betting patterns. You mustn’t do the same. Always do something different, always think different.
Be the first to … or be the best in exploiting a known fallacy.
Oh, and if you do, don’t let the world know unless you are after fame and reputation. Otherwise, your edge will diminish as more people will imitate you, and market finds its new balance.
Finally, don’t worry if your first betting system fails!
Be disciplined, stay on your toes and avoid burnout
So, by now you should have a viable system and know how much to bet on the next game. You are on your way to becoming one of the elite professional gamblers. What can go wrong?
First, you may not be disciplined enough to follow your own rules! Wouldn’t it be pity to lose money, after all that research and study? Yet, even reputable and notable sharp bettors may lose their discipline after a long losing streak.
Gaming Industry Profits
Don’t be that guy.
Trust your proven strategy, stick to your risk management plan and always be prepared for variance. Embrace the drawdown and never question yourself at tough times, as long as you are doing everything by the book.
By the time you experience several months or years of successful gambling, there’s a big chance you feel… bored! Yes, believe it or not, no matter how much money you are making, doing the same, dull thing every single day, will get you bored. At first, making money from gambling seems like a dream. But like in every other business, routine will take the pleasure away.
Find the missed fun, by exploiting new markets, trying something new or improve your methods.
Finally, burnout is a serious hazard in all kinds of successful gambling. Take breaks, go on holidays, and enjoy your profits and hard work. Don’t let gambling consume you, no matter how big you are winning.
Enjoy life, because in the end, isn’t that the meaning of living?
Let’s not hurry things up though. Most probably, you’re having a difficult time to break even to say the least. Winning in the long run seems too far away at the moment. Don’t despair. Stop gambling your money away, find an edge, forward test your system in paper and when you feel ready, do not risk more than 1% of your bankroll. I am sure, we’ll be hearing from you soon!
Below, you can find the five most recent articles I wrote about gambling.
- » History
The history of humanity is inextricably linked with the history of gambling, as it seems that no matter how far back in time you go there are signs that where groups of people gathered together gambling was sure to have been taking place. Now we are not going to attempt to track every single twist and turn in the evolution of gambling in this article, but what we are going to do is to pick out some of the most important dates to act as milestones on the road to today’s gambling experience.
The Earliest Evidence of Gambling
While it is almost certain that some forms of betting have been taking place since the dawn of human history, the earliest concrete evidence comes from Ancient China where tiles were unearthed which appeared to have been used for a rudimentary game of chance. The Chinese ‘Book of Songs’ makes reference to “the drawing of wood” which suggests that the tiles may have formed part of a lottery type game. We have evidence in the form of keno slips which were used in about 200bc as some sort of lottery to fund state works – possibly including construction of the Great Wall of China. Lotteries continued to be used for civic purposes throughout history – Harvard and Yale were both established using lottery funds – and continue to do so until the present day.
Dicing with the Law on the Streets of Ancient Rome
The Greek poet Sophocles claimed that dice were invented by a mythological hero during the siege of Troy, and while this may have somewhat dubious basis in fact, his writings around 500bc were the first mention of dice in Greek history. We know that dice existed far earlier than this, since a pair had been uncovered from an Egyptian tomb from 3000bc, but what is certain is that the Ancient Greeks and Romans loved to gamble on all manner of things, seemingly at any given opportunity. In fact all forms of gambling – including dice games – were forbidden within the ancient city of Rome and a penalty imposed on those caught which was worth four times the stake being bet. As a result of this, ingenious Roman citizens invented the first gambling chips, so if they were nabbed by the guards they could claim to be playing only for chips and not for real money. (Note that this ruse will not work if attempted at a Vegas casino).
Playing your Cards Right in China
Most scholars agree that the first playing cards appeared in China in the 9th century, although the exact rules of the games they were used for have been lost to history. Some suggest that the cards were both the game and the stake, like trading card games played by children today, while other sources believe the first packs of cards to have been paper forms of Chinese domino. Certainly the cards used at this time bore very little relation to the standard 52 card decks we know today.
Baccarat in Italy and France
The earliest game still played in casinos today is the two player card game of Baccarat, a version of which was first mentioned as long ago as the 1400s when it migrated from Italy to France. Despite its early genesis, it took hundreds of years and various evolutions to arrive at the game we know today. Although different incarnations of the game have come and gone, the standard version played in casinos all over the world came from Cuba via Britain to the US, with a few alterations to the rules along the way. Although baccarat is effectively more of a spectator sport than a game, it is a feature of just about every casino due to its popularity with high rolling gamblers.
Blackjack through the Ages
Some suggest that the earliest forms of blackjack came from a Spanish game called ventiuna (21) as this game appeared in a book written by the author of Don Quixote in 1601. Or was it the game of trente-un (31) from 1570? Or even quinze (15) from France decades earlier? As with all of these origin stories, the inventors of games of chance were rarely noted in the historical annals. The French game of vingt-et-un in the seventeenth century is certainly a direct forefather of the modern game, and this is the game that arrived in the US along with early settlers from France. The name ‘blackjack’ was an American innovation, and linked to special promotions in Nevada casinos in the 1930s. To attract extra customers, 10 to 1 odds were paid out if the player won with a black Jack of Clubs or Spades together with an Ace of Spades. The special odds didn’t last long, but the name is still with us today.
First Casinos in Italy
The earliest gambling houses which could reasonably be compared to casinos started to appear in the early 17th century in Italy. For example, in 1638, the Ridotto was established in Venice to provide a controlled gambling environment amidst the chaos of the annual carnival season. Casinos started to spring up all over continental Europe during the 19th century, while at the same time in the US much more informal gambling houses were in vogue. In fact steam boats taking prosperous farmers and traders up and down the Mississippi provided the venue for a lot of informal gambling stateside. Now when we think of casinos we tend to picture the Las Vegas Strip, which grew out of the ashes of the Depression in America.
