Gambling in Macau

Gambling in Macau has been legal since the 1850s when the Portuguese government legalized the activity in the autonomous colony. Since then, Macau has become known worldwide as the "Gambling capital of the world" or "Monte Carlo of the East."

Sic Bo
Sic Bo (骰寶) is an ancient Chinese game of chance played with three dice, which is popular in Asia and widely played in casinos in Macau. It was introduced to the United States by Chinese immigrants in the early 20th century and can now be found in most American casinos.

The Expected Value in Gambling
The expected value of a discrete random variable is the sum of each possible outcome in an experiment multiplied by the probability of its occurrence. In other words, the expected value is like repeating a random trial many times under the same chance and finding the average result of all possible states.

If the expected value is a positive number, it means that one can make money in the long run. However, if it is a negative number, the longer one plays, the more unfavorable it becomes. As the casino sets positive expectations, gamblers themselves have negative expectations, and hence, they are always at a disadvantage.

Artwork Concept
The artwork concept explores the psychology of gamblers in casinos by using multimedia. Under the casino's expected value, each game has a statistical probability against a player's winning. Therefore, gamblers can never win in the long run. Nevertheless, many gamblers believe that they can develop a system to win at gambling, making it a terribly addictive activity. These psychological processes often work to increase that addiction.

P.S. Some details of the artwork
1. Since photography is prohibited in casinos, I recorded the sound as the background music of the artwork.

2. Use Morse code to imitate the heartbeat of a gambler during the game :
In Morse code :
--. .- -- -... .-.. .. -. --. / - .... . / ... ..- .-. . / .-- .- -.-- / --- ..-. / --. . - - .. -. --. / -. --- - .... .. -. --. / ..-. --- .-. / ... --- -- . - .... .. -. --. .-.-.- / - .... . / ... --- -. / --- ..-. / .- ...- .- .-. .. -.-. . / .- -. -.. / - .... . / ..-. .- - .... . .-. / --- ..-. / -.. . ... .--. .- .. .-. .-.-.-

3. The artwork shows the expected value hidden in the table game. (e.g., the expected value of “Dice Combinations”)

澳門博彩業
自葡國政府將自治殖民地的活動合法化以來，博彩業在澳門一直都是合法的，因此也有「世界博彩之都」或「東方蒙地卡羅」之稱。

骰寶
骰寶是一種起源於中國古代，利用三個骰子進行的博彩遊戲。流行於亞洲地區，於澳門賭場更是常見。 20 世紀初骰寶從中國引入到美國，現可見於大部分的美國賭場。

博彩中的期望值
離散隨機變量的期望值是實驗中每個可能結果的總和乘以其結果的概率。換句話說，期望值就像是在相同機會下重複多次的隨機試驗，所有這些可能狀態而得出的平均結果。因此若然位處期望值正數的一方，長久下來總會獲利。反之，位處期望值負數的一方，時間越長對玩家來說越趨不利。面對賭場設下的傾側期望值，賭徒方的期望值總是為負，這就是玩家總是處於劣勢的原因。

創作概念
利用數碼藝術手法，嘗試模擬賭徒在博奕中的心理。在賭場的期望值下，每場賭局都有一個概率來對抗我們的獲勝，因此從長遠來看賭徒幾乎可不能贏。然而很多玩家總堅信自己能夠設計出一個系統或法則來獲利，使賭博非常容易上癮。

關於作品的細節：

1. 錄下了賭場裏博弈的聲音，並剪攝成錄像的背景音樂。

2. 作品使用摩斯密碼，摩斯密碼的原句：

--。 .- -- -... .-.. .. -. --. / - .... / ... ..- .-. . / .-- .- -.-- / --- ..-. / --. . - - .. -. --. / -。 --- - .... .. -. --. / ..-. --- .-. / ... --- 。 - .... .. -. --. .-.-.- / - .... / ... --- -。 / --- ..-. / .- ...- .- .-. .. -.-. . / .- -。 -.. / - .... / ..-. .- - .... .-. / --- ..-. / -... ... .--. .- .. .-. .-.-.-

3. 作品中閃爍的運算，是藏在骰寶賭博中的各種期望值（玩家一方）。