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Betting And Fixed Betting

analytical Essay
1636 words
1636 words
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Fixed odds betting and Due Column betting
Gambling has been around in our societies for a very long time. Over the time as the stakes involved in gambling rose, so did sophistication in rules in how to gamble rose. Although rules that came into force to govern how to gamble were helpful in reducing the number of complaints for foul play, other rules in terms of how to gamble are more informal and can also be considered as strategies.
Louis Pasteur reminds us that ‘Chance always favors the prepared mind’. Before entering the world of gambling it is imperative that you know what you are getting into after all it’s your money and you are primarily undertaking a financial risk. In gambling terminology the size of this risk involved is given the name of ‘odds’. Odds on bets also roughly express the probability that the bettor will win. There are two main type of betting available; all forms of wagering in the sporting world such as horseracing and football etc. involve fixed odds betting, where as in the financial world spread betting is utilized . This paper shall be focusing on the former.
As the name suggests, fixed odds involve a fixed amount of money put at risk also referred to as the ‘stake’. Bettors bet a stake against the odds offered by the bookmaker or the exchange. This fixed wager in turn results in a fixed reward. Fixed odds are the current fixed price for an event at any given time and will not change after the bet has been placed.
There are three major ways that the fixed odds can be quoted by the bookmaker, they are essentially the same and can be thought of referring to the odds in three different languages. The first one is Fractional odds and is most common in horseracing, this is also known as traditional or UK...

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... is 0.125, four .0625, five 0.03125, six 0.015625. Therefore, even with as little as 6 consecutive bets there is more than a 98% chance that the strategy would be successful. What is missing in this information is the pain that would be experienced in the 1.5% chance that all six bets are lost. If the better had planned on winning $100, by the time he fails six consecutive bets with 2:1 odds, the amount of money lost is already over $1,000.
Although it would make sense to employ a betting strategy, using a due column strategy is completely without statistical merit. An alternate often described as a useful strategy would perhaps be always betting a fraction of the amount of money you have available for betting before each round. This way losing streaks would lead to progressively smaller bets, thereby allowing more chances to take advantage of the law of averages.

In this essay, the author

  • Explains that some popular strategies are followed without much understanding, but when investigated in further detail they reveal the faults in their inherent assumptions.
  • Explains that betting on racing horses is not a true application of the law of averages and is therefore less effective.
  • Explains that some writers have labeled this strategy as lunacy. the basic premise is attacked by understanding that whoever runs the gambling arena has to make a profit for the arena to stay around.
  • Opines that using a due column strategy is completely without statistical merit. an alternate strategy would be to always bet fraction of the amount of money available for betting before each round.
  • Explains that as the stakes involved in gambling rose, so did sophistication in rules in how to gamble.
  • Explains that odds of 2/1 (two-to-one) imply that the bettor will win £20 from a £10 stake and the payout would be £30.
  • Explains the difference between decimal and moneyline odds.
  • Analyzes how due-column betting is based on the assumption that everyone should be able to win. the amount of capital required for each successive bet balloons at an extremely rapid pace during a losing streak.
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