Eli5: Why can’t you just double your losses every time you gamble on a thing with roughly 50% chance to make a profit

Question

This is probably really stupid but why cant I bet 100 on a close sports game game for example and if I lose bet 200 on the next one, it’s 50/50 so eventually I’ll win and make a profit

In: 4566

Answer 1

this is why betting limits exist. but even if they didn’t you’d eventually run out of money if you just encounter a losing streak bad enough, which for most people is reached pretty quickly. if you start betting with one dollar and double every time on a loss then after just ten losses you’d be betting 1000 dollars for a maximum profit of 1 dollar.

then also your odds are never 50/50 in a casino. casino gotta make a margin somehow somewhere.