I very much doubt anyone has become a billionaire threwthrough gambling
There is no doubt that there are some people that are rich through "gambling". It need some skill and "luck" which most people dont have. The winner of the WSOP will receive millions of USD which serve as a fact that some people are rich through "gambling". PrimeDice 100
BTC leaderboard would serve as another fact that someone could be "rich" from gambling and thats of course is just a niche of the whole example
if they had the money to open a casino in the first place
Just to be clear, you can open up a casino of your own
without any need to provide your own bankroll . Moneypot API allow anyone to open up their own gambling sites with no risk at all and your own bankroll is unneeded
For references :
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1020726.0according to Kelly formula
Thats a kelly criterion, basically it depends on the house on wether if they want to increase or decrease the maximum profit. Corrected some math of yours, it should be
1 x House Edge x Bankroll
It could be either 0.5x ; 1x ; 1.5x or 2x if they house are willing to take up some risk in order to lure in whale to gamble