Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) the losing end, the bad side of a deal or situation; by ext. the unfavoured option in a bet on sport; thus short-ender, a contestant who is expected to lose.

1896		Ade Artie (1963) 64: That’s why he wants to stay in, too—so as the tax-payers won’t get the short end of it.
1905		J. London Game 🌐 n.p.: How much money you got? I’m layin’ ten to six. Will you take the short end?
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 54: Don’t slough off until after you get a bet on Britt. He’s the best short end I ever saw.
1915		Van Loan ‘The Spotted Sheep’ in Taking the Count 103: I can get him a match with a man where he’ll be a short-ender in the betting.
1917		F. Packard Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1918) I vi: Youse have given me de short end every time we’ve pulled a deal!
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 71: He put his Ear to the Ground and heard the imaginary Cry for Help from thousands of lowly Plebes who were getting the short end of every Divvy.
1923		N. Anderson Hobo 248: As a group the migratory workers usually get the ‘short end’ of every bargain they drive with organized society.
1930		W.R. Burnett Iron Man 258: ‘They tell me Riley likes the Rattler.’ ‘He wants the short end,’ said Mandl, laughing.
1938		W. Winchell On Broadway 13 Dec. [synd. col.] The wisenheimers are taking the four short-enders: If one wins, the bettor gets an even break.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 16: He [...] crossed the wise money by going in on the short end of 10-1 to win the welterweight title.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 193/1: Short end. A relatively small share of loot given to participants having less than a full partnership status in a gang.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 89: Each time he was sloughed off with the short end of the goodies his place in the group was clearly defined.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 171: The gangster gets the short end.