Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a math wizard to understand some of the math involved in gambling.
What’s more important is the concepts the math applies to, like the House Advantage, Randomness, Odds, Probability, and the Independence of Events.
Let’s get into the math of Randomness.
Randomness is something that happens by chance with no plan, pattern, or purpose. This makes it so the gambler cannot predict the outcome of a game.
Games of chance like lotteries or casino style games are random. Playing your lucky numbers can be fun, but they won’t influence the outcome of a game.
The most common place to find randomness in action are through slot machines (Random Number Generators, RNG), shuffling cards, spinning a roulette wheel, rolling dice, etc.
What is a Random Number Generator (RNG)?
RNGs use algorithms, codes, and equations to produce an infinite string of numbers that run constantly—even when no one is playing.
Random number generators make it impossible for anyone to know what will happen next. Each time the button is hit, the result is entirely due to chance.
How is randomness built into gambling?
Each game is designed to use randomness to make sure the house has an advantage, and to make the results both unpredictable and independent from previous or future plays.
As mentioned earlier, slot machines and VLTs use RNGs to determine wins and losses.
But what about other games?
Blackjack uses approximately six decks of cards that are shuffled to the point where it is virtually impossible to predict the next cards in the sequence.
When playing craps, throwing the dice also makes it impossible to control the outcome.
The lottery numbers that are drawn are selected at random. Again, making it impossible to know which numbers are coming next.
Games are designed to make you feel like you’re in control of what’s happening. Gambling is meant to be unpredictable.
No amount of skills or knowledge can guarantee an outcome.
Chance by the Numbers (Source: GameSense)
Celebrating your 100th birthday
1 in 50
Dying from falling down the stairs
1 in 6,330
Dying from a venomous bite or sting
1 in 160,000
Being struck by lightning
1 in 240,000
Dying from flesh-eating bacteria
1 in 1 million
Winning the Lotto 6/49
1 in 14 million