LOTTERY ODDS. 233 



Formerly, the ledger system was in general use for 

 keeping lottery accounts. It consisted of entering each 

 person's name, who took part in the lotteries, in a 

 ledger, giving one page to his debits, and the other to 

 his credits. It is far too tedious ; and by it accounts 

 cannot be made up in sufficient time to allow of a 

 settling immediately after a meeting is over. Every 

 Honorary Secretary knows, if this be not done, how 

 extremely difficult it is to subsequently square accounts 

 satisfactorily. Among the residents of a station this 

 remark does not apply ; but at a large meeting, where 

 the bulk of the plungers are here to-day and gone to- 

 morrow, it is essential that everything should be 

 settled as quickly as possible; for absentees find it hard 

 to believe that they have won so little, or lost so 

 much. 



The lottery odds against a horse will be : Price of 

 tickets + price of all the horses - discount double 

 price of the one particular horse, to that double 

 price. 



Thus, in the case we have already given, the odds 

 against Jack are 500 + 460 - 48 - 180 to 180, viz., 

 732 to 180, or about 4 to 1. 



Suppose, by a private arrangement the buyer of Lucy, 

 who won the race, had given away one -fourth of her, 

 then the quarter winnings would be thus calculated : 

 Actual value of lottery ... ... 912 



Lucy's double price ... ... ... 140 



4)772 

 One-fourth share of winnings 193 



