Q:

In roulette, you may bet whether the number that comes up is odd (or even). (remember that 0 does not count as either odd or even.) the wager pays even money, that is, if you win, you get whatever you bet, and if you lose, you lose that same amount. what is your expected value for this bet if you bet $1?

Accepted Solution

A:
Your expected win from this bet would be about -0.05, meaning that you can expect to lose 5 cents on each $1 bet.

To find this we multiply the probability for each bet times $1. Remember in Roulette, there are 18 red, 18 black and 2 zero spaces.

(18/38) x 1 + (20/38) x -1 = -0.05