What is Gamblers Ruin?
Gambler’s ruin describes the idea that any time the house has an advantage in a game of chance, the gambler will eventually lose his entire bankroll. Gambler’s ruin can also be used to describe the desire gamblers often have of making a final big bet after a streak of bad luck, in the hopes of “winning it all back.” When you get right down to it, the idea of gambler’s ruin is that if one plays against the casino for long enough, the casino always wins. In almost all cases, a gambler can be considered to have a limited amount of money to gamble with, while the casino has an effectively limitless amount of money. The casino also has the odds in its favor, sometimes by a very large percentage. Any time a gambler starts playing against the casino, the idea of gambler’s ruin describes the fact that a gambler can never take all the casino’s money, but the casino can take all of the gambler’s money, preventing her from continuing to gamble. In a standard case of gambler’s ruin, imagine that a
