• Some games are way more of a ripoff than others — even by casino standards.
• You have to be pretty talented to do it, but it can be done. Seriously there are a number of things that can go wrong when running a Casino operation and some of them result in “running out of money”. Competition can erode your margins.
• What to Do If You Lose All Your Money at the Casino Whether you play online or you play on land, there are many ways you can gamble all of your money away. It’s really not a hard thing to do. You can walk in with a few hundred dollars and literally leave with not a cent in your pocket.
• In fact, if you lost money at casino, this may be an opportunity: This situation shows that you are not playing the right games, using the correct strategies, allocating the right budget, or simply playing too much. In short, losing money at the casino will let you understand the problem and what causes it.

1. Casino Roulette Lose Money
2. Do Casinos Ever Lose Money

On my way to gamble at a casino for the first time, I gave my dad a call. He’s the one who introduced me to gambling, so I thought I’d let him know that I was finally going to try my hand at winning some real money.

‒ Refusing to Prepare. If you think you can walk into a casino without knowing what you’re doing.

Of all the sage wisdom he bestowed on me that day, the one thing that sticks with me is this: “Don’t lose all your money.” He tells me losing is a part of gambling and that people make dumb mistakes at casinos all the time. Since then, I’ve gone back to that casino dozens of times; some trips were successful, and others aren’t.

I can say that I make a point never to repeat the same mistakes I made my very first time. Learning to gamble is challenging, and it can take a while to hit your stride when you’re starting. The house always has an edge, and there’s a variety of ways to deplete your bankroll in a matter of minutes.

To help you out, here are six ways new gamblers lose money at casinos.

1 ‒ Refusing to Prepare

If you think you can walk into a casino without knowing what you’re doing and leave with money, I recommend reconsidering your gambling approach. While most games are easy to learn, failing to read up about the rules and strategies for each game is the easiest way to throw away money. All it takes is a few minutes of research to figure out the rules of each game so that you don’t make a complete fool of yourself.

Outside of playing real money slots, each table game requires a bit of knowledge and strategy if you have hopes of winning.

In my experience, dealers are an excellent resource for newer gamblers, but they shouldn’t be used as a crutch. If you’re going to the casino to have fun and don’t really care about making money, then failing to prepare isn’t the end of the world.

However, if you aspire to be a serious gambler, make sure to read up on the games you’re going to be playing. The internet is full of information to help new gamblers in the decision-making process and inform them about the way games are played. Do yourself a favor and don’t walk into a casino without doing even a limited amount of preparation.

2 ‒ Enjoying Too Many Free Drinks

For some new gamblers, the first time at a casino coincides with a 21st birthday. In college, I had several friends who opted to spend the first part of their 21st birthday at the casino before heading to the bars. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a few drinks at a casino, especially if they’re footing the bill, but moderation is key.

Playing table games requires gamblers to maintain their focus for long periods, and drinking excessively will make it challenging to keep up with the fast pace of gambling. If you’ve never been to a casino, there’s a good chance your first casino will offer to pay for your drinks as long as you’re gambling.

This presents an interesting dilemma that many new gamblers fail to handle correctly. Should you drink on the casino’s dime to have fun, or should you try to make some money at the tables?

This mistake is common amongst many gamblers, and there’s no shame in having some fun when it’s your first time gambling. However, time can feel nonexistent in casinos, and one drink can quickly turn into several. If you want to become a successful gambler, drinking excessively is something you should avoid.

3 ‒ Banking on Beginner’s Luck

As I stated earlier, every single table game and slot machine in a casino favors the house. Knowing this before you gamble for this first time is vital for many reasons. New gamblers are prone to believe the “beginner’s luck” fallacy and think they will win because they’ve never gambled before. I thought the same thing and was disappointed to find that beginners’ luck is merely nonexistent.

Whether you’re winning or losing during your first trip to the casino, the results are entirely random. There is next to nothing you can do to influence the events that determine those wins and losses, so there’s no point in assuming you’ll get a stroke of good fortune because you’re a beginner.

If anything, beginners reap more losses than wins, because the few variables you can control are typically ignored. The misconception that new gamblers will receive favorable cards can lead to poor play and consistent losses. Do not expect to win money just because you haven’t gambled before.

4 ‒ Thinking They’re Due

Similar to the previous point, newer gamblers tend to ignore outcomes, thinking they are due for a win. This phenomenon takes many forms, most notably in bettor’s tendencies to chase losses. After a string of losses, it’s a common misconception that you’ll start to win at any moment. This can lead to even more losses that can be detrimental to your bankroll.

It’s essential to stick to your standard bet in an attempt to weather the storm. Tables get cold and losing streaks are frequent. If you chase losses by increasing your bet because you think you’re due, it can lead to an early exit from the casino.

I’ve personally fallen victim to falsely assuming I am due for a win. It makes sense that the cards will turn to your favor at some point, and statistically, that may be the case. However, this shouldn’t affect your strategy because, unless you are counting cards, you genuinely have no idea when a losing streak will come to an end.

5 ‒ Playing Games With the Worst Odds

Understanding the odds of casino games can be challenging for someone with limited or no experience gambling. Casinos are, first and foremost, a business designed to make money off of its patrons. When you walk into a casino, one of the first things you’ll notice is the music and colorful graphics of the slot machines. This is no coincidence.

Slot machines have some of the worst odds in casinos. It’s a common practice for new gamblers to immediately sit down at the first machine that catches their eye and lose money. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this practice, but the odds of winning money off of your first slot machine aren’t as high as other options.

Tables games like blackjack, roulette, and craps have some of the best odds in the casino, with the house edge varying from 1% to 3% depending on the casino. These games may seem intimidating but are relatively easy to learn. Understanding the odds of a game before you sit down is something all aspiring gamblers should do before sitting down at a table.

6 ‒ Mismanaging a Bankroll

If you’re reading this and have no clue what a bankroll is, don’t fret. A bankroll is simply the amount of money you budget for yourself to gamble, and it can be any amount, no matter how large or small. The smartest gamblers use a bankroll to make sure they aren’t blowing past their budget and putting themselves into financial troubles. You should do the same.

There are several best practices for managing a bankroll.

1. You need to establish how much you’re comfortable losing.
2. You should gamble within your means and make bets that will allow you to gamble for as long as possible.
3. When your bankroll is gone, you step away from the table and go home.

For whatever reason, younger gamblers struggle with this concept more than anything. It might be because gambling can be addicting, and if you lose money, you’ll have an impulse to try to win it back. Don’t chase losses, stick to your bankroll, and live to fight another day.

Conclusion

If you’re new to gambling, odds are you’re going to make a couple of common mistakes. No matter how prepared you think you are, the moment you sit down at a table for the first time, the potential for jitters to cloud your judgment and cause you to forget fundamental facets of the game is high. There’s no fault in committing a few errors because it’s part of the learning process. However, these mistakes should be limited if you don’t want to lose money.

Make sure you’ve spent an adequate amount of time preparing to gamble, whether that’s reading or practicing before your trip. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’ll be on the receiving end of some beginner’s luck or due for a win. Both seldom occur. Most importantly, stick to your budget and don’t make a bad situation worse by putting yourself into financial trouble.

If you avoid these common mistakes, you should expect to gamble for longer and even come out on top. But if you find yourself walking away with an empty bankroll, keep your head up. It’s happened to most gamblers, and odds are, it will happen again.

LAS VEGAS – The spread of COVID-19 and subsequent shutdown of casinos across the U.S. is putting the cash reserves of major resort companies in Sin City to the test.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered a 30-day closure for all businesses, turning the Strip – home of the most iconic hotel-casinos in the world – into a ghost town.

As the pandemic expands and the number of cases accelerates, there's no telling whether the lockdown will be extended in coming days and weeks, and that element of the unknown raises an important question within this tourist-dependent corridor:

How long can companies survive?

Projections vary.

After crunching “cash burn” data, some analysts contend companies like MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment have money to last anywhere from eight to 16 months, according to Barron's.

That translates to 239 days of liquidity for Caesars and 563 days for MGM Resorts.

Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands – companies with a strong gaming presence in China – both have 15-20 months of cash available to wait out the pandemic, according to Macquarie Research Analyst Chad Beynon.

Macquarie released a report this week detailing just how much cash these casino companies are burning every day with no vacationers visiting properties – and how long they can stay closed without running out of money.

“It ranges from five months to a year and a half,” Beynon said, “because of obligations they have to the banks, to their employees and to projects.”

What the research shows

Here's a look at what Macquarie's analysis found:

• Monarch Casino and Resort (Reno): 14.3 months, burning $300,000 a day.
• Red Rock Resorts: 13.8 months, burning $1.7 million a day.
• Golden Entertainment: 10.4 months, burning $1 million a day.
• Boyd Gaming Corp.: 9.4 months, burning $3.2 million a day.
• MGM Resorts International: 9 months, burning $14.4 million a day.
• Penn National: 5.2 months, burning $6.4 million a day.

'The daily burn will remain the same,' Beynon said. 'The only thing that could change by the day is if you're laying off employees – but you can only cut so much. I don't think the daily burn changes. Only the amount of time they have left changes.'

Casino Roulette Lose Money

Stunning economic fallout

Each month the Nevada tourism industry is shut down there are $4.7 billion in estimated economic losses, according to the American Gaming Association.

The fallout could be even more devastating on a national level.

“In total, these mass closures will rob the U.S. economy of $43.5 billion in economic activity if American casinos remain closed for the next eight weeks,” AGA president Bill Miller said.

Casinos are now in line to ask Congress for emergency funds to bail the industry out of financial trouble as the pandemic batters tourism markets across the U.S.

The industry seeks possibilities that could include direct cash payments, deferred taxes, or special bankruptcy protections, according to the Washington Post.

“Gaming employees, their families, and communities are bearing the brunt of this economic standstill and will continue to suffer if Congress and the administration don’t take immediate action,” Miller said.

Ed Komenda writes about Las Vegas for the Reno Gazette Journal and USA Today Network. Do you care about democracy? Then support local journalism by subscribing to the Reno Gazette Journal right here.

Do Casinos Ever Lose Money

This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal: How long can Las Vegas casino companies survive a COVID-19 shutdown?