When the casino becomes the refuge of the poor rather the playground of the rich

[Blobbenstein]

there was a clever play about gambling I heard years ago. I guy gets an anonymous letter through the post saying that a specific horse is going to win a race, and later the horse wins. He then gets a second letter saying that another horse is going to win, and then it does, after this letter or similar letters he gets a letter saying that to get the name of the next horse to win the guy should send a large amount of money to the letter sender.
The clever bit is that the letter sender had been sending out letters to hundreds of people with all the horses that were running, and if the horse lost he would send no more letters to that person, only to the the people where the horse he named won....clever con, I thought.

 

[Clueless Git]

....clever con, I thought.

Clever enough that I am seriously regretting having too much of a conscience to do it.

 

[shyvas]

You were thinking £3.50 per bet, maybe?

If so, no so.

That kind of tourney; Everyone pays £3.50 for 1500 chips and when they're gone your out.

£3.50 is the absolute maximum it can actualy cost to play any one game.

Does a gambler stick to only one game ?

 

[Ann Chovie]

My uncle had a gambling addiction and he worked as a croupier for a while but I'm not sure if that sparked his interest or he chose the job because of his addiction. He is dead now but he was very gifted in Maths as a student.

We have a volunteer at work now in his seventies who worked on cruise ships most of his working life. He told me he did various jobs but managed to work his way into the casino because that was where the real money was he eventually got to be "head croupier and told me that in the 1992 when he left he was already on over £75,000 per year and has a pension which is still paying him £30 grand a year.
He told me that he lived the high life and spent money like water but he never spent any of it in the casino.he said that was for mugs.

 

[Moll Flanders]

We have a volunteer at work now in his seventies who worked on cruise ships most of his working life. He told me he did various jobs but managed to work his way into the casino because that was where the real money was he eventually got to be "head croupier and told me that in the 1992 when he left he was already on over £75,000 per year and has a pension which is still paying him £30 grand a year.
He told me that he lived the high life and spent money like water but he never spent any of it in the casino.he said that was for mugs.

Well addictions aren't discriminatory, but thanks for implying my dead uncle was a mug because he had an addiction, I appreciate that.

 

[Clueless Git]

Does a gambler stick to only one game ?

I genuinely don't know the answer to that one.

Personaly I do play only one type of gambling game; Texas Hold'em poker.

I rather suspect that my 'expect to lose but get the most fun I can for my money' strategy makes me NOT a typical gambler though.

 

[shyvas]

I genuinely don't know the answer to that one.

Personaly I do play only one type of gambling game; Texas Hold'em poker.

I rather suspect that my 'expect to lose but get the most fun I can for my money' strategy makes me NOT a typical gambler though.

So you do live up to your user name, Clueless ?

I buy a €2 Euro Million lottery ticket every week, so I guess that I'm also a gambler ?

 

[Clueless Git]

So you do live up to your user name, Clueless ?

Having a user name that may lead people to think your a klutz often pays off dividends.

That is all I am saying!

I buy a €2 Euro Million lottery ticket every week, so I guess that I'm also a gambler ?

You might just be a calculated odds speculator, Shyvas.

The odds may be massively against, but ...

Speculating an amount that makes no difference whatsover to your life against a possible return that would radicaly change it forever is not entirely without logic?

 

[yakherder]

Does it have to be either/or? I saw plenty of both when I worked at Mandalay Bay. Yeah, there were plenty of broke people pawning off their cars and houses because they were sure they were going to get that jackpot. There were also plenty of oil billionaires staying in $30,000 per night rooms and dropping thousand dollar tips at the fancy restaurants like it was nothing.

 

[thefadedone]

My uncle had a gambling addiction and he worked as a croupier for a while but I'm not sure if that sparked his interest or he chose the job because of his addiction. He is dead now but he was very gifted in Maths as a student. My husband was addicted to fruit machines for a couple of years when he was younger. I think it is more common a problem than people generally hear about.



I am not against gambling in principle and probably would go a night out like that, just for entertainment as you said.

No doubt. I think it's an addiction that is well hidden compared to other addictions. Plus there is a lot of shame and judgement surrounding this sort of addiction.

 

[yakherder]

I always thought it actually seemed less rational for rich people. I'd like to think the desire to gamble demonstrates an inability to adhere to long term plans in favor of trying to look for a quick fix, something that would not come as a surprise among those who are perpetually broke, but many of the rich people you see dumping money into the dollar slots are clearly very successful and make rational plans decades in advance. I lived in Vegas for quite a while and never dumped a single coin into gambling. It just never made sense to me.

Lottery I don't think of as being quite the same as casino style gambling. Lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math.

 

[Blobbenstein]

Lottery I don't think of as being quite the same as casino style gambling. Lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math.

would you say the person who one a ten million jackpot was bad at maths, necessarily?

 

[beancounter]

would you say the person who one a ten million jackpot was bad at maths, necessarily?

6 slots with 40 non repeating numbers:
The odds against winning are 1 in 2,763,633,600. The person who wins a jackpot is just extremely lucky. Nothing more.

 

[Blobbenstein]

yes, I know that.....

CG said it better, I think.

The odds may be massively against, but ...
Speculating an amount that makes no difference whatsover to your life against a possible return that would radicaly change it forever is not entirely without logic?

 

[beancounter]

yes, I know that.....

CG said it better, I think.

Ok, I see. It just turns my stomach when people ignore the odds. I've been in line at a convenience store where I saw a number of people (who didn't appear to have the financial means to waste money) spend hundreds of dollars on lottery tickets.

 

[Ann Chovie]

Well addictions aren't discriminatory, but thanks for implying my dead uncle was a mug because he had an addiction, I appreciate that.

So sorry Molly that's not what I meant to imply at all. I
Meant to suggest that anyone who has worked inside a casino knows how bent they are and having that information avoids them.

 

[yakherder]

If you calculate lottery purchases in terms of average return rate per dollar spent, then yes it's a very irrational decision mathematically speaking. You'd be better off throwing a few dollars on some high risk stocks for a similar type of gamble but with a much greater average return.

 

[Blobbenstein]

If you calculate lottery purchases in terms of average return rate per dollar spent, then yes it's a very irrational decision mathematically speaking. You'd be better off throwing a few dollars on some high risk stocks for a similar type of gamble but with a much greater average return.

if the lottery was run so that all the money that was put in was turned to prizes, then over millions of years the return for each dollar you spent on it would be returned. 1 for 1. I mean you wouldn't lose any money.

In the UK a big chunk is taken out for spending on causes, and some for running the thing, so a return on one pound might be 30pence, I don't know exactly.


Which is the same as 'average' return. Average return on each dollar would be around 40cents, maybe? Not bad for a chance to have a big house and car etc...

Spending more than a few quid on the lottery does seem pointless though...to me.

 

[Blobbenstein]

anyway, the maths of the lottery are that you are infinitely more likely to win millions of pounds/dollars/euros etc, if you buy a ticket than if you don't buy a ticket.

 

[Blobbenstein]

of course there is no point in using the term 'literally infinite' any more, as that could mean 100, or 1000......or any sub infinite amount.