My name is Wei Qing, and I want to fight the Xiongnu.

However, Tia has tallied her wins and losses after each bet and found that her luck wasn't too bad; she had both wins and losses, and she didn't experience a situation where she lost five or six bets in a row.

Therefore, the possibility of bad luck was ruled out.

Another possibility is that the opponent is very skilled at gambling, while you are lacking in gambling skills, so it is normal not to win.

But Tia was clever; she deliberately chose to place bets on the ball with other noble gamblers who came here seeking thrills.

The gamblers at this table are mostly novices, so there's no question of who's a better or worse gambler.

In fact, the aristocratic gamblers who came to gamble also liked to gamble with their own kind. They knew very well that even if the seasoned veterans didn't cheat, it would be difficult for them to win.

Besides luck, gambling also requires a certain level of skill.

If it's neither bad luck nor a problem with gambling skills, then what could it be?

Tia was thinking, her gaze gradually shifting from the chips in her own hand to the chips in the hands of the other gamblers.

She quickly realized the problem!

There were six gamblers at this table, all of whom were aristocratic gamblers who came here to try it out. They didn't have many chips, and Tia could roughly recall how many chips each person initially had.

Although the amount of chips held by each gambler had changed after several rounds of gambling, she immediately noticed something was wrong when she simply added up everyone's chips.

The total number of chips has decreased compared to when the gambling started!

How could it decrease?

Even though there are only six people gambling, with some winning and some losing, the total chips should remain the same...

Soon, Tia looked at the dealer who was dealing the cards.

Pump!

Yes, that's right!

At the start of each betting game, the house takes a cut.

In other words, even disregarding luck and skill, as long as the payout continues, there's no way you can win!

In fact, with the commission being paid out, you start losing money every time you gamble, even before the result is in!

Once Tia realized the problem, she immediately chose to leave the gambling table.

Seeing that Tiya seemed to have realized something, Zhong Huan asked, "So? Did you discover anything?"

Tia looked at the eight thousand chips in her hand and said, "With this kind of gambling, the house always wins all the money."

The little panda, its mouth covered in oil from eating, saw Tia finally realize what was happening and said, "Silly girl, you only just realized it now."

The bookmaker provides the gambling tables, the venue, and the service personnel, and of course, they charge a rental fee.

Since you gamble, you don't produce chips, so in the end you'll have to use the chips you have to pay the house.

Under these rules, gamblers can win if they're lucky, but the house never loses.

In addition, gambling money comes too easily and goes too easily, so not many gamblers care about the small rental fee paid to the bookmaker.

"They take five percent of your winnings in one bet. Even if you break even after twenty bets, all the chips in your pocket will end up in the casino's pocket."

The little panda, acting like an older brother scolding his younger brother, explained the intricacies of this gambling table to Tia.

A single game of gambling only lasts a few minutes, but gamblers often play for half a day. Even if they lower the rental fee (which is just a small percentage of the winnings), by the end of the day, most of their chips have been given to the house.

But those who lose at gambling rarely consider these things; they only blame their bad luck or the other party for cheating, which is why they lost so badly.

In short, they won back next time, without considering that as long as the casino keeps taking a cut, the more times they gamble, the less likely they are to win money.

After figuring things out, Tia no longer resisted gambling as before.

To be precise, she wanted to understand why everyone said gamblers lose more than they win.

Is it simply an exaggerated attempt to warn people to stay away from gambling, or is it that all forms of gambling involve such shady dealings, making it impossible to win at gambling?

The thrill of pursuing the truth was even stronger for Tia than when she sat down at the gambling table and placed her bets.

She couldn't wait to get to the lottery box next to her, where the lottery game was being played by drawing lots.

This is a betting ticket, also called a lottery ticket.

The casino has many such betting boxes, and the draw is held every half hour.

In other words, as long as you are in the casino, you can buy tickets anytime, anywhere through the ticket box, and the draw will be held within half an hour.

Tia walked up to the betting box, seemingly looking for something.

The waiter standing in front of the betting box was a bunny boy, and a muscular one at that.

Many casino staff like to use bunny girls.

When the Evil Tavern was first established, there were no bunny girls, only ordinary waitresses. Later, a gambler suggested that there be bunny girls.

And so this gambler became the first Bunny at the Wicked Tavern...

In the words of the red panda, this is called becoming the person you like the most.

Therefore, the bunny boys in the Evil Tavern are mostly not very good-tempered. It's already good enough if they can communicate normally. In most cases, they will glare angrily at gamblers.

However, upon seeing Zhong Huan, the bunny boy's arrogant expression vanished instantly, replaced by a fawning and obsequious one. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was an extremely dedicated and hardworking man.

Tia didn't know how to address the bunny boy, and after hesitating for a long time, she asked with what she considered the most polite title, "Mr. Bunny...may I ask if I could see the prize money and the probability of winning the prize?"

Normally, this bunny boy would have already started cursing.

But this time, instead of showing any anger, he respectfully took out an instruction manual that listed the probability of each prize and the prize money.

After thanking the bunny boy, Tia picked up the instruction manual, asked the waiter for a pen and paper, and quickly started writing and drawing. Soon she had a question.

