Gambling for Fun and Profit

There are people who gamble.

I put them in three groups - Profit, fun and In-the-moment.

The gamblers for profit play the machines or the TAB and their external intent is to win. They seriously believe that they can win more than they invest in this game. OK. There may be the odd one or two who can make money on this game, especially where they have more information, such as betting on horse.

I worked with a guy who made more money from the trots than he did at work. I often "rode shotgun" for him when he went to collect his winnings from the TAB. He only bet on the trots, he knew every horse and driver backwards, he spent all his leave time from work watching the trials. He made money.

But this is rare and it is highly dedicated research, due diligence and flair that got him his profits.

Not so the usual gambler.

Now the gambler addict might be thought of as someone who is driven by winning. Not so. Winning is not the pay-off for this person. Losing is. Only that justifies the continued chasing of the lost dollars.

Then we have the funsters.

These guys, alone or often in a group, have a pre-decided kitty from which they have their flutter. They have a laugh together and they may or may not end up with a profit. Usually not. But that was the stake, they had their fun, and when it is gone it is gone. That was the more or less agreed cost of the fun.

Now the in-the-moment mob are quite different and partly mystical.

There will be 1 - 4 of them and they will drink in the sports pub and laugh and bullshit with each other. They loo kat the names of the horses or dogs and some name leaps out, relevant to what they have been joshing about. Right. $1 win/ $3 place on that one. All agreed. Amazing how often it pays.

I arrived in the pub dressed, unusually, in collarless shirt and suit. It was a Sunday. They asked, have you come from church, or how are you father.

The next race had a horse called Bless Us All, running in Hong Kong. Me and my two mates did the one on 3. It was long odds but is won. Kerchink.

I should really call it I Ching betting - it is a feature of the idea that in this moment everything in that moment is related.

Or, like any gambler, we could be fooling ourselves.

But we have a heap of fun at controlled money amounts.