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Comment by dec0dedab0de | Hacker News Reader

biased towards the house, even moreso than straight probabilities would tell you.

That's called the house edge, or the vig. Without that, casinos wouldn't make money.

I usually explain it to people by saying that the casino doesn't make money from the losers. It uses the money from the losers to pay the winners, but charges the winners a fee.

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No. If you calculate the straight probabilities of blackjack or roulette, say, the house has a small advantage. That's the house edge.

OP is saying that the digital versions give the house an additional edge.

American roulette is 38 numbers, but pays 35 to one. Those extra three are the house edge, and they are the same in the digital version. Other digital games like slot machines generally have a much higher house edge. I think the other poster was mostly lamenting that casinos aren't fair.

No, I was saying as ectopod better described, that digital versions have no actual need to hold to mathematical probabilities. For example, a six-sided die could be programmed to result in a 1 more than 1/6th of the time. How would you know?

Nevada Gaming Commission has all kinds of rules about what you can and can't do with your digital games. Yes you could obfuscate the code, but it's way easier to make the money legally (and casino licenses are worth more than their weight in gold, so why would you risk it).

the house would be shut down in Las Vegas and probably Atlantic City as well. The house makes enough with the 35:1 payout on a 38:1 odds in roulette. enough people bet big 6/8, hardways, and specific die configurations on craps to pay the light bill.

If you play craps perfectly, you can take the vig / house edge / rake to 0.13%, which is 13 cents on $100, as it ought to be. House edge on slots is ~1%, really poor bets on roulette and craps could be 3% or higher.

But none of the games are allowed to cheat.

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