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

Doubling gets really out of hand really quickly and your winnings never exceed your original bet, making the risk not worth it.

$1, $2, $4, $8, $16, $32, $64, $128, $256, $512, $1024, $2048, $4096, $8192, $16384, $32768, $65536.

The trick here is that if you’re winning a 2:1 payout, your total winnings _never exceed $1_.