314 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



wagers can be so proportioned (just odds being given 

 and talcen) that, as in the former case, a person back- 

 ing, or laying against, all the four shall neither gain 

 nor lose. It is so. All that is necessary is, that the 

 sum actually pending about each horse shall be the 

 same. Thus, in the preceding case, if the wagers 9 

 to 6, 10 to 5, 12 to 3, and 14 to 1, are either 

 laid or taken by the same person, he will neither gain 

 nor lose by the event, whatever it may be. And, there- 

 fore, if unfair odds are laid or taken about all the 

 horses, in such a manner that the amounts pending on 

 the several horses are equal (or nearly so), the unfair 

 bettor must win by the result. Say, for instance, that 

 instead of the above odds, he lays 8 to 6, 9 to 5, 

 11 to 3, and 13 to 1 against the four horses re- 

 spectively ; it will be found that he must win 1. Or 

 if he takes the odds 18 to 11, 20 to 9, 24 to 5, 

 and 28 to 1 (the just odds being 18 to 12, 20 to 

 10, 24 to 6, 28 to 2 respectively), he will win 

 1 by the race. So that, by giving or taking such 

 odds to a sufficiently great amount, a bettor would be 

 certain of pocketing a large sum, whatever the event 

 of a given race might be. 



In every instance, a man who bets on a race must 

 risk his money , unless he can succeed in taking un- 

 fair advantages over those with whom he bets. Our 

 readers will conceive how small must be the chance 

 that an unpractised bettor will gain any thing but 



