🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Aug7.152214.28035@awdprime.austin.ibm.com> root@control.austin.ibm.com (/999999) writes:
>
> <my mis-spellings deleted >
> Ok, if you are a gambler YOUR JOB is to choose games whose odds are in your
> favour ! The good gamblers (I would include speculators and businessman) spend
> a great deal of time figuring just what game to pick !!!
> If you don't follow this, you MAY NOT be a gambler, you MAY only be a looser !
> My father played the lottery in Hungary, the one of the few games accessable 
> to him besides the ponies(horse racing) and footbal-pool (soccer betting). 
> I can't and won't blame HIM for doing this, due to HIS LACK OF CHOICE! 
> The point is this; in the U.S. we have a great variety of gaming choices, 
> if you choose the worst odds it is your prorogative, but saying that is is the 
> educational systems's fault is utter nonsense !  
> You are hereby invited to the rec.gambling forum, you will find it educational.
> Good luck.
> AMN

(kind of long winded - hit 'n' now if you have't been following the thread)

Whoa!  You *completely* misread what I wrote.  Others were calling it an
ignorance or stupidity tax.  Then someone got on the topic of lack of 
education being basis for playing.  I was making two points.  One, that
I play because I enjoy gambling, and the lottery is the most convienent 
forum for me.  The second point was that some people justify playing as
entertainment.  I hear this same thing with the track.  Call it what it
is... gambling.  The track is the next most available means of gambling,
and it also happens to be my favorite.  I do enjoy watching and handicapping,
but if I couldn't bet, I wouldn't ever go.  If it's truly entertainment,
then people wouldn't care if they could bet or not, but truth is, 99%
of the people are like me.  No betting allowed - no go to track. :)

I'm an avid reader of rec.gambling and on the derby list.  I try and get
as much info on the games as I can and have currently been trying some
of the recommendations off the derby list.  I agree 100% with you in the
idea that you should go for the best odds, but it's seldom I get to a casino
to have so many choices.  In Texas (legally) you have the lottery and
the dog and horse tracks.  Given another 5-7 years I think casinos in
certain Texas cities are a real possibility.  Then this debate can start
up again and people can say how they do or don't support it and how they've
only spent $.50 in the slots and how it's throwing away your money and
the uneducated are the ones who hurt and ...

As a quick side note.  I think people do learn fast when it comes to gambling.
When the nearest track to me opened two years ago (Bandera Downs), I was
doing very well.  No one bought the Daily Racing Form and people would just
bet the favorites.  You'd hear all kinds of yells when the favorite came
in paying $3.00.  Now I find it much more difficult to make money there.
I see many people with the DRF, and the good horses don't go off with the
large odds like they used to.  It took the second lottery game for people to
start looking at the odds on the back.  The odds have improved with each new
game, but only for winning smaller amounts.  The first game with the worst
odds has the most wins in the thousands range.  I read that in a small article
in the paper, but I was very surprised at how many knew this as well and could
play more for what they want to win.  If they're content on winning the the
smaller amounts, then they can play the newer games, and vice versa for the
larger payoffs.  While some do just like to gamble at anything they can, most
will to flip the card over and check out the odds.

						-Tom
-- 
Okay, one more time.  This is your brain. (egg)
This is your brain on drugs. (egg in frying pan)
Any Questions?
"Yeah, can I have mine scrambled?"