How Does Casinos Make Money On Blackjack In California
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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.

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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.

How Does Casinos Make Money On Blackjack In California

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.

How Does Casinos Make Money On Blackjack

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.