The other night on RTE had an interesting program called The Gambling Gene. It looked at Irish people’s liking for a bet, and if we were looking for more inclined to bet on our European neighbors. Overall I thought it was pretty balanced. The presenter Joe O’Shea looked at both the problem side of gambling, but also acknowledged that gambling provides so much for entertainment. If you haven’t seen it check it out on RTE Player.
Most people know I am a bet, and they will lose that long run. They may turn out to be a winning punter or a winning one, or they may be hoping for a big win, that cancel out all their loses and more. Both of these judi casino online can happen, but the reality is that most people will bet, and end up losing punters. Why then do they bet? It’s easy. Gambling provides entertainment and should be treated as an expense, the same as going to the cinema. We know the cost of going to the cinema but how much does gambling cost us?
Because luck plays such a short term part of betting, it can be hard to put on an expense. If we go to the cinema we know the cost of the ticket, popcorn etc … but in gambling we may win € 100 one week and lose € 120 the next, lose € 400 one month but win € 350 the next. If you keep records of all your bets, then a period of a year, you have a rough, but not exact measure of the cost. Most fun bettors don’t want the hassle of adding up every penny they’ve bet. Where’s the fun in that?
Instead of adding up to a time consuming process over an extended period of time, why not use some cost savings as well as gambling on entertainment costs. If you have an idea of the sport on your betting, and more than any crazy over-rounds at betting, I would suggest investing in a 10% loss on most people. Bookmakers with big prices at your betting may be slightly higher, but you should find better prices for Betfair or Betdaq.
So if 10% is a reasonable estimate of most punters loses, how does that help us measure the cost of entertainment? Its quite simple really. If your betting is € 10 the cost is 10% of that, which is € 1, and if your betting is € 100 the entertainment cost of the bet is € 10. Yes sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose, but overall your loses will level roughly 10% of what you stake. Some people will do better, especially if their reasonably selective, while punters are going to have two flies going up a wall, will probably lose more.
Your average punter will probably be € 50- € 100 on a weekend. So his entertainment cost would be amb 5 to € 10 per week gambling. One trip to the cinema with his girlfriend will set him back for more. That goes vice versa girls, before I get any sexist accusations! The € 100 a weekend punter can still lose all his bets in a few weeks in a row, so it may only cost them € 10 a week in the long term .
In Betting Discipline – Fun Bets and the Inevitable Losing Runs I state that you shouldn’t have fun beats if you want to win money. You shouldn’t, or at least you shouldn’t, count them as part of your normal bets. You should count them as a fun expense, just like you would have a nice meal out with your loved one. I have fun bets. Another major, I think, is the Grand Slam finals of Andy Murray, and I have been known to have friends with a few drinks during the races.
Once you can afford to lose, with the money you gamble, there is no reason not to use the 10% figure if the entertainment is worth it. Would you rather have a € 10 bottle of wine, or a share of € 100 spreads over a match? Will the highs and lows, the excitement when you win, the despair, when your team ships a late equalizer, the bottle of wine that is missing for compensation? For many it will, and society shouldn’t be getting a kick out of getting on the frontier. After all us gamblers do not go out of our way to make little money, but we all know whose wasting their money now, don’t we?
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