Let’s face it; the odds almost always favour the casino on average rather than the punter. If that was not the case there wouldn’t be any casinos, either online or live! However, a much better way of viewing this is that on average there are fewer people who will win than there are who will lose. The whole trick of betting is to maximise your chances of being one of the former.

One way of doing this is in your game selection. In many games the odds are not in your favour, but with any games that require a level of skill there is generally something you can do to improve your chances of winning.

A perfect example of this is blackjack. In real casinos you can use the simple trick of card counting to turn the odds to your favour, and although card counting does not work with online blackjack, you can still find blackjack games that have only a miniscule house edge of less than 0.5%. Sometimes you can even find games online with a zero house edge.

Most people gamble for fun and do little to try to move the odds to their favour, but there is a minority of players who are willing to put in the effort to mathematically analyse the various games and to hone their abilities. Often this latter type of gambler will choose to play games such as poker where they are more in charge of the outcome than they would be in a game such as roulette. Video poker is another game where the chances of winning can be increase by honing your skills.

The best use you can make of casino mathematics is to avoid pitfalls such as the gambler’s fallacy. For instance, if you look at the mathematics of roulette you will discover that the fact that the last five spins were red has no bearing on the next spin. Some people will think that it is more likely to be red; other will think that it is more likely to be black. Once you look at the mathematics you will see that each result is equally likely.