questions
If the Vegas bookies had given odds on those likely to survive the Visitors Day catastrophe,those on Sam Verdreaux would have been a thousand to one. But longer odds have been beaten—it’s what keeps bringing people back to the tables—and Sam was the figure Julia had spotted laboring along Black Ridge Road shortly before the expatriates ran for the vehicles at the farmhouse.

Question 1: give odds on == lay odds on == make a bet on?

Question 2: In “those on Sam...”, does those refer to “those bookies”?

Question 3: Does “those on Sam Verdreaux would have been a thousand to one.” mean that “those on Sam Verdreaux would have won thousand times the amount of money that has been bet by them.”?

Question 4: Does “longer odds” mean “higher odds”?

Question 5: In this case, is “beaten” equivalent to “offered”? If not, what’s the meaning of it?Question 6: Does "longer odds have been beaten" mean that the gamblers have won more than thousand times the amount of money that has been bet by themselves (longer odds means odds or bets MORE THAN a thousand to one) ?

Question

questions
If the Vegas bookies had given odds on those likely to survive the Visitors Day catastrophe,those on Sam Verdreaux would have been a thousand to one. But longer odds have been beaten—it’s what keeps bringing people back to the tables—and Sam was the figure Julia had spotted laboring along Black Ridge Road shortly before the expatriates ran for the vehicles at the farmhouse.

Question 1: give odds on == lay odds on == make a bet on?

Question 2: In “those on Sam...”, does those refer to “those bookies”?

Question 3: Does “those on Sam Verdreaux would have been a thousand to one.” mean that “those on Sam Verdreaux would have won thousand times the amount of money that has been bet by them.”?

Question 4: Does “longer odds” mean “higher odds”?

Question 5: In this case, is “beaten” equivalent to “offered”? If not, what’s the meaning of it?Question 6: Does "longer odds have been beaten" mean that the gamblers have won more than thousand times the amount of money that has been bet by themselves (longer odds means odds or bets MORE THAN a thousand to one) ?

Answer

Q1  No. 'Give odds' means calculate a likelihood in numerical terms, for example 'ten to one'. Bookies are bookmakers, who are the people or organisations who TAKE, not make the bets.

Q2 No. It refers to 'odds'.

Q3  It means that it's unlikely he would have survived. He would have been a thousand times more likely not to have survived than to have survived.

Q4  Longer odds means even less likely.

Q5  No. If you beat the odds, it means that you do the unexpected - like when a horse with long odds ends up winning the race. Here is means surviving, in spite of the long odds. As the text says, this is what makes people carry on gambling - the chance of beating the odds and winning a fortune.