Despite these figures, one can't find a craps table in a well run casino that doesn't give the house at least a 20 percent profit margin. And the same holds true for most blackjack tables.

There seems to be no way that the casinos can make so much money. Yet casinos around the country are coining untold millions in profits every month, and the leading casinos in Nevada are getting so rich that they continually expand their operations. What's wrong?

A clue to the situation came from the president of a Strip hotel, who was looking over his computer runs on the daily volume of gambling and win figures one afternoon.

"Sure, gamblers will tell you that they'd love to win a million at the table, but it's not what they win at the table that counts with us, it's what they leave the table with. And for some reason, maybe it's inherent in the gambler's psychology or whatever, they don't want to leave with money. If they beat us out of fifty grand at one session, which is really a big win considering our limit at craps, they'll gamble on till they give it all back. And if they're losing, they'll go on and on, losing and signing markers all night long till they're destroyed, literally destroyed.

"And the strange thing is, no one forces them to play like this. We don't even have to talk up our games. We don't have to drag them to the table with nets. They come willingly, and when they’re at the tables, they act like wild men. We don't know why gambling does this to them, but it sure does it, whatever it is. I'm not a psychologist; I'm just in the gambling business, and it's one business that's easy to get customers for-they'll break down the doors to lose their money."