The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-09-04

| statement is true, will perhaps not be ques-
| toned. The reasoning on which 1t 10 based ID
quite obtuse, but 1t has been experlmentaliy
| verified over and over again. Thus, II q com
be tossed many thousands of times. and. tne
| numbers of resulting ''heads"' and "tails" be
| noted, it is fonnd, not necessarily that these
| numbers differ from each other by a very
| small quantity. bnt that their difference is
| small compared with either. In mathematt-
| cal phrase, the two numbers are nearly IN
d ratio Of equality. Again, II q die be tossed,
| say, six million times. then, although there
will not probably have been exactly u million
| throws of each face will differ from O million
by a quantity very small indeed compared
| With the total number oil throws.
THE LAWS OF ODDS.
Where the odds oil the game, be they howso-
ever small, ore against one, 1t must be fatal TO
| continue to play with any hope OF victory.
| For Instance let it be assumed for o moment
that the assertion of the foreign gaming bank
| era Ia true, and that the chances are but one
and O quarter to Two and a half per cent In
their favor. Yet 10 the long run The percent
age must manifest Its effects. Where q few
hundreds have been wsgered the bank may
not win one and o quarter or two and a half
on each, or may lose considerably; but where
thousands %Ofhundreds' are wagered, the bank
will certainly win about their percentage, and
The PLAYERS will therefore loseto a correspond
ing extent. This Is Inevitable, so only that
the play continue long enough. Now It Is
sometimes forgotten that TO Insure such gain
to the bank, 1t Is by no means necessary
that the players should come prepared TO
who sit down to play may Lot have a tithe Of
the sum necessary, II only wagered once, to
iBsnre the success of the bank. But every
flrin the PLAYERS bring with them may be, and
commonly is, wagered over and over again.
There is repeated gain and loss. and loss and
gam: inasmuch that the player who finally
loses a hundred pounds may have wagered In
The course of the sitting a thousand, or even
many thousand pounds. Those fortunate
beings who ssofeak the bankn from time 10
time NAV even have accomplished the feat of
wagering millions during the process which
md in the final loss OF the few thousands
they may have begun with.
WHY IS THIS THUS?
Why is II, then, it will be asked, that this
IDeXOrable law Is not 10 be trusted ? Simply
because the mode of Its operation Is altogeth-
er uncertain, II. In a thousand trials, there
has been q remarkable preponderance of any
particular class of eYents, IL Is not o Wnlt
more probable that the preponderance will be
compensated by a corresponding, deficiency IN
the neys thousand trials than that it WILL be
repeated In that set also. The most probable
result of theisecond thousand trials Is precise.
ly that result which was most probable Tor
lIe first thousand-thaC IT, that there will be.
no marked prepouderance eeitner way. But
there NAV be such o preponderance, end 1t
NAV lie either way. 1t Is the game With The
next thousand, and the next, and for every
such set. They are In nc, way affected by pre-.
cediDg events. In the nature OF things, how
can they be- But 1.-THE whirligig of time brings
In Its ~revenges"in Its " why. The balance
Is restored Just as chance directs. IL may oe
in the next thousand trials, 1t NOV be not be-
fore maDy thousands Of trials. We ara utter
ly unable to gpess whe44 or how it viii be
brought about. - -
ANSWER TO A NEW coNuNDRuA.
What, then, are we to say of those. who
have won money by following a lucky player,
simply because they knew him to be such 7?
Lettiis 90 back to the mathematics. Suppose
that it is known by the betting set Of q Ger.
tain county that somebody had tossed head"
twelve times in succession. Furtler, suppose
this to happen In every county In the land.
Now, these persons are not more likely 10
tosS q thirteenth head than to lose. About
half will succeed In tnls thirteenth effort: ana
baokers will win, and about. half will lose.
But The success oil the winners will be widely
announced, while the misehances OF The losers
; re,d na eG aoss hanpe nh.f5 will s Eassons. FlF rs,
lOTlOlSlf uOC6 nupDCh~IoA W looDOASs - 800
gamblers pay It'll. attention 10 the Inisfortunes
81 their fellows; the protested gambler ls IT
terly selfish, and moreover he hates the sight
of misfortune, because 1t unpleasantiy re-
minds him of his risk. Secondly, losing
gamblers do not like their losses to be nolsed
abroad: thew object to having their luck in
spected by others, and they are even disposed
ID blind themselves to their own ill-fcrlpn ne as
far as possible.
TIE BANKS WIN.
Whatever, however, may be the luck of In
dlviduai nlayers in the long run, the pank
wins. Granting, frat, odds such as lne
.tbanks" have In their tavOr;;: secondly, q suf-
.hclent capital to prevent premature collapse,
and thirdly, O. sufficient 1umoer OF customers,
success is absolutely certain i1 lha long run.
The capital of the gambling pubic dQnouess
exceeds collectively the capital OF inc gamo-
ling banks; but 1t ls not used icoliectivelyi tne
%fortunes of the gambling public are devoured
successlyels: the sticks which would be lire.
slsllble as q taggot are broken one by one.
TAKING THE FIELD.
Ut ls also easy to understand why IN the bel,
ting on horse raciug In this country ana
others success ordinarily attends the PROBES
slonal better, rather than tne amaISur, vi. ~
the slang of the subject, why ''the ring" gets
The advantage OF "the gentlemen ~ Apart
from his access 10 secret SOURCES OF Informal
ton the professional better nearly always
''ays the odds" that Is, bets against individ-
nal horses while the amateur 'cakes the
Odds or backs the horse he fancies. Now
If the odds represented the strict value Of the
horses chance it would be sale In the long run
to take" as to ''iGy" the odds. But no pro-
I~essional better lavs fair odds, save by mis-
take. Nor IL 1t difficult 10 get the amateur to
take unfair odds. For "backlDg' IS seeming
iy a safe course. The ''backer" risks o small
sum To. gain q large one, and II the fair large
ann is u little reduced he still conceives that
he is not riskipg much.
such are a lew OF the why's and wherefores
that really enter into the ethics OF gambling.
The really scientific gambler ought TO know
more or less about nl of them; at all events
If he ever expects to meet men who have
nude the questionable profession the stndyo Of
a life. If ne knows and calculates oil the
time lust what he Is doing, tmay be we'll Tor
him2if he only keeps at 1t long enough.
Otherwise 1t will be well Tor The other fellows.
TIE VERMONT ELECTIONS.
-.-.- DorfIo1 R~efurna.