Do you gamble?

As I was driving home yesterday, I noticed a new billboard for a casino about a half hour away and it got me thinking. My first gambling encounter was at a horse track when I was about 8. I was spending a Saturday afternoon at a friend's house when her mom was called in to work. Her dad had promised to meet a friend at the race track, so he brought us along. 

We went into a smoky room with lots of people and he gave us each $2. We bet on the horses whose names we liked best. My horse did well and I made $6! I remember being so excited. My friend earned $1 from her bet. She picked a horse for the next round and then asked for my pick. 

I was so confused. I had just won $6! C'mon, I could buy SIX packs of Lisa Frank stickers with that money! But my friend was betting again, so I did too. And kept betting, until neither of us had any money left. Bummer. 

My second go round was when my husband took me to a casino the week after my 21st birthday. We played some penny slots, had a few (overpriced) drinks, and watched some table games. It was an enjoyable evening, especially the people watching. Mr. G even played a round of electronic blackjack and won $20! Which he lost in the next two rounds, haha.

So I can at least say I've experienced a few kinds of gambling (although I've never bought a lottery ticket), and I think I'm satisfied to leave it at that. My parents aren't gamblers, so maybe that's why I'm not either? I think I'm just a low-risk kind of person . . I'd rather not take the risk of losing money :)

Do you gamble?

Comments

  1. Not a gambler. Don't understand how people can become addicted to it. I can place a bet for a bit of fun, and have gone to the races a number of times, but it is a form of entertainment, like going for an afternoon of drinks, and when my budget for the outing is gone, no more can be spent. I have been a couple of times to a casino but can't see myself going back as I found it quie boring. Noisy, not conducive to conversation, anti-social.

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    1. Yeah, I didn't enjoy the casino atmosphere much either. I like your budget idea - we should do that before we go out for drinks!

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  2. I've never gambled... Well... actually once I played the penny slots in LasVegas when we where driving through. I made a nickle!

    I do think that I should start buying lottery tickets though, but not because I want to win. In Colorado all of the lottery proceeds go to support open space, state parks, wildlife preserves and other outdoor projects including the greenway project which builds bike trails and parks along all of Metro Denver's streams, rivers and creeks. Since I ADORE the greenway, and spend many hours each week enjoying the bike trails, I keep thinking that I should buy a lottery ticket now and then to help support it.

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    1. In New Mexico our lottery proceeds to go to fund scholarships for college. If you graduate from high school in NM, you can attend a public school in NM for free on the lottery scholarship.

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    2. Buying a lottery ticket to support green spaces sounds like a good reason to me :) Lottery sales support education and public safety around here - also good causes in my mind.

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  3. I don't gamble. I think it has something to do with my practical Midwestern upbringing...
    One time on a long drive from Oregon back to New Mexico we stopped at hotel somewhere in Nevada. It was an old place on a mainstreet, and it had a casino on the first floor. They gave us tickets for free margaritas at the bar and we couldn't pass that up. Elsa, our little dog, was with us, and she couldn't be alone in the hotel room so she sat on a stool at the bar between us. No one said a thing about it. There were machines on the actual bar so as you sat there you could gamble. We tried it and let Elsa push the buttons. She lost every time, but we made our money back on the way out when Andrew tried a slot machine. It was such a weird experience and a weird place.

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    1. What a cool story! The thought of a dog sitting on a bar stool cracks me up :)

      I'm wishing I'd graduated from high school in New Mexico now - is everyone eligible for a free college education?

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  4. Not a gambler at all...I think it requires a certain risk-taking mindset which I don't have! I have a strange attitude toward lotteries. I feel that if I wish for extremely rare things to happen to me, such as winning the big bucks lottery, then I am also inviting other extremely rare things to happen to me, such as being struck by lightning!

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    1. I've never thought of it that way before . . and I definitely don't like to feel I'm tempting fate!

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