swings and roundabouts

swings and roundabouts pl (plural only)

1. (Britain, Ireland) Gains and losses that offset each other.

   If, in order to save money, you never buy a parking ticket, you are more likely to get fined, so it's all swings and roundabouts really.

   Whether we pick up Mary first and then John or John first and then Mary is a matter of swings and roundabouts.

• what you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts
• what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts

• snakes and ladders