Mathematical principles

One myth surrounding the world of gambling is that winning a game is based completely on luck. Most people may base their bets around this concept and hope that luck will remain on their side long enough for them to win.

But the mistake in this chain of thinking is that gambling is certainly not just about luck. In fact, simple mathematics can be applied to all gambling games and can clearly demonstrate that gambling is much more than a game of chance.

Applying Math
Simple mathematics does play a large part in all major casino games. These mathematical principles help to ensure that the gambler will always lose to the house in the long run. This is because the house has an advantage over each gambler who takes part in the game.
The house must have a slight advantage on each casino game in order to make money to keep the business operating. There would be no other way for the casino to afford to keep running without this edge.

House Percentage

Each and every casino game has what is called a house percentage. This means that theoretically for every $100 bet that a gambler places, he will lose whatever percentage the casino has as its house advantage. Having this advantage over players means the house can thrive on as little as less than a 1 percent advantage.
The casino does not need to have a huge house percentage in place in order to make money. Casinos can make large profits on 5 percent and even 3 percent house advantages. This is because once again, players will always lose to the house over a certain period of time.

Keno Example

A good example to study is the game of keno. In keno, a player has to guess which 20 numbers between one and 80 the house will pick during the game. Since the player has a one-in-four chance of winning, one would think that on a $1 winning bet, the payout would be $4. But most casinos only pay out about $3, which enables the casino to make a profit even on winning bets.

P.S. You also can check "History of combinatorial math development" and "Roulette systems"