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You may have heard the term “The odds are stacked against you.” We use this phase in our daily lives, but few people truly understand what “odds” really are. Odds are defined as ratio between amounts staked by parties to a bet. It is a mathematical term, which can tell an understanding person what their chances of winning in a game are. For example, some scratch tickets advertise odds of 1:3. This translates to an average of 1 winning ticket in three; however a person could buy ten tickets and not win on any of them, because there is no guarantee that every third ticket is a winner. The 1:3 ratio comes from the number of winning tickets to the number of tickets distributed.
 Games of chance are made up of probabilities. It is important to know about what your “chances of winning” are, before you stake money on a gamble. Probability is the likelihood (or chance) that an event will occur. For example, think about one die: it has 6 sides, with numbers on each side from one to six. If you were to pick up that die and roll it, what chance do you think you have of rolling a five? Well, probability says that you have a 1 out of six chance that a five will occur. That looks like 1 divided by 6 or 1/6 which equals .17 or 17%! You might be wondering what happened to the other 83%, this leftover amount is the chance that rolling a five won’t happen! This same probability of 17% is the same for each number on the die. There is no number that has a better chance of coming up than another. It is random!
 In gambling, there are some events that involve some skill and some that are based purely on chance. Some traditional games of chance are Baccarat, Craps, Roulette, Slots, Sic Bo, Lotto, Keno and Bingo. These games can be entertaining, but do not offer the player any control over whether they win or lose.
Some “skill games” include Blackjack and the various forms of Poker as well as video and Pai Gow Poker. Others might argue that sports and track betting involve skill also because you can increase the likelihood that you will win by researching team stats or horse/dog bloodlines.
Regardless of whether you are playing a game or chance or skill, the house always has the advantage. This means that the probability the “house” (i.e. Casino, bookie, host) will win is better than for the person playing the game. This is where the phrase “the odds are stacked against you” takes it meaning. Learning about the game you play, whether it is skill or chance based is always important, because it is better to understand a little, than misunderstand a lot.
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