The Best Odds in the House

There is a casino not too far from where I live.  It’s not just a casino – it’s a huge entertainment complex – and occasionally, we will go there to see a concert, a show, or just for dinner.

One night, about a month ago, we met a few friends there for dinner.

Now I’m not much of a gambler so I don’t know a lot about the games that are played at the casino but at dinner we got into a discussion about casinos and how addictive and damaging they can be to some people.  One of my friends started to tell us about all of the different games and the odds of each game.  “The slot machines are the worst,” he told us and he went through all of the various games until he got to the craps table.

“Craps,” he said “is the game you should play if you really want a chance at winning.”

“The game of craps is the best odds in the house,” he told us.

Now from my standpoint, if I go to a casino I assume that I am going to leave with less money than I went in with.  This is because a casino is a business and as a business it is designed to make a profit.  And a business is not going to make a profit or be around too long if it is giving away its money.  So if the business is not giving away its money, then we can be sure that the person giving away their money will be us.

I found the statement amusing that craps is “the best odds in the house”.  It is the best odds for what?  What I think this means is that it is the game where you are least likely to lose your money as quickly as you will with other games.  Granted, you might get a lucky roll of the dice and walk away better off than when you started –  but, in the long run, even though it is supposed to be “the best odds in the house”, you are going to lose.

So I started thinking more about the term “the best odds in the house”.

To me “the best odds in the house” would be a bet that would make me a sure winner – not one that I might have a better chance at not being a loser.

Are there really any sure bets?  Is there really anything that someone could bet on that they would be guaranteed not to lose?

I realized then what “the best odds in the house” really was and what the bet was that I wanted to make that was a “sure bet”.

I got “the best odds in the house” when I bet on God.

Falling back on some anxieties that were instilled in me when I was younger, I started worrying about talking about God and betting in the same context.  But as I thought more about it, I remembered that in the bible God basically bet on Job and the fact that Job wouldn’t turn from Him no matter the torment Job was put through (and Job didn’t).  So I started to feel that “betting on God” was okay.

Unlike a casino, God doesn’t want to take from us; rather, God wants to give to us and He wants us to all be winners.  All that is asked in return is for us to live a life of faith in God.

Instead of putting your trust and hopes in a bet you might make in a slot machine, place your hopes and trust in God.  Through our faith in God, God gives us the strength to persevere to become what it is in our life that we want to become.

Bet on God and let Him help you become a winner.