1. Can You Actually Make Money Gambling Online
2. Can You Make Money Betting On Favourites
3. Can You Make Money Gambling On Sports
4. Can You Make Money Gambling On Horses
5. Can You Actually Make Money Betting

It has been a question that has risen it’s head ever since gambling online became a ‘thing’.

We all think about it sometime – somehow finding a trick, shortcut or secret method to getting rich quickly. Gambling is often considered by enterprising millionaires-to-be because gambling offers the allure of massive cash payouts in a short amount of time. The question, of course, is if it’s possible to get rich gambling.

So is it?

Yes, it is possible to get rich gambling and I’m going to show you a few methods for getting rich gambling. I don’t want to waste your time so I’ll tell you up front that none of the following methods are easy or simple. If everyone could get rich gambling, well, you know… everyone already would be rich.

The good news is that at least one person has used each of the following methods to make a fortune gambling. People have (and do) use all of the following methods to get rich gambling. It’s not easy but it is very possible. In fact, I’m using one of these very methods myself to build my own fortune.

Count Blackjack at a Live Casino

Blackjack is one of the only games in the casino in which it is possible to gain an advantage over the house. The key to winning in blackjack is to learn how to count cards. Card counting involves keeping a running count of the high cards and low cards that appear on the table. This allows you to know when the deck is rich in high cards. When the deck is rich in high cards, you have an advantage and can then increase the sizes of your bets.

Card counting itself is pretty simple. I don’t want to get into a whole discussion about how it works here, but you can run a few quick Google searches to see how to keep count. It’s really not difficult at all. The difficulty in card counting is actually getting away with it.

Casinos also keep track of the current count and if you frequently place bigger bets at the right moments, the casino will know. It is not illegal to count cards, but casinos do have the right to kick you out in some states. So, you have to find ways to cover your play, such as playing with a team.

Play a Smart Video Poker Game

Video poker is another casino game in which you can gain an advantage if you play correctly. In certain cases, video poker machines return more than 100% when you play with perfect strategy. There are numerous resources on the internet that explain exactly how to play every single hand for every single video poker variant.

The difficulty in playing video poker for a profit is that every machine is a little different and you have to play with the perfect strategy 100% of the time. Video poker does require some serious volume as well, because the advantage is found over the long term. Royal Flush jackpots account for the player advantage, and that means you have to play a lot before you reach the full potential of player advantage.

Further adding to the complication is the fact that not every video poker machine can be beaten. Only certain video poker variants with the right pay tables can be beaten by the player. In some cases, the advantage comes from clearing bonuses or taking advantage of player comps.

Entire books have been written on beating video poker, so I’m not going to try to cover everything here. A great resource for getting started is the Wizard of Odds video poker page.

Start a Brick-and-Mortar Casino

The best way to make money gambling is to make money off other people gambling. Casinos reap in heaps of cash via gamblers, food, drinks, entertainment and hotel rooms. The gambling industry has taken a bit of a hit during the recent recession, but it’s still alive and well. They say that gambling and entertainment are the only recession-proof industries.

Obviously, there are a few challenges with starting your own casino. First of all, you’ll have to talk to a lawyer to work your way through the legal process for starting your own casino. The casino industry is regulated and protected to death. You will face a long, uphill battle in the beginning. If you can maintain the fight, the rewards will be great.

Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson is a great example of getting rich via gambling. As the Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands, it is estimated that his personal fortune exceeds $20 billion.

Start an Underground Casino

If you can’t get a license to own a casino legally, the underground casino is always an option. This is actually a pretty bad idea though because it is highly illegal to run an underground casino in most countries. Additionally, it’s tough to make a lot of money while remaining under the radar.

Having said that, I do know of a few people who have made a lot of money with underground casinos. I wouldn’t recommend this method to anyone, but it makes the list simply because people have made money off underground casinos.

Start an Online Casino

If you live outside the US, an online casino may be a better option than running a brick-and-mortar operation. Online casinos are cheaper to start than traditional casinos and they generate cash quickly. You can build your own gambling site from scratch or use a white-label solution for the software and payment processing.

There are two obstacles to overcome with an online casino. First, you must figure out the legality of running an online casino in your country. In some countries, it’s pretty easy to start an online casino. You just need to get a quick certification and you’re good to go. In the United States, it is illegal to run an online casino at all.

The second obstacle to overcome is the competition. The ease of starting a gambling site has led many people to open their own casinos. You will have to fight to bring business to your casino. I recommend starting an affiliate program, connecting with website owners via online marketing forums and running a reputable organization.

When done right, online casinos can be hugely profitable. The operating costs of online casinos are minimized because there is no building to keep up, no dealers to pay, customers to clean up after and so on.