Each time, the total prize pool is only 1,076,374 chips, but there are 3,275 tickets. This means that the average expected value of each ticket is 328.7 chips, but in reality, each ticket sells for 500 chips.

In other words, from the perspective of expected value, this kind of betting also makes it impossible to win money.

It's even more shady than the commission from gambling tables!

this...

After discovering this situation, Tia looked at Wei Qing and the little panda with great confusion and asked, "However you look at it, this kind of betting game is a losing proposition, right? The more you bet, the less likely you are to make money, so why are so many people still betting?"

Not only in casinos, but also in the capital of the Kingdom of Tia, where she lived, there was such a gambling game, and many commoners flocked to it.

Tia had never thought about the trickery involved before, but now, thanks to Zhong Huan's hint, she immediately realized that the gambling in the capital city also had an expected value that was far lower than the price of buying a single lottery ticket.

In other words, the more you bet, the more you lose.

So why are so many people still buying them?

Can't these people see the trickery in the betting tickets?

Tia didn't believe it. Anyone who was good at math should be able to easily see the problem here, right?

Hearing Tia's question, Zhong Huan shrugged and said, "You yourself said that you can't make money gambling. That's right, you can't make money gambling because it's gambling."

Some gamblers seek the thrill of gambling, some dream of getting rich overnight, and others are so deeply in debt from gambling that they can't pay it off and can only place all their hopes on gambling, hoping to turn their fortunes around one day.

But none of the gamblers who dream of winning money through gambling are actually thinking about earning money through honest, hard work.

Zhong Huan spoke very politely. The little panda, who had just finished eating barbecue, rubbed its belly with its short paws and said, "We don't really understand either. Some fools always think they are the chosen ones, but they live to be thirty and still don't know whether a woman's hand is soft or not."

"In my opinion, instead of relying on luck to make money through gambling all day, you might as well grab a couple of swords and hack and slash down a street. If you get killed, just reincarnate quickly, and you'll be a hero again in twenty years. If you don't get killed, you can build a casino and make money off fools. Isn't that better than you personally going to gamble?"

Tia ignored the little panda's advice. Although she didn't quite understand what Zhong Huan was saying, she seemed to grasp one point: gambling seemed to be a waste of money.

At least with this most common form of gambling, it's almost impossible to win money.

What about other methods?

Tia saw another interesting gambling game, somewhat similar to horse racing.

However... perhaps because the casino was too small, they were betting on frogs instead of horses.

The rules of the game are very simple: there are three tracks, and a frog is placed on each track. The bet is which frog will reach the finish line first.

The first frog was named Napoleon, the second frog was named Caesar, and the third frog was named Tsar.

The odds are different for each frog. Currently, Napoleon has the highest odds in this bet, followed by Caesar and then the Tsar.

Tia subconsciously added up the odds for the three frogs and immediately realized that the total odds were not one, but 0.91.

Furthermore, these odds constantly change based on the bets, but they will never add up to one.

In other words, as long as this betting game continues, the house will always be making money!

No wonder people say that gambling always results in losses; it's essentially gambling with negative expectations.

Even if those aristocratic gamblers, through repeated gambling, eventually have a stroke of luck and win 100,000 chips, the chips they lose will definitely be far greater than that number!

As for the Thousand Regions... Tia hadn't even considered it.

Gamblers who cheat are usually experts in this field. Ordinary gamblers have no in-depth knowledge of gambling, so they shouldn't even think about beating them.

If in non-cheating zones, elite gamblers might have a bit of luck and win a little money, but in cheating zones, there's not even that slight chance.

Tia couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Zhonghuan, does this mean... there's no fair play in casinos? I mean, what if there's no house involved?"

Zhong Huan laughed when he heard the question: "Do you think any casino doesn't make money? Do you think a casino that doesn't make money is doing charity? But there really is one in the Extreme Evil Tavern. Why don't you go check out the cheating area?"

Tia shook her head and said, "No, I think it's even less likely I'd win 100,000 chips if I went to a place like that."

"Alright, I'll take you to see the fairest betting game."

Zhong Huan gestured for Tiya to follow him, and soon he led Tiya to an area between the cheating zone and the non-cheating zone.

There were many aristocratic gamblers here, and these aristocratic gamblers were all young, but their expressions were haggard, and their bloodshot eyes revealed their exhaustion.

Some even went so far as to have a mental breakdown, gagging at the coins in front of them from time to time.

Before Tia could figure out what was going on, she heard one of the noble gamblers, who had a huge pile of chips in front of him, cry out in excitement, seemingly having finally won 100,000 chips.

Seeing the young nobleman's reaction, the gamblers around him were filled with envy. But when they looked at the coin that kept being tossed around, their stomachs started churning again, and they began to dry heave.

One young noblewoman, seeing that she was about to lose all her chips, couldn't help but burst into tears, completely disregarding her noble image.

When the noble gamblers around her looked at the distraught girl, they showed no mockery or contempt, but rather full of sympathy.

This shared experience naturally fostered a sense of solidarity and mutual support among them.

Anyone who spends several days flipping coins in such a place would become mentally fragile.

Zhong Huan pointed to one of the empty seats, opposite which was a smiling female server. However, when the server saw Zhong Huan, her smile seemed a little forced.