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Source: Vizual Statistix by Seth Kadish

The house always wins, but just how often exactly? And how much?

That is the question posed by the above data visualization by Seth Kadish, a scientist from Portland, Oregon, who publishes data visualizations on his site Vizual Statistix. Using one year’s worth of public data published by Nevada’s Gaming Control Board, Kadish shows how much casinos on the Las Vegas strip make from different games on an average week and what percentage of gamblers’ wagers makes its way into casinos’ vaults. 

The bets and games with the best odds are on the bottom of the first chart. As Kadish notes, $100 slot machines have the best odds, as they take only 3.6% of gamblers’ money. Of course, that’s $3.60 per pull, so penny slots are a better idea if the goal is to make your money last as long as possible. Bingo and blackjack are the best bets for games at 8.8% and 11.1% respectively. Baseball is the best sport to gamble on, but all sports are better deals than betting on the racetrack. 

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Source: Vizual Statistix by Seth Kadish

Knowing this isn’t about to put a dent in Vegas’s profits though. As the right-hand side of the scatterplot shows, the games that bring in the most money for Vegas (baccarat, penny slots, and blackjack) also offer some of the most generous odds to players. The house still always wins.

Kadish’s original post on Vegas odds is available on his blog Vizual Statistix. To get occasional notifications when we write blog posts, sign up for our email list.