https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2017-01-12/nevada-casinos-turn-profit-in-fiscal-2016-first-since-2008

I don't know if I'm doing this right, but I've tried to start a new thread and post an article from USnews that puts the Vegas gambling situation in much better perspective than Nicholas Colon's article.

The big takeaway from me is how small gaming revenue has become to the overall success of Vegas casinos. Gaming revenue has dropped to 34% of their total revenue in 2016. It's been dropping each year, with non-gaming revenue becoming more important to their success. The last time gaming revenues were 50% of Vegas revenue was 1996.

I don't know how much of the 34% revenue comes from blackjack, but I expect it's in the 5 to 10% range. The majority of their gaming revenue comes from slots.

This is why the whole discussion around blackjack, APs and spending on "gaming protection" is almost laughable. I don't believe the casinos are spending much time on this since it's such a small part of their revenue stream. I've read somewhere (I can't find it right now) that the main expenditures on "game protection" by casinos is more around cost reduction. How can they use new technology to reduce the costs to protect their games?

I do believe Zee is correct on this one. The APs are so caught up in their world that they don't understand what is driving casinos. Casinos are not trolling bj sites (at least not anybody of any consequences) for the latest AP methods or to learn about some AP blackjack trip. They are more caught up on how to compete against the casinos that are opening up around the world.

This is, in fact, what caused Vegas to change their focus from gaming to being more of an entertainment destination. Today, almost everybody is within an hour or two drive of a casino (which Zee has already pointed out). For Vegas to attract people, they had to expand their offerings. I have many friends who live around Atlanta who go to Vegas once a year due to the shows and entertainment. If they only wanted to gamble at minimal costs, they'd drive to Biloxi.

I'm prepared for the backlash on this post. I mainly wanted to put it out there so people wouldn't be so scared to post comments that will help APs. Trust me (and Zee), you don't need to worry about casinos reading these sites and gaining valuable insight into AP techniques. Most of what is discussed here is already in books that have been written 20 to 30 years ago anyway.