Gambling has been a part of human culture since ancient civilization. Gambling dates back to 3,000 BC and casinos date back to the 17th Century. It's pretty evident that gambling nor casinos are going away but rather evolve, reinvent themselves and change with the times. So if humans like to gamble and the future of casinos appears damn solid, then why do casinos make it appear that is is so tough to manage a casino?
Number crunching executives manage most modern casinos so obviously this Harvard MBA leadership group is taking casinos where they have never been before, producing record profits and eliminating unnecessary waste. Not even close. While they may understand the economics of running a large business, they don't attempt to understand the basic math behind the games they offer or listen to the advice of those beneath them that do understand the games. Casino games have a built in house edge and that house edge is enough to make any casino profitable, period. The two true advantages a casino has over its customers are time and resources. Forgiving cheating, any game can be beaten in the short run but none can be beaten in the long run if proper Game Protection is applied. Casinos only need enough resources to weather occasional storms where short term returns do not meet long term expectations. Casinos have a license to print money but they panic the first time the ink runs dry.
The current trend in casino games is to extract as much money as possible from customers in as short a period of time as possible. This contradicts one of the two true advantages casinos have, Time. Casinos rely upon recycling their customers for future survival. The current practice of ripping off customers with high house edges on games is burning out their customer base. In order to attract new businesses, casinos need to allow all of their customers win some of the time. Games are trending towards never allowing any of their customers win. 6:5 blackjack, triple zero roulette, single odds on craps and side bets with outrageously high house edges are becoming the norm. "Fair" bets are scarce and player turnover is a looming problem for casinos. Side bets and constant shuffling slows down the games tremendously and reduces casinos' hourly win. True gamblers are going to look elsewhere and casinos that keep trying to slaughter there customers are going to cater only to passersby and have trouble enticing new, long-term customers as their current customers get slaughtered and die off.
There is more competition than ever in the gaming market and the market will normalize. Supply will meet the demand and some casinos may fail as a result. As consumers, gamblers need to be aware of what they are playing and the house edges involved. Uneducated consumers will not be long-term customers unless casinos offer "fair" games for all their customers. So Caveat Emptor and let only the best survive.