What is Luck?

25 October 2022

By Frank Scoblete

You constantly hear casino players talk about “good luck” or “bad luck” and the belief on their part is that there is such a thing in the universe as luck and that sometimes that luck is good for them and sometimes that luck is bad for them.

But luck seems to be spoken off as if it is some kind of force that decides who gets this, that or the other thing. It is thought of as an intelligent force of some kind that gives you what you want or saves you from what you don’t want.

Sadly, luck gives you what you don’t want too. Play in any casino in the world and there will be players who are ecstatic because “luck” favored them. There will also be other players who cursed the fact that they challenged luck.

We have even personified luck in the form of Lady Luck or Dame Fortune and we have even referred to “her” as Nemesis. Yes, luck is often referred to as a woman.

Let’s put luck to the test. The dealer spins the ball and gets it moving on the top of a roulette wheel. Around and around the ball goes; then it slips rapidly down the side of the wheel, sometimes hitting a bumper or two. Then it hits the pockets and hops, skips and jumps from pocket to pocket.

While the ball was spinning around the wheel and bouncing like crazy from pocket to pocket, the wheel with the numbers and colors spins too. At a certain time, everything comes to rest and the ball lands in a pocket.

Was that event random or not?

It was totally random. No dealer aimed the ball or controlled it. The numbers are on a wheel that is checked constantly by sophisticated computers so none of them can be biased and therefore slant the outcome. That’s why the casinos beat the roulette players over time.

[Please note: The casinos only pay out 35-to-one on a roulette hit. The real payoff should be 37-to-one. The casinos need the game to be random to make their money!]

Still, I can make a perfect prediction even though the game has no mind, no memory, no anything resembling intelligence or desire of any kind

Here is another way to prove randomness. On the American double-zero (0, 00) wheel there are 38 pockets, numbered 1 through 36 with a 0 pocket and a 00 pocket.

I now predict that the result of the spin will be a number between 1 and 36 or 0 and 00. Yes, the wheel is random but it has a limited range of results; just 38. Bet all 38 results and you will have a win; a single win. (Yes, you will still lose because the casino holds back two units on your win. Never forget that truth.)

Random is a word we apply to chance; blind chance, nothing more, nothing less.

All the best (luck) in and out of the casinos!

Frank Scoblete’s web site is www.frankscoblete.com. His books are available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries and bookstores.