No, hosting ludi was never about turning a profit in the Roman world. Hosting was about converting your monetary investment into social capital. Putting on games was the privilege of the elite, and one of the many ways that they competed with one another in prestige display. In the Republic, this was essential for moving up the cursus honorum to be elected to high office. Typically, an ambitious Roman would go along the "rungs" of the ladder from military tribune to quaestor to aedile to praetor to consul. During an aedileship, the politician had the opportunity to put on games on a massive scale, and his games needed to wow the spectators in order for his name to be remembered when it came time to be elected for praetor, and then consul.

We find commemoration of individual hosts of games all the time in archaeology, and such acts are frequently mentioned on tombs. The tomb of Vestorius Priscus, outside Pompeii, is an interesting example. The tomb has painted images depicting various scenes. Three of them show his act(s) as a host of games, which he proudly claims along side other images showing his prestige displays: a sumptuous banquet he had thrown, and the inside of his tablinum (office) in his house, where had received social and business clients. In other words: the hosting of the games was an equivalent act to throwing a fantastic party: not for profit, but for the spectacle of it.