Odds of Winning

Before You Gamble … Know the Odds

Gambling should always be viewed as entertainment and a way to have fun – not as a way to win or make money. When you gamble you can hope to win, but the odds always favour the house. In essence you are paying to play the games. In most circumstances, and for most people, the more you play, the more you will lose.

So before you gamble, you should know the odds of winning and losing so you can set limits for yourself on the amount you are prepared to bet.

It's very common to see and hear stories about winners and it's fun to dream of the big win. Of course it is statistically possible to win – but it's important to realize the vast majority of people will lose more than they win when they gamble. If you accept this basic reality, then gambling can remain a form entertainment and a fun thing to do occasionally. (See Gambling Responsibly for tips on how to gamble safely)

The Odds of Winning … and Losing

Understanding the odds of winning and losing is not necessarily a simple thing. The odds of winning any game vary greatly from one game to the next and depend on a wide number of factors. For some games determining odds is much easier than for other games – as the odds depend upon the number of players, the size of wager, and the rules or nature of the particular game being played.

More detailed information on various casino games can be found on the British Columbia Lottery Corporation's website and in their Lottery Guide booklet. Additional information on slot machines can be found in the brochure "Slot Machines – The Facts About the Odds of Winning" [PDF].

We have included here a sample of odds associated with some of the games of chance available in British Columbia:

Myths & Mistaken Beliefs

Betting systems can improve your odds

There are literally hundreds of sites on the internet which offer or sell systems or schemes on how to improve your odds of winning at gambling, or for picking winning lottery numbers. Typically these schemes are full of pseudo-scientific jargon and erroneous statements about mathematics and probability. The fact is these so-called systems can't improve a gambler's chances because no system can predict or overcome the randomness of chance which is the very nature of most games of chance. Many such systems being sold to gamblers are actually designed to encourage gamblers to gamble even more money – with no scientific prospect that their chances of winning will improve whatsoever.

Some of these systems purport to make it easier to predict winning lottery numbers. It doesn't matter how the numbers are picked or whether you play the same or different numbers each time; your odds of winning are always the same. The selection of numbers is always purely by chance

Some people are luckier

Many people believe their luck can influence the outcome of a game or will gamble because they feel lucky at particular moments or belief a certain machine, horse, set of numbers are lucky for them. The fact is most games of chance are insensitive and oblivious to so-called good or bad luck. People tend to confuse entirely random events or pure chance with personal luck. They are not the same things. If people choose to believe in luck they should know that when it comes to gambling the luck most gamblers will experience most of the time will be bad luck.

People can predict if a coin is going to come up heads or tails when it is flipped, or the outcome of the roll of the dice

Each flip of the coin or roll of the dice is an independent event. It doesn't matter what came up in the previous flip or roll. The chances of heads or tails coming up in a single flip are 50 per cent, regardless of what occurred on all the previous flips.

People can generally win their money back after they have a losing streak

This is simply not true. Casinos exist because people don't win their money back. There is no reason to believe that a losing streak will be replaced by a winning streak that allows people to win their money back. Over the long run, most people will lose more than they win because the odds are not in their favour.

Experience can improve your chances of winning

Skill at games has no significant influence on slot machines. Slots, like other gambling games are skewed in favour of the house, which takes a constant percentage of players' bets over time. Skill or experience will have no influence on most forms of gambling.