Become an Online Casino Affiliate

This is the path that I have taken to get rich gambling and it’s the path that I recommend to everyone else. Casino affiliates make money by referring players to online casinos. Every player that you send to a casino is tracked to you and you receive a percentage of that player’s losses.

For example, let’s say I send a player to Buzzluck Casino. If that player loses money at the casino, I keep a percentage of those losses. I know this may make me sound like a bad person, but that’s how every gambling website works. If it helps any, I always give honest reviews, never recommend bad casinos and I always give players legitimate gambling advice.

Anyways, most online casinos have affiliate programs that you can join for free. Just visit the casino’s website and look for a small text link that says “affiliates.” After you sign up for the affiliate program, you can log in to your account and receive special links that you can post on your own website or blog. Any time someone clicks on one of your links and signs up, that person is tagged as one of your players.

The reason I chose this path is because it requires the least upfront investment. I didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars practicing card counting or setting up an offshore gaming site. What makes it difficult is that there is a lot of competition. You have to be willing to put in a lot of work before you get any return.

Every gambler has thought about what it’d be like to earn a living through casino games. This spawns visions of making a 6-figure salary, feasting on comps, dressing like James Bond and traveling the world.

Looking to win money online? Check out one of the sites above!

But is being a professional gambler really this lucrative?

Let’s begin discussing the matter by defining what it means to be a pro. You and I will also cover the salaries that pro gamblers make in different games.

How Do We Define a Professional Gambler?

The term “professional gambler” is sometimes used interchangeably for both people who earn part-time and full-time income through gambling.

This makes sense because both groups have the skills to earn long-term profits. Therefore, you can technically be considered a pro gambler as long as you’re making profits of any kind throughout the year.

But I keep a much tighter definition of a professional gambler.

A true pro not only makes profits through gambling, but enough to pay all of their living expenses. This includes rent (house payment), utilities, car payment (transportation), insurance, meals, clothes and anything else deemed necessary.

A semi-professional is somebody who makes enough to supplement their income, but doesn’t earn full-time living through gambling. I’m only going to cover full-time professional gambler salaries in this post.

What Casino Games Offer the Chance to Make a Living?

The gambling world doesn’t offer an abundance of opportunities to make a living, but there are a few different games where you can earn some nice profits.

Here’s a list of the most common games that you can make long term profits with:

• Blackjack card counting
• Daily fantasy sports (DFS)
• Poker
• Sports betting
• Video poker

Blackjack and video poker both see you try to win money directly from the house.

Casinos do everything in their power to hinder successful card counters. This includes using continue shuffling machines, multi deck shoes and watching for counters.

Anybody who’s caught counting cards is often kicked out of the casino and banned. This is why it’s so important for card counters to blend in with normal players.

Casinos don’t usually worry about advantage video poker player. In fact, some games are set up to offer positive expected value (+EV) to players who use perfect strategy.

Another problem is that it’s now harder than ever before to find video poker games offering over 100% payback like Deuces Wild (100.76% payback), Double Bonus (100.17%) and Double-Double Bonus (100.07%).

DFS and poker both see you compete against human opponents. The house merely takes a small cut of tournament fees or cash game pots (poker).

Sportsbooks create lines in an effort to get equal betting action on both sides. The sportsbooks make their money by taking 10% vigorish (juice) from the losing group.

Every form of advantage betting has its pros and cons, but the key is that each of these activities offers the chance to make a full-time living.

Think you have what it takes to make it as a proffesional gambler? Test your skills at some of the best sites in the game.

Salaries for Professional Gamblers in Different Games

Card Counting

People have been making a living through card counting since the early 1960s, and despite all the obstacles that casinos have put in players’ way, it’s still possible to earn profits with card counting today.

You need a sizable bankroll in order to properly spread your bets and survive variance. The bare minimum you should aim for is $20,000, but it’s better to have closer to $50,000.

How much you make depends upon several factors, including the following:

• Skill level – Successful counters have between a 0.5% and 1.5% edge on casinos.
• Hands per hour – 50 to 200 depending upon dealer speed & table size.
• Bet spreading – Difference between your lowest and highest bet.
• Deck penetration – The further into the shoe you get, the more confidence you can bet with.
• Counting system – Some systems are more accurate than others.
• Game rules – You want the best rules possible in order to lower the standard house edge.
• Tips – $5 per hour for the dealer is standard.

Now, let’s set up an example by creating variables behind your counting session:

• You have a 1% edge based on the rules, your skill level and using the Hi-Lo counting system.
• The dealer is dealing 100 hands per hour.
• Your minimum bet is $25, and you spread up to $175 during favorable counts (i.e. 1 to 7 spread).
• You get 70% deck penetration before the shoe is reshuffled.
• You tip $5 per hour.

