Teaching resources for Maths
Using the concepts of odds, risk, and probability these 20 lessons and two assessment tasks teach students the mechanics behind the different types of gambling and the difficulty of predicting outcomes.
Stage 4 lesson plans
There are four lessons for Stage 4 Maths:
Lesson 1: Introduction to games of chance.
Students explore basic probability by playing games of chance and will investigate how the gambling industry applies this knowledge to create a profit.
Lesson 2: The wide wide world of sports betting.
Students will learn the difference between perfectly predictable events and less certain events and how bookmakers create odds to guarantee a profit.
Lesson 3: Can you beat the system?
Students will calculate the average expected value of losses on a roulette wheel over time, use these values to analyse the cost of gambling on these games, study the flaws in the betting system and will reflect on gambling behaviour.
Lesson 4: Prediction vs. reality.
Students will learn about randomness by using a coin toss and recording their observations.
Stage 5 lesson plans
There are six lessons and two assessment tasks for Stage 5 Maths:
Students play a simple lottery game, analyse their odds of winning and how this influences the decisions they made.
To change perceptions of gambling losses, students compare the average persons losses to other average household purchases and then explore how this money could be more profitably invested over time.
Using simulations students explore how poker machines work and see how losses can accumulate over time. For this lesson, please also download the appendix.
Appendix A, Poker machine stimulation.
With a focus on sports betting, students will explore in more detail how bookmakers set odds and how they are determined to make a profit.
Students create their own video game concept with loot boxes. They will then calculate the probability of obtaining all unique items for a complete set.
Lesson 6: Counter-intuitive probability.
Assessment task 1: Chuck-a-Luck.
Using the game Chuck-a-Luck, students will calculate the probabilities of each betting option and their expected values.
Assessment task 2: Non-transitive dice.
Students explore the outcomes of a set of non-transitive dice using probability tree diagrams and discover their unique features.
Stage 6 lesson plans
There are ten lessons for Stage 6 Maths:
Students define a problem, construct a mathematical model to run trials to collect data to compare reality and probability and then consider what lessons from the Monty Hall problem can be generalised to other gambling behaviours.
Lesson 2: Easter Show games of chance.
Students calculate the probability of an average person scoring a shot at a basketball game and then use these probabilities to design a payout system, that can absorb losses from big wins and profits from players who pay poorly.
Lesson 3: Casino games - Roulette and Keno.
Students analyse how the operators of lottery type games have arranged payouts so that they are always making a profit.
Students simulate a lottery, and perform combinatorics calculations to determine the small probability of the exact numbers being drawn.
Lesson 5: How does gambling on the races work?
This lesson shows students how easy it is to get swept up in the excitement of a race and how bookmakers are always making a profit.
Lesson 6: Poker machines.
Lesson 7: Two-up - The fairest game of all?
Students review the history and mathematics of the game and explore why it is fair.
Students will generate their own random numbers, test their randomness and by using binomial probability and normal distribution they will test if gambling machines using random numbers are operating correctly.
Students will calculate both the payout and the odds for various multi-bets showing how an increased payout does not match the probability of a big bet.
Students will take ownership of a gambling organisation, look at long term statistics of sporting matches to set initial odds and then monitor live betting to adjust the odds they are offering gamblers.
Having a conversation with a child
or teenager about gambling may
seem difficult, but it’s an important
discussion to have.
Learn more about talking to young
people about gambling.
