Quote Originally Posted by Zangief
Quote Originally Posted by face
So, even if someone played this game every second from the dawn of the universe to the projected date of the big bang, around 3.2 * 10^21 seconds, the chances are almost nil that the casino would recoup one dollar on the game (although with infinite time, the edge is still there).

You mean "big crunch" not "big bang" above, right?

If so, I didn't know that the big crunch was actually projected. I thought it was still an open question as to whether there would be a crunch or not. Has this been "solved"?
Yeah, I actually meant big whimper, or the amount of seconds until every particle in the universe is either projected to be in a black hole or decayed into photons through gamma decay. The time that I got, 3.2 * 10^21 seconds, was pulled from a web page I can't find as of now. However, I just found some data on wikipedia which can tell us how old in seconds the universe will be at the time of its death. (Sorry, this is so damn dorky, but I like it and at least someone else is interested.)

For the time of death, I will briefly quote wikipedia: "In 10^40 years, all matter that isn't in a Black Hole is expected to have decayed into gamma ray photons through proton decay, which marks the end of the Degenerate Era and the beginning of the Black Hole era."

So, how many seconds in 10^40 years? Using google's trusty converter, we get 3.1556926 × 10 ^ 47 seconds as the life, in seconds, of the universe as we know it (with matter of any kind). Sorry about the bad numbers above, but the point holds. I believe the prevailing theory is that the universe will go dark and cold and exapand forever rather than contracting again in a big crunch. However, IANAP, so this could be bullshit.

Also, I completely with Cocco_Bill's post above. The house edge never goes away, if and only if they could stay open forever. If people had infinite or very, very large bankrolls, and there was no limit on the size of bets, but time was finite (either by bang, crunch or whimper), then the house could have their edge but not enough time would exist in the universe for them to realize it. In other words, the long run is just too long given the universe as it is.

In terms of real world roulette, with real world bankrolls, the house wins. They have a huge edge 1:1 payouts when you're only 47.5% to hit. You recoup .475 cents on each dollar wagered and lose .525, for a negative EV of .05 for you and a positive EV of .05 for the house.