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> In a healthy economy “Tails I win, heads you lose” businesses should not be allowed to succeed. That's every gambling place/app, should they all be made ille

> In a healthy economy “Tails I win, heads you lose” businesses should not be allowed to succeed. That's every gambling place/app, should they all be made illegal? Not that I'm disagreeing...

armchairhacker 1y ago
Polymarket seems OK (or at least unethical for a different reason): the prize pool is entirely from the gamblers’ money, and evenly distributed to the winners. I don’t think Polymarket does this, but I also think it would be OK if the casino takes a cut of the prize pool, as long as it ensures that winners never receive less than they bet. For example, the casino may receive $losers/n (they pick n, $losers = total bets of losers), and winners receive $bet($losers(n - 1)/n + $winners)/$winners, $winners = total bets of winners, $bet = their bet). Then it’s “tails = I win you lose, heads = we both win someone else loses, except nobody wins if everyone gets heads but that’s extremely unlikely (especially with more than 2 options)”.
uxp100 1y ago
That’s not really casinos in the same way as apps. Casinos find the other side of the bet for you and take a cut. They make money in transaction costs. They profit either way, but don’t cut you off for winning (at the sportsbook, other games may be different). Apps sometimes are taking the other side of the bet themselves, and thus will cut you off for winning.
- thrance 1y ago
  Yes, however casinos don't need to expell winners*, as the games are already rigged in the house's favor. Slot machines are set to give back 80% of the money invested, the dealer has a small advantage in black jack, etc. * If you start applying the martingale to roulette, you will quickly be pointed to the exit.
  - saghm 1y ago
    > the dealer has a small advantage in black jack Yeah, but if you try to "count cards" (i.e. actually utilize probability to play effectively) they'll throw you out. The parent comment is right that this is basically how all gambling against a business works. I'd totally be in favor of them all being illegal, but I also doubt that it would be feasible due to most people not sharing this view; it would probably go down about as well as prohibition (which ironically is also something I'm one of the few who would be relatively unaffected by given that I don't drink).
    - southernplaces7 1y ago
      I wonder if some of you who leave these random observations have ever even gone into a casino, or at least in the last decades. In most modern casinos, card counting doesn't work anyhow and the casino doesn't care either way if you try it or not..
  - moondev 1y ago
    I've never seen anyone kicked out for martingale. They don't need to because they enforce a min and max bet. Also 0 and 00 everywhere

> In a healthy economy “Tails I win, heads you lose” businesses should not be allowed to succeed. That's every gambling place/app, should they all be made illegal? Not that I'm disagreeing...

armchairhacker 1y ago

Polymarket seems OK (or at least unethical for a different reason): the prize pool is entirely from the gamblers’ money, and evenly distributed to the winners. I don’t think Polymarket does this, but I also think it would be OK if the casino takes a cut of the prize pool, as long as it ensures that winners never receive less than they bet. For example, the casino may receive $losers/n (they pick n, $losers = total bets of losers), and winners receive $bet($losers(n - 1)/n + $winners)/$winners, $winners = total bets of winners, $bet = their bet). Then it’s “tails = I win you lose, heads = we both win someone else loses, except nobody wins if everyone gets heads but that’s extremely unlikely (especially with more than 2 options)”.

uxp100 1y ago

That’s not really casinos in the same way as apps. Casinos find the other side of the bet for you and take a cut. They make money in transaction costs. They profit either way, but don’t cut you off for winning (at the sportsbook, other games may be different). Apps sometimes are taking the other side of the bet themselves, and thus will cut you off for winning.

thrance 1y ago
Yes, however casinos don't need to expell winners*, as the games are already rigged in the house's favor. Slot machines are set to give back 80% of the money invested, the dealer has a small advantage in black jack, etc. * If you start applying the martingale to roulette, you will quickly be pointed to the exit.
- saghm 1y ago
  > the dealer has a small advantage in black jack Yeah, but if you try to "count cards" (i.e. actually utilize probability to play effectively) they'll throw you out. The parent comment is right that this is basically how all gambling against a business works. I'd totally be in favor of them all being illegal, but I also doubt that it would be feasible due to most people not sharing this view; it would probably go down about as well as prohibition (which ironically is also something I'm one of the few who would be relatively unaffected by given that I don't drink).
  - southernplaces7 1y ago
    I wonder if some of you who leave these random observations have ever even gone into a casino, or at least in the last decades. In most modern casinos, card counting doesn't work anyhow and the casino doesn't care either way if you try it or not..
- moondev 1y ago
  I've never seen anyone kicked out for martingale. They don't need to because they enforce a min and max bet. Also 0 and 00 everywhere