Horizon
Season 41 Episode 15 - Making Millions the Easy Way
In the mid-1990s, a team of American science students took on the might of the Las Vegas casinos, and came home with millions of dollars. Hard working engineering students during the week, they became high-rolling gamblers by the weekend and proved that, in one game at least, the house doesn't always win. The game was blackjack, and the students were from the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Their audacious winnings marked the climax of an arms race between casino and player that began 40 years earlier with maths professor Edward Thorp. He realised that the one feature of blackjack that made it different from other casino games also made it possible to beat. In most gambling games - roulette, dice, slot machines, the lottery - events in the past do not determine the future. The odds are the same on every roll of the dice or spin of the wheel. Winning streaks or losing streaks may occur, but they are only one possible result from the set of all possible outcomes. A fair coin that has shown heads ten times, still only has a 50% chance of showing heads on the next flip. Casinos and bookmakers make certain that the odds are always stacked slightly in their favour. In other words, over time, the house will always win.
Episodes in Season 41
The Demonic Ape
60 min
The Moscow Theatre Siege
60 min
The Atkins Diet
60 min
Secrets of the Star Disc
60 min
The Dark Secret of Hendrik Schön
60 min
Thalidomide - A Second Chance?
60 min
Diamond Labs
60 min
T-Rex - Warrior or Wimp?
60 min
Project Poltergeist
60 min
The Truth of Troy
60 min
The Truth About Vitamins
60 min
King Solomon's Tablet of Stone
60 min
Derek Tastes of Earwax
60 min
What Really Killed the Dinosaurs?
60 min
Making Millions the Easy Way
60 min
Saturn - Lord of the Rings
60 min
The Hunt for the Supertwister
60 min
Dr Money and the Boy with No Penis
60 min
