Casino "games" are not really
games in the same sense as the games you
might enjoy at home, where each player has
the same chance of winning. They're
carefully structured business propositions,
in which the casinos know that over time
they are certain to end up ahead.
Most casino games have a built-in " house
edge ." Imagine taking turns
tossing a coin with a friend. If you call it
correctly, he gives you $1, while if he
calls it correctly you give him $1. Now
imagine that he suggests a change in the
rules; you still have to give him $1 when
he's right, but from now on he'll only pay
you 95ข. It's still possible that if you
play for a few minutes, you may have a run
of luck and win lots of 95ข pay-outs. If
you play all day, however, you're going to
lose; if he can persuade millions of others
to join in and play all day, every day, he's
going to get very rich, very quickly. Thus,
for example, the roulette table in most Las
Vegas casinos holds 38 squares, numbered 1
to 36 plus "0" and "00."
If you bet $1 on the correct number, the
casino should in theory recognize that you
had a 1-in-38 chance of being right, and pay
you $38 (including your original $1 stake).
Instead, they pay $36, or 94.74 percent; the
$2 they hold back works out at 5.26 percent
of the total, and that's the "house
edge."
All Las Vegas casinos continue to ply
gamblers, at both the slot machines and the
gaming tables, with free drinks - just be
sure to tip the waitress.
In addition to the edge, the casino also
knows that most people don't bet at the best
odds. It's too boring only to bet on one
number for each spin of the roulette wheel,
so you may well place a $1 chip on each of
three numbers. Only one can possibly be
correct, however, so even if you do win the
casino grabs back another $2 in the process.
According to casino insiders, the rate at
which gamblers actually lose their money
playing roulette amounts to
thirty
percent per spin of the wheel.
In any case, different people gamble for
different reasons. Devotees of blackjack
argue that the house edge is much lower than
on other games, and that with enough cool
calculation it's even possible to come out
ahead. Others are far more drawn to the
possibility of a quick big win playing craps
and roulette, and say that it's about luck,
not arithmetic.
