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\"We decide we can certainly increase our chances of winning if we bet on a colo

ID: 3045307 • Letter: #

Question

"We decide we can certainly increase our chances of winning if we bet on a color instead of a number. Roulette allows us to bet on either red or black and if the number is that color we win. This bet pays even money in most casinos. This means that for each dollar we bet, we will win $1 for choosing the winning color. So if we bet $5 and win we would keep out $5 and win $5 more. If we lose, we lose whatever amount of money we bet, as before. Q: Are the casinos really gambling when we place a bet against them? Explain.

Explanation / Answer

The fundamental principles of casino gambling is essentially the same for all of them whether it’s a hand of blackjack, a spin of the roulette wheel, a roll of the dice at the craps table, or a spin on the slot machine, players put up a stake and are betting against the casino.

Essentially, casino games are all games of chance, meaning that a player is ultimately reliant on luck. There are some games that also involve an element of skill, such as blackjack, but luck is generally the over-riding factor in determining whether or not a player wins.

However, this doesn’t mean that a casino needs to get lucky in order to make a profit from people playing their games.

Every single casino game provides a long-term advantage to the house, and this is how they make money.

The advantage that’s effectively built into every casino game is known as the house edge. This edge means that, over time, a casino will always win money.

The house edge exists because casinos do not pay winning wagers according to the true odds of that wager. As such, they are technically making money every time a player wagers money.

Although the house doesn’t win every single wager, mathematically speaking, the odds are always in their favor. Casino games are known as negative expectation games because the long-term expectation is a negative one.

In an American Roulette, the chances of winning by betting on a colour is 46.37%. The chances reduce when we bet on numbers or combinations, so the house edge always works in practice.