the house always wins

English

Proverb

the house always wins

1. In a casino, all gambling is designed so that the house (i.e. the casino owners) will always net a profit, regardless of the successes of individual patrons.

   Don't go to that casino. All their games are designed to make you lose more money than you earn, so that the house always wins.

2. (by extension) Any economic system is designed to net a profit for the capital holders.

   The more we sell in our shop, the more profit for all of us. Our customers will be happy, but the house always wins.

   • 2021 February 3, Farhad Manjoo, “Can We Please Stop Talking About Stocks, Please?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The Reddit amateurs may be gloating about their victory over elite hedge funds now, but in the casino of Wall Street the house always wins, and many Redditors may be flirting with financial catastrophe.

3. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (by extension) A usually unpleasant scenario that is inevitable in the long run and that hopelessly cannot be overcome in the end, regardless of various actions attempting to mitigate or delay it in the short term.