The Holly chieftain., 1907-12-13
Teach Pupils Laws of Chance.


slot machines or buy prize pack
ages. And when they grew up
they would shun the bookmaker,
the lottery and the roulette wheel.
The ordinary gambler specu-
lates partly because he likes the
excitement and thrill of the game,
but mainly, he will assure you, as
he assures himself, he is buoyed
on by the hope OF winning. He
does not stop to figure out his
chances. If he sees hundred to
one shot he will play it, seeing
only that by risking a dollar he
has chance to win a hundred
dollars. If he had been taught in
school to see that really the
chances were 200 to against
him. and that he was betting a
dollar against 50 cents, he would
keep his money in his pocket. OF
course the man who plays the
races knows the odds Of the book
are against him. He prides him
self, however, that he is wise
reader of the ''dope sheet and
that he can overcome the odds by
superior cunning. He knows that
he can't win on his luck, for this
breaks even" in the long run.
But the man who plays against
machine, if he has taken the ele-
mentary course in the law of
probabilities, can suffer under no
delusions and cannot give himself
any unreasonable excuse. He is
bound to lose. The odds on the
machine are against him. And
even if they were not, it is en-
tirely likely that the machine
would win. An old gambler con-
tends that if man matched pen
snies aif day every day for 4 month
against a purely mechanical de-
vice, he would quit loser. The
only way he could keep even
would be to start out with
heads" or tails" and then go
away and leave the machine at
work, never changing bet. If
he remained to watch the opera
ton he would be sure to lose his
head and begin to guess" against
the relentless mechanism, and
then would lose.
In the ordinary coin paying
slot machines, the dial shows al
ternate reds and blacks, inter
spersed here and there with
quarters, halves and perhaps ST..
The player wins S cents on the
red, S cents on the black, 20 cents
on the quarter, IS cents on half,
and o5 cents on the dollar. The
dials differ, but suppose there are
thirty reds, thirty blacks, ten
quarters, five halves and one dol
lar. The chances against you
then on the red or black are 46 to
30; on the quarter 66 to "a; on
on the half u to "a, and on the
dollar Is to I9. Most players, it
is said. prefer the larger sums as
hazard in the coin machines,
al though the probabilities against
them are much greater. Again,
they are dazzled by chance of
winning largesum at a small
risk. Really they are betting
their nickle against 3 cents on
the red or black and against 2
cents or less on the larger sums.
If the children knew this they
would not fool away their money
in the machines when they go
for boat ride on the lake. and it
is reasonable to suppose that men
and women would beware of them
if they had learned to figure the
chances when they were in
school. In the penny machines
in the cigar stores the probabili-
ties are harder to figure. You
play a cent in the machine and
if you get two pairs from a re-
volving pack Of cards, always ex-
posing the faces of FIVE, you win
5 cent cigar. In most of the
machines you must get "jacks up
or better" in order to win. Any
poker player will bet you Chi
on any deal that you will not have
as good as pair of trays and the
chances that you will have two