"
"Oh, what a nice game!" cried Zoe.
He then continued to deal, and they all bet on the main event and the
color, staking fabulous sums, till at last both numbers came up
thirty-one.
Thereupon Severne informed them that half the stakes belonged to him.
That was the trifling advantage accorded to the bank.
"Which trifling advantage," said Vizard, "has enriched the man-eating
company, and their prince, and built the Kursaal, and will clean you all
out, if you play long enough."
"That," said Severne, "I deny. It is more than balanced by the right the
players have of doubling, till they gain, and by the maturity of the
chances: I will explain this to the ladies. You see experience proves
that neither red nor black can come up more than nine times running.
When, therefore, either color has come up four times, you can put a
moderate stake on the other color, and double on it till it _must_ come,
by the laws of nature. Say red has turned four times. You put a napoleon
on black; red gains. You lose a napoleon. You don't remove it, but double
on it. The chances are now five to one you gain: but if you lose, you
double on the same, and, when you have got to sixteen napoleons, the
color must change; uniformity has reached its physical limit.
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