What's about online poker. Is there also a bank advantage if you play perfectly? Is it allowed?
Casinos make money on poker play differently, and in a few ways. The simplest is “rake”. They take a fixed percentage of every pot. This is different because it’s not probabilistic. The casino isn’t gambling its own money. It’s just a tax.
Money only comes in from players. So the EV of all players is negative, because a little is flowing out to the casino every hand. The chance players as a whole end up ahead isn’t near zero, it is zero.
If everyone was playing theoretically perfect poker every hand, all individual players EV are also negative. But, no one is playing perfect all the time. So you can get ahead because you’re not beating the odds. You’re beating other players.