# Roulette wheel probability question [closed]

A roulette wheel has $21$ red numbers, $21$ black numbers, and $4$ zeros. A player places $20$ dollar bets on the red numbers. If the roulette spins a red number, the player get his $20$ dollars back, and wins another $20$ dollars. If the roulette does not spin a red number, the player loses his bet. The player sits down with $40$ dollars, and keeps on playing until he has no more money. How many spins can he expect to be able to play until he has no more money?

## closed as off-topic by Namaste, JMoravitz, José Carlos Santos, Davide Giraudo, Siong Thye GohAug 17 '17 at 17:20

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He will win \$$20 with probability 21/(21+21+4) and win -\$$20$(that is, lose \$$20) with proability (21+4)/(21+21+4). Therefore his expected winnings per round is:$$ E:=20\left(\frac{21}{21+21+4}\right) - 20\left(\frac{21+4}{21+21+4}\right) = -\frac{80}{46} = -\frac{40}{23}. $$Given that he starts with \$$40$, this means that he can expect to play $40/(-E)=23$ rounds.
• I think you'll find that if you don't round in the first step that you'll get an answer of exactly $23$. – JMoravitz Aug 17 '17 at 17:31