• The House Always Wins Casino
• Casino House Always Wins Survivor Winners At War
• Casino House Always Wins Labor Of Love
• Casino House Always Wins Publishers Clearing House

English[edit]

'The house always wins' is a popular saying describing how casino games have an inherent bias toward the casino, or 'house' (described as the 'house edge') so that in the long run the casino will nearly always come out ahead. V d e Quests in Fallout: New Vegas.

With a few notable exceptions, the house always wins – in the long run – because of the mathematical advantage the casino enjoys over the player. That is what Mario Puzo was referring to in his famous novel Fools Die when his fictional casino boss character, Gronevelt, commented: “Percentages never lie. Why does the casino always win? When it comes to casinos, the house always wins. It may not always win in the short term, and there are hundreds of multi-million dollar casino winners to prove that, but over the long term, the casino does have the upper hand. It is after all, a business and has to be profitable. While it might be that the “house always wins” sometimes the good guys and the bad guys do too. The house in this fun story is Dirty Sam’s Casino in Long Harbor, New Jersey. There is a lot to this easy to read story.

Proverb[edit]

1. In a casino, all gambling is designed so that the house (i.e. the casino owners) will always net a profit, regardless of the successes of the patrons

   Don't go to that casino. All their games are designed to make you lose more money than you earn, so that the house always wins.

2. (by extension) Any economic system is designed to net a profit for the capital holders

   The more we sell in our shop, the more profit for all of us. Our customers will be happy, but the house always wins.

For most seasoned gamblers brutally honest with themselves, they’ve come to accept the supposed number 1 rule in gambling; ‘the house always wins!’

Well, there’s always the skeptical lot, but sooner or later, that is a rule they come to accept the hard way. It’s a lesson every gambler gets to learn on their gambling journey, and the earlier you understand this rule, the smoother your future gambling endeavors might get. Simply said, you can boost your odds against the house by understanding why they win most of the time.

Now to answer your question ‘why does the house always win?’ read on to learn more!

The House Always Wins Casino

Human Emotions

Part of being human means dealing with emotions. Unfortunately, not all these emotions play in our favor. If still unsure about that check out the ‘too emotional’ gamblers and see just how that works for them.

If you are the guy who is always chasing after your losses, without giving it much of thought simply because you are ‘too angry’, I don’t see how the casino won’t keep on winning.

Let’s say you’ve got a cool $1000 which you would want to start saving with your bank. For each year, the bank tells you will be earning 20%. This would translate to $200, and you obviously would be very happy about it. However, if you were to take a weekend trip to Vegas, entered a casino with $1000, and won $200 within less than an hour, you probably wouldn’t be satisfied.

For most players, they want more, and more. Before you realize it you make your first loss… But you are still ahead so you want to continue playing. The losses follow and before you realize it, you’ve lost it all in a matter of hours, sometimes, even minutes!

It does depend on why you were gambling in the first place. If it is for fun, well, and good because you are open to your game going either way. However, if you were hoping to make a reap off a casino, the advisable thing to do would be to walk away when you are still ahead.

Statistics show that up to 95% of players are ahead at some point in their game. But whenever one feels luck is on their side, we are tempted to push it a little further. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work out for most players.

The House Edge

The best way to understand a house edge would be by first acknowledging that a casino is a business. By that, it would mean that for them to remain operational, they have to ensure that they are running on a profit. For this, they design a small edge that will favor the house.

With the house edge, there’s nothing like a 50/50 chance. It ensures that the players’ probability of winning is slightly lower than those of the casino winning. Although the house edge might vary from game to game, it is still done with a lot of consideration to ensure that it is not set too high as it would discourage most gamblers from playing.

Examples of house edge are the number zero in roulette, or an early surrender when playing blackjack. Others examples include;

Blackjack: Casino 51% vs Player 49%

Roulette: Casino 52% vs Player 48%

Craps: Casino 50.5% vs Player 49.5%

In short, even if you made some good wins in the short run, the casino would still catch-up with you in the long-run –provided you continued playing.

The Law of Large Numbers and Gambler’s Ruin Concepts

The statistical law of large numbers may have slightly varying definitions depending on the area of use. However, in business, this law is used to show or express the relationship that exists between growth rate and scale.

In casinos, the house always wins because of the large number of bets placed. Without going too much into technical details, I will try to explain its application in casinos.

Taking roulette as an example, there are 37 numbers; 18 red, 18 black, and the number ‘0’. But even when the house has a rough edge ranging from 2-3%, it would not be a big surprise if a casino lost on some nights. However, since the edge is low, sometimes the players win and come back day 2 to keep on gambling.

In the long-run, the law of large numbers will ensure that the casino keeps on winning.

Casino House Always Wins Survivor Winners At War

Let’s explore the Gamblers’ ruin concept in simple terms too. Assume that the outcome of a casino game has a 50/50 chance, meaning that the house edge is 0%. A gambler walks into a casino with $100. There’s a 100% probability that the gamblers’ bankroll will run into $0 before that of the casino.

This is simply because the casino has an unlimited bankroll which will exhaust the player off their money if they stick around long enough. The chances of the gambler exhausting their bankroll are even higher when there’s an active house edge.

Different Casino Games have Varying House Edge

Casino House Always Wins Labor Of Love

As aforementioned, the house edge is what ensures that the casinos have slightly added advantage against the player. However, it is important to note that this house edge varies with different games.

For slots and keno, they carry the highest house edge with up to 25% and 17%, respectively. This would explain why slots account for 80% of profits made in a casino. With Blackjack, the house could go as low as 0.5% if a player followed perfect betting.

Casino House Always Wins Publishers Clearing House

Similarly, Craps and baccarat players could enjoy low house odds of up to 0.8% and 1.06% respectively provided they play the odds perfectly. As you have already guessed, only a few people can achieve this. Hence, the house edge increases whenever players are not playing expertly.

Final Take

It might be true that the house always wins in the long-run. However, this shouldn’t work to disappoint you as an avid gambler. Rather, this should help you understand the common pitfalls and how you can avoid them.