The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1905-12-22
GAMBLING SYSTEMS,
My THEY WILL NEVER BREAK THE
BANK At MONTE CARLO.

The Percentage 10 Always Agains
the Player. and the Maximum Limi
Nullines the Only Sure Scheme
That Of Progressive Betting.
Truly "hope springs eternal in the
human breasts" How many inventors
have gone to Monte Carlo with infalli.
BILE systems it is impossible to say,
but probably they are to be numbered
BY millions, aud not one Of them has
returned the victor. 1t is the ambi-
ton doubtless Of every visitor to the
fascinating tables Of Monte Carlo to
~break the bank" Any player with an
extraordinary run of good luck and the
nerve to press it is liable to "break the
bank" US the expression is commonly
understood, but no one will eve "break
the bank" at Monte Carlo in the true
Of the phrase.
= at the famous gaming rooms there
Is not one, but many tables Mt which
players may stake. Each table starts
play for the day with a capital Of 1O0,-
900 francs, and when that sum is e
hausted the bank at that particular ia
Die Is broken, and play is suspended
until a fresh bank of 1901 600 francs Is
brought by, the a~ttendants-a matter of
8 minute or two.
But to break the bank in the true
sense would be to exhaust the entire
capital Of the casino, and that will
never happen. for three simple reasons.
The first is that the bank lays unfair
odds to the player. This 1 will illus.
frate as simply as possible.
At roulette, the most popular form Of
gambling, there no thirty-seven num-
bers-from / to s. Inclusive and O. or
zero. 1t is plain that the fair odds
against a player correctly picking one
of these thirty-seven numbers are 80
to 1. But the bank only lays 35 to l.
| Hence the bank has always, roughly
speaking, a 3 per cent advantage over
the player. To put it another way, II
a player backs the same number thir-
ty-seven times he ought, according to
the fair odds, to come out exactly
square, but at Monte Carlo he cannot
90 so, tie mUSL lOSc d DOluL.
This advantage Of the bank applies
to all the other chances besides the
numbers on which the player may
stake.
Take, for example, the so called
s"even" chance of red or black. or the
--thirty-seven numbers eighteen are red.
eighteen black. the thi~rty-seventh. zero.
having nominally no color
1t is obvious that il a player backs
red there are nineteen chances eight
cen blacks and zero against his being
correct. The fair odds are nineteen to
eighteen against him, but the bank
only lays even money.
The advantage to the bank does not
end here, for when zero turns up the
bank takes all stakes except those on
zero and the cyan money chances. The
latter are put aside-"en prise is the
technical term.
If on the next turn of the wheel the
player on these even chances wins his
stake Is released, and he may pick 1t
'up, but he wins nothing.
TO win he must stake again, and
thus when ZERO turns up it Is at least
two to one against a player on an
''even money" chance.
The second reason why the bank
must always win in the long u Is the
existence Of the maximum"
The maximum 5000 francs, or f24O
10 the highest amount a player can win
on any one chance. If a player with
unlimited could go on play
tine double or quits" with the casino
indefinitely he would eventually break
the bank in the full sense Of the term.
But you cannot play double or quits"
with NJ. Blanc for long.
Starting with the minimum stake al
lowed-viA, s francs-and doubling
your stakes each time. your eleventh
sake, supposing you to win or lose
.c~ensecutively, would be over 5000
francs, and you could double no longer.
In other words. you would have come
TO q point at which you could not on
600 turn Of the wheel either double
your winnings or recoup all your losses.
All systems are designed to nul!ify
the effects Of zero and the maximum.
If one could be certain that zero would
turn up. as it ought to turn up. ONCE in
every thirty-seven turns, it could be
provided against, and the casino, even
With the help Of the maximum, would
b in a bad way.
But no such certainty is possible,
and therefore every system splits on
this rock. And % with the maximum.
Perhaps the most fatal systems Of all
are those based upon the theory that
II red has come up a certain number
Of times running black will follow. To
illustrate the folly Of this theory, take
the following example: II you toss q
penny In the air 1000 times and II
comes heads 800 times it is Of course
only even money on its being tails the
next time.
The third reason, IL, indeed. another
be needed, why the bank must always
win is that the human and fallible play
q is always playing against an in
fallible machine.
The slightest mistake in calculation
the least ~inattention, and the system
freaks down. And to err is human.
So Monte Carlo 1ourishes and Away!
will flourish so long as the law allow