the base is the number Most error in this field is definitional, not arithmetic. The divisions and subtractions on this desk are simple; what makes two figures disagree is that they were built on different bases.
Hold Desk / Read the figures
Figure 11
Eight questions, and the answer to each one changes the number
A published figure is a claim with a specification attached, and the specification is usually shorter than the claim. These eight questions take a couple of minutes and decide whether a number can be compared with another, reproduced, or trusted at all.
Figure stub
- Sheet
- HD-58-12
- Subject
- The checklist
- Questions
- eight
- Time to run
- about two minutes
gross winWhat was kept: everything staked minus everything returned to players
the holdThe gross win divided by turnover, measured over a period and a whole book of play
net revenueWhat survives the bonus line, and the definition a reader should check first
Direct answerAsk which definition the figure uses, over which period, for which entity, in which currency, on which base, after which costs, whether bonus funds are counted as stakes, and what the customer count actually counted. Each of the eight changes the number, and most published figures do not state all of them.
Definition firstThen period and entityThen base and deductionsThen the denominator
The eight questions
- Which definition? Gross win, net revenue, revenue after duties, or cash handled. Four figures, one word. The two-numbers page separates them.
- Which period? A month, a quarter, a year or a rolling twelve months. A short period's hold is dominated by variance, as the edge page shows.
- Which entity? The brand, the licensee, the operating company or the listed parent - four different sizes, and only one of them appears on a financial statement.
- Which currency, at which rate? A group translates every market it operates in, so a comparison can move on an exchange rate alone.
- On which base is any ratio calculated? The hold on gross win and the hold on net revenue are two different numbers carrying one name.
- Which costs are already deducted? Bonus, duty, or neither. A figure that has deducted a tax is not comparable with one that has not.
- Are bonus funds counted as stakes? If they are, they add turnover without adding deposits, which lowers the measured hold and raises the leverage of every per-deposit figure.
- What did the customer count count? A login, a stake or a deposit gives a range of two to three times on the same revenue, as the customer page works out.
Applying the checklist
Worked example - the same month reported four ways (illustrative)
One month of the sample operator's business:
turnover 100,000,000.00 gross win 4,000,000.00 active customers 500,000
Reported as gross win: 4,000,000.00
Reported as net revenue (less bonus): 3,400,000.00
Gross win per active customer: 8.00
Net revenue per depositing customer (190,000): 17.89
Four figures, one month, one business. None of the four is a misstatement, and a headline quoting any
one of them as "the casino made" is describing a different quantity from the other three.
one
two
a rate without a base is not a figure "A 4% hold" is incomplete without its base and period. A percentage with no denominator stated cannot be checked, reproduced or compared, which is why the checklist asks for the base before the value.
three
where the definition is missing A figure with no specification describes only its own source. It can still be reported, and it cannot be set beside another figure. That is a limit of the claim, not of the arithmetic.
What this checklist is not. It is not a test of honesty: a figure can be correctly stated and still incomparable, and a company that omits a definition is usually following its own reporting convention rather than concealing anything. It is a test of comparability, which is the only thing a reader can actually apply.