What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas – especially your money

When it comes to gambling, you’ve probably heard that “the house always wins.” Well, casinos on the Las Vegas Strip have been doubling down on this sentiment in recent years, per a newly-published report by the WSJ, shifting the odds further in their favor for two widely-popular games: blackjack and roulette.

🃏 Blackjack: Players typically receive a 3:2 payout when they hit a “blackjack,” aka 21 on the first two cards. But roughly a decade ago, some Vegas casinos started paying out those hands using 6:5 odds instead.

• Today, 6:5 odds are found at more than two-thirds of all blackjack tables on the Strip, per gambling data company Vegas Advantage. On these tables, a $50 bet pays out $60 for hitting a blackjack – instead of the previous $75 payout for tables with 3:2 odds.

⚫🔴 Roulette: Casinos have historically used a roulette board with 18 red spaces, 18 black spaces, and two “zero” spaces (where nearly all bets are lost). But since 2016, the percentage of roulette tables on the Vegas Strip that use a format with three “zero” spaces has grown from ~5% to ~40%. And more zero spaces for the casino = less zeros in your pocket.

📸 Big picture: Per the WSJ, the new odds are part of a larger strategy by Vegas casinos to attract more upscale customers. And it appears to be working – casinos on the Vegas Strip raked in a record $8.3 billion in gambling revenue last year, representing a 25% increase over 2019 despite fewer total visitors.