The Little Wheel in Paris
Roulette as we know it today originated in the gaming houses of Paris, where players would have been familiar with the wheel we now refer to (ironically enough) as the American Roulette wheel. It took another 50 years until the ‘European’ version came along with just one green zero, and generations of roulette players can be grateful for that. During the course of the 19th century roulette grew in popularity, and when the famous Monte Carlo casino adopted the single zero form of the game this spread throughout Europe and most of the world, although the Americans stuck to the original double zero wheels.
Poker: Bust to Boom
It’s hard to pin down the precise origin of poker – as with a lot of the games mentioned here, poker seems to have grown organically over decades and possibly centuries from various different card games. Some have poker’s antecedents coming from seventeenth century Persia, while others say that the game we know today was inspired by a French game called Poque. What we do know for sure is that an English actor by the name of Joseph Crowell reported that a recognizable form of the game was being played in New Orleans in 1829, so that is as good a date as any for the birth of poker. The growth of the game’s popularity was fairly sluggish up until world poker tournaments started being played in Vegas in the 1970s. However poker really exploded with the advent of online poker and televised events allowing spectators to see the players’ hands. When amateur player Chris Moneymaker qualified for and won the 2003 world poker championship after qualifying through online play, it allowed everyone to picture themselves as online poker millionaires.
One Armed Bandits Appear in New York
The first gambling machine which resembled the slots we know today was one developed by Messrs Sittman and Pitt in New York, which used the 52 cards on drum reels to make a sort of poker game. Around the same time the Liberty Bell machine was invented by a Charles Fey in San Francisco. This machine proved much more practical in the sense that winnings could be precisely regulated, and marked the beginning of the real slot game revolution. The fact that some new video slot games still feature bell symbols dates back to this early invention. While early machines spewed out cigars and gum instead of money, the money dispensing versions soon became a staple in bars and casinos around the globe, and when the first video slot was invented in 1976 this paved the way for the online video slots which were to follow.
Gambling in the US: Two Sides of the Same Coin
The United States has always had an up and down relationship with gambling, dating back to when the very first European settlers arrived. Whereas Puritan bands of settlers banned gambling outright in their new settlements, those emigrating from England had a more lenient view of gambling and were more than happy to tolerate it. This dichotomous relationship has continued until now, and in 1910 public pressure led to a nationwide prohibition on gambling. Just like the alcohol prohibition of the same era, this proved somewhat difficult to enforce and gambling continued on in an only slightly discreet manner. The Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression that this spawned in the early 1930s led to gambling being legalized again, as for many this was the only prospect of alleviating the grinding poverty which they suffered through. Although gambling is legal in a number of States today –most famously in Las Vegas, Nevada - online gambling is still something of a grey area in the United States. Right now, many international internet casinos are unable to accept American clients, although the signs are that this will change in the near future.
The New Frontier for Gambling
Microgaming is one of the largest casino and slot game developers in the world today, and they are also considered to be pioneers of online gambling. The leap into the world of virtual casinos was taken all the way back in 1994, which in internet terms is kind of like 2300bc! Online gaming was worth over a billion dollars within 5 years, and today is a multibillion dollar industry with over a thousand online casinos and growing. The first live dealer casinos appeared in 2003 courtesy of Playtech, bringing us closer to a hybrid between brick and mortar casinos and the virtual world.
Gambling Has Gone Mobile
Since New Jersey legalized online gambling in 2011, there has been a boom in the interest people have in it. America has seen a move towards legalizing it state by state, as well as experiencing the rapid rise in mobile gambling. Across the globe, internet users are gradually veering away from their desktops and towards their handheld devices. This is true of online gamblers too, wanting to be able to enjoy their favorite games whilst on the go. The top gambling sites out there have recognized a market and have stepped up to deliver. With a wave of impressive mobile focused online gambling destinations taking the world by storm, it's safe to say that desktops are being left far behind in favour of more mobile alternatives.
…The Future
What Comes Next?
It is just about as difficult to predict the future for gambling as it is to uncover some of the origins of the gambling games we know so well today. Much of the focus at the moment is on the mobile gaming market, with online casinos scrambling to make more content compatible with the latest hand held devices. Virtual reality technology is just taking its first steps as a commercial proposition, and you can be sure that there will be gambling applications down the road. How would you like to sit around a virtual poker table with a bunch of your friends from all over the world, share a few laughs, try to tell if you can spot a tell-tale facial tick; and all this from the comfort of your home? VR Headsets can make it happen – maybe not today, but certainly just a few years down the track if technology continues to advance in bounds and leaps.
And after that? Well who knows, but when it comes to gambling all things are possible.
Sports Betting Industry Profits
References
Gambling Industry Billion
- Dice: Game Pieces (Britannica.com)
- Baccarat (card game) (Wikipedia.org)
- Twenty-One (card game) (Wikipedia.org)
- How Casinos Work (HowStuffWorks.com)
- Where Did Poker Originate? (History.com)
- History Of Poker (Wopc.co.uk)
- Chris Moneymaker (Wikipedia.org)
- Historical Interlude (VideoGameHistorian.com)
- Charles Fey and San Francieco's Liberty Bell Slot Machine (California Historical Quarterly)
- Microgaming: About Us (Microgaming.co.uk)
- New Jersey Now Allows Gambling via Internet (NYTimes.com)