Gambling Odds

Each of us, even not gamblers, at least once wondered what it takes to win in a casino, to win a lottery, pari-mutuel? And the answer is clear: luck only. Of course, you need to know the basic rules of the game, have the basic skills required. Still, the main role in this performance is given to luck. So can we win (and keep!) the favour of this whimsical giddy lady, or the task is too complicated for the mere mortals? The question is almost rhetorical and has not found a unique solution so far.
Gambling exists for more than a thousand years, and the number of those willing to learn the secrets of success is not getting smaller. Best minds have tried to bring the scientific basis into the game. The attempts to analyze and estimate the possible outcome of the game date back to early medieval scholars. As a basic material for these studies scholars used the practical observation of dice. In the attempt to prove that it is possible to mathematically calculate the most likely outcome, that any play of chance is natural, they often checked their findings in the theory of gambling … in the game itself.
A little later, these studies were followed by Galileo Galilei, whose calculations are considered by contemporary mathematicians as accurate as if they were made today.

Gambling odds received a new boost in the studies of the French mathematician, physicist and philosopher Blaise Pascal. He already had in his possession many serious findings devoted to the casual, at first glance, topic. And the famous scientist did not disdain such data.
Thus, we can say that gambling served as a basis for the emergence of the probability theory. Actually, this theory, apart from the purely scientific value, continues to help the players familiar with the theory of probability, to apply the knowledge to practice and receive a weighty advantage in the game. That is, by making accurate calculations, one can understand what bet to make, what decision to take in order to succeed in the game.

It is, however, worth to note that the calculations are relevant not for one or two cases, but for a sufficiently long chain of events. In other words, with high probability we can predict only the overall ratio, but not a particular result.
That is, the concept “gambling odds” exists, and has a sufficiently strong scientific foundation, but probably you shouldn’t consider it a magic wand allowing to win always and in everything.