Here’s how this example would play out in terms of profits:

• Your average bet is worth $50 ($25 minimum; spread up to $175 for favorable counts).
• $50 average bet x 100 hands = $5,000 in hourly bets.
• 5,000 x 0.01 edge = $50 hourly win.
• $50 hourly win minus $5 tip = $45 hourly profit.

Some counters make $100 or more per hour by improving their edge up to 1.5% and/or increasing bets, but many players are happy with a $45 per hour rate to start with.

The final step is to figure out how many hours you’ll play and convert this into an annual salary. Here are a few different figures on how much you’d make per year:

• $45 x 40 hours per week x 52 weeks = $93,600 per year
• $45 x 30 hours per week x 52 weeks = $70,200 per year
• $45 x 20 hours per week x 52 weeks = $46,800 per year
• $100 x 40 hours per week x 52 weeks = $208,000 per year

The last figure shows what’s possible for a really good card counter who makes $100 per hour. The $45 calculations show that even decent counters can make good money.

The keys, though, include keeping an accurate count amidst casino distractions and blending in with normal players.

Daily Fantasy Sports

DFS is the newest game that offers skilled gamblers an opportunity to make money.

Daily fantasy sees you pay an entry fee to enter contests and compete against other players. The goal is to create lineups that score the most points and rank the highest in tournaments.

Daily fantasy sports experienced a big boom in 2015, thanks to clever marketing campaigns that make it seem like any sports fan can win.

The truth, though, is that only a small percentage of those who play actually win. A McKinsey study from 2015 showed that 1.3% of daily fantasy baseball players collect 91% of the winnings.

Despite these long odds, many people still enjoy trying to win in daily fantasy, but what exactly can you expect to win if you’re among the small percentage of DFS pros?

Can You Actually Make Money Gambling Online

The potential for big winners is there for the most skilled daily fantasy players.

Saahil Sud, profiled in a WBUR piece, said he made over $3 million in profits in a single year. Former poker pro Aaron Jones switched over to DFS and won a DraftKings contest worth $5 million in early 2016.

Of course, the average professional DFS player doesn’t earn quite this much. To determine a standard DFS salary, let’s consider the following factors:

• Entries per day— Most DFS pros enter several hundred contests every day.
• Stakes – Typical entry fees range anywhere from $1 up to $1,000.
• Fees— DFS sites tack on a 10% fee to each buy in, which is where their profits come from.
• Skill level— Some pros have a bigger edge than others.

Now, let’s input variables to come up with an average daily profit:

• 300 entries per day
• $100 + $10 (fee) average buy in
• 300 x $110 = $3,300 daily fees
• You’re playing for $3,000 after subtracting fees
• Expected value based on skill is 115%
• $3,000 x 1.15 = $3,450 winnings
• $3,450 – $3,300 = $150 in daily profits

If we multiply $150 by 365 days, you’ll earn an annual salary worth $54,750.

Of course, DFS is filled with variance, and you won’t always feel like you’re on the path to a solid $55k per year. This is why it’s key to have a large enough bankroll to survive the ups and downs.

Poker

Poker has long been one of the most viable options for becoming a professional gambler. The reason why is because you’re competing against other opponents instead of the house.

It’s tougher to make a living in poker these days because strategy is more prevalent. Online poker gives players a chance to rapidly accelerate their learning curve by seeing more hands per hour.

You can still become a profitable player with enough hard work and experience though. In fact, some pros still make six or seven figure annual incomes with the game.

However, the vast majority of pros these days earn between $40,000 and $100,000 per year.

Poker is unique in that there are essentially two types of professionals: tournament and cash game pros.

Most rounders mix up their play between both platforms. However, the majority of poker pros also specialize in either tourneys or cash games.

Let’s look at the different considerations for cash vs. tournament play:

Cash Games

• Profit measured in big blinds (BB) made per hour.
• House takes 5% rake from cash game pots for running games.
• More control over annual salary than tournaments.

Tournaments

• Profit measured by rate of return (ROI) on buy ins.
• House adds 10% fee to buy ins (e.g. $10 + $1 fee).
• Only top 10 15% of field makes money.
• Tournaments have more variance than cash games.

A cash grinder needs to figure out what stakes they must play to make a comfortable living based on BB earned per hour.

An example is if you played $10/$20 no limit Texas hold ‘em and made 1.5 BB per hour. This equates to $30 per hour, $1,200 per week for a 40-hour workweek and $62,400 for a full year.

Can You Make Money Betting On Favourites

A tournament pro must decide what buy-in level they must choose to make a high enough ROI to live comfortably.

If you spend $20,000 on tourney buy-ins in a week and make $22,000, then your RIO is 10% ([22,000 20,000 / 20,000). This means that you’ll earn a $10 profit for every $100 you spend on tournament buy-ins.

One more consideration here is whether you’ll dedicate the bulk of your time towards live or online poker.

Can You Make Money Gambling On Sports

Online cash games and tourneys offer more volume because you can play multiple tables. Plus hands and tournaments go much faster, giving you an opportunity to boost your hourly wages.

Another Internet poker advantage is that you cut out extra expenses like traveling, hotel stays, meals and dealer/waitress tips.

Nevertheless, many players find that their win rate is higher in live games. The most lucrative tournaments are found in land-based casinos, too, such as the World Series of Poker events.

Can You Make Money Gambling On Horses

Sports Betting

The good thing about sports betting is that you don’t need to have a massive win rate just to book profits.

Sportsbooks only take 10% juice from the losing side. This differs from DFS and poker tournaments where you must pay an extra 10% fee regardless of whether you’re a winner or loser.

Can You Actually Make Money Betting

The juice can be lowered or adjusted based on where the sportsbook is trying to push action, but 10% is generally the amount you’ll see taken from the losing side.

The end result is that you need to win 52.38% of your bets to break even. How do we arrive at this number?

You need to bet $11 to win $10 when the juice is 10%. You must win 11 out of every 21 bets to break even at this rate, which is a 52.38% winning percentage (11/21).

This doesn’t sound intimidating when compared to how good you must be at poker or DFS to win long term, but it’s also really tough to continually find value because sportsbooks are so good at setting lines.

Professional sports bettors usually win anywhere from 53.5% to 55.0% of the time.

Some handicappers brag about higher win rates ranging from 58.0% to 60.0%, but these figures are almost impossible to sustain long term.

Pro sports bettors must be very adept at handling their bankroll since they’re dealing with such a small profit margin. They also need to make larger wagers than the average bettor to increase potential profits.

The general rule of thumb is to never bet more than 1% to 2% of your bankroll on any given contest. If you have a $100,000 bankroll, you’d never put more than $2,000 of this on any single event.

Some sports bettors like Billy Walters and Haralabos “Bob” Voulgaris have made millions of dollars with this model. But the average bettors are looking at more modest salaries ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 annually.

The key to figuring out how much you can make involves determining your ROI just like a poker pro. For example, if you make $10,000 worth of bets during a week and earn back $10,500, then you have a 5% ROI for the week ([10,500 10,000 / 10,000).

You then need to expand this to cover an entire year. Let’s look at an example below:

• You place $1,000,000 worth of bets during the year.
• You win $1,060,000.
• Your profit is $60,000 for the year (1,060,000 1,000,000).
• Your ROI is 6% ([1,060,000 1,000,000] / 1,000,000).

A 6% ROI is extremely high for sports betting, but this is just a simple way to show how to calculate your ROI and salary.

Video Poker

Video poker has good and bad things going for it these days.

The good news is that you can virtually guarantee yourself profits if you become a skilled enough player. The downside is that there are fewer and fewer +EV machines in casinos today.

Your best bet is to find a full-pay Deuces Wild machine, which pays back 100.76%. You also need to take advantage of as many double and triple comp point promotions as you can.

You can find which land based casinos offer full pay Deuces Wild by visiting the site vpFREE2.com.

Once here, navigate to the “Casinos” tab and look in the Las Vegas section. I see 13 different casinos that offer full pay Deuces Wild at the time of this post.

Unfortunately, the highest coin denomination for these machines is only $0.25. In past decades, you could find $1 denomination machines that quadrupled your potential profits.

Even under the right conditions, the odds of you making a good living with video poker are slim. Let’s run the math on what you can expect:

• You play full pay Deuces Wild (100.76% payback).
• You bet 5 coins per hand on a quarter denomination machine ($1.25 per hand).
• You play 1,000 hands per hour, which is extremely fast.
• The casino is running a triple loyalty point promotion.
• The casino comps 0.1% of your total bets, or 0.3% for triple points.
• 1,000 x 1.25 x 0.0076 = $9.50 regular hourly winnings.
• $1,200 total bets x 0.003 = $3.60 in comps
• You earn $13.10 per hour.

Even if you spend 50 hours in the casino, this only works out to $655 per week, and you’d earn $34,060 when we stretch this out for an entire year.

Most people can get by on this salary, but it’s far from what anybody envisions when becoming a professional gambler.

Conclusion

Being a pro gambler has some obvious benefits, including flexible hours, being your own boss and the ability to increase your income.

Some gamblers, such as Saahil Sud and Bob Voulgaris, have even gotten rich with their skills. Of course, you may be perfectly happy making mid 5-figures, as long as you get to enjoy the aforementioned benefits, but there are also some downsides to be aware of. These include risk, highs and lows, no sick days and the potential to lose everything.

It’s up to you to weigh the good and bad before ultimately deciding to pursue a professional gambling career.

The potential rewards can be great in the case of card counting, DFS, poker and sports betting, but you also have to be disciplined and good at handling risk.