Since Friday is TGIF day, the day when people make a mad dash to head off to one place or another, I thought I'd introduce a new Friday Feature that I will continue doing until I get bored or run out of stuff to say.
The Friday feature will be gambling. Every Friday, I will post information about some gambling-type activity. It might be a casino game, it might be a betting opportunity, it might be a "con" game or a street hustle, and it even might be a no-cost gamble, like game shows. Every Friday, I'll post about one type of gambling activity or another, and clue you in to a few things they may not mention in the helpful info for potential gamblers that's provided in the rooms in Vegas.
Why gambling? Because this is a blog about solving financial problems, and there are still a large number of people who think that gambling is their only hope to solve their financial problems.
In reality, they're taking the very money that could potentially get them out of debt--that little bit of extra money each month that could start them on the road to financial freedom--and handing it over to somebody else. A casino, a street hustler, or the state government.
I'm going to be preachy. I'm not going to argue that gambling is a sin. I'm going to try to shed some light into those darker corners the casinos keep special for hiding their dirty little secrets.
I won't post about any specific game this week--I just want to say something general about gambling--something I said once before.
If you gamble, you're probably not doing it to make money, even if you think you are. If it were really about money, you would have given it up after you realized it wasn't making you any.
There's probably some perfectly normal and acceptable craving that gambling fulfills. You might crave risk-taking. You might enjoy the little thrill you get from seeing a strategy you used work at the blackjack table. You might enjoy the endorphins that naturally flow when you put some stress on yourself and take a chance.
So all I'm asking you to think about is whether there might be some other way that you could fulfill that need that didn't consist of--in essence--handing your money over to somebody and then waving goodbye to him.
1 comment:
I've found that "play money" gambling is just as fun and costs no money.
You're right - it's not the money that gets me to play. It's the love of card games. If there was "pretend Vegas", I would dub it Heaven and move there.
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