sportsbook specials
MB-SQUARES

Just How Big are Casino Profits?

Scott Morris | July 10, 2018
las vegas slots vs sportsbook

Last week I was in Las Vegas on vacation. I placed some baseball bets at the local sportsbooks. Unfortunately, I lost most of them as I was too distracted to do any thorough handicapping. But, betting and losing is part of the risk of being a sports gambler. Shake it off and move on.

In order to place my bets, I had to walk past hundreds of slot machines and dozens of card game tables to find the tiny corner of the casino where the sportsbook was being housed. This process got me to thinking just how little sports betting action means to the casino. The sportsbook took up probably 0.2% of the building’s space. And the space it was in wouldn’t have been very good for slots or tables. The sports betting option almost seems like a courtesy at Las Vegas casinos.

When you study the raw numbers of casino profits, you can really see the huge amount of money being generated by the card, numbers and slot games. One of the more clear cut studies in recent years was done in 2012 by the American Gaming Association (AGA). It has the following statistics:

  1. There are 464 commercial casinos in the U.S.
  2. They served 76.1 million patrons in 2012.
  3. They grossed $37.34 billion.

That is more than the movie and music recording industry combined ($10.9B and $7B respectively). It is even more than the four major U.S. sport’s combined revenue ($22.5B).

This information in conjunction with articles in the past where we described the relatively small revenue generated in sports gambling serves to dispute the theory that legalizing sports betting in each state will generate large sums of profit. But at the same time it supports the notion that sports betting should be legal in every state as it poses much less of a threat to society than casinos that have already been running for decades. The threat I speak of is the one of “problem” or “degenerate” gamblers often mentioned by opponents of the current push to legalize sports betting in each state.

SBA Minutes

In this section we will post updates and notes about the current betting day/week/season. Check back daily.

Football Sharp Action Report

9/3/25

odds by SportsBetting.ag

None

MLB Sharp Action Report

9/3/25

odds by SportsBetting.ag

None

 

AP Top 25 College Football Poll

with Odds from SportsBetting.ag (Signup now for $250 in free bets)

AP TeamW/LSeason StartLive Odds
1Ohio State1-0+675+575
2Penn State1-0+700+600
3LSU1-0+1200+800
4Georgia1-0+650+650
5Miami FL1-0+2800+1200
6Oregon2-0+1200+1600
7Texas0-1+600+700
8Clemson0-1+850+1600
9Notre Dame0-1+1000+1800
10South Carolina1-0+6600+6600
11Illinois1-0+15000+15000
12Arizona St.1-0+12500+12500
13Florida1-0+3300+3300
14Florida State1-0+8000+6600
15Michigan1-0+3300+3300
16Iowa State2-0+20000+20000
17SMU1-0+10000+10000
18Oklahoma1-0+4000+2800
19Texas A&M1-0+3300+3300
20Ole Miss1-0+4000+4000
21Alabama0-1+900+1800
22Tennessee1-0+6600+8000
23Indiana1-0+12500+12500
24Texas Tech1-0+10000+12500
25Utah1-0+4000+8000