You need vast sums of money to wager to make a lot of money and withstand the swings that are also inherent in BJ as in poker. The "players" only got a salary and lived in the fast lane at the casino on weekends when they were working.

I also recall that in the History Channel Documentary on the original MIT team, they had huge success at the start, but the suffered huge losses after awhile and just about broke even around the time the casino's caught up with them and cut them off.

The MIT team also had special techniques to get around multiple decks. They were VERY smart and had their stuff together and could not bust the casino. Like everyone else they got greedy.