If a gambler and the casino keep going forever, how come the casino is always the winner?
In: Mathematics
Because the chances of the thing happening where the house wins on any given event is stacked in their favor.
Say you and me have 20 boxes in front of us. Under the boxes there are 12 black balls and 8 red balls that are randomly placed. Every time you pick a box with a red ball I give you a dollar. Every time you pick a box with a black ball you give me a dollar.
Over a long enough time, you’re going to pick black balls 60% of the time and red balls 40% of the time, because the physical laws of the game and randomness make it so.
If we play 1,000 times, you’ll take in $400 and give back $600 (I’m up $200)
If we play 10,000 times, you’ll take in $4,000 and give back $6,000 (I’m up $2,000)
.
.
.
If we play 100,000,000 times, you’ll take in $40,000,000 and give back $60,000,000 (I’m up $20,000,000)
And on and on and on
You never are the favorite, so you’ll never come out ahead in the long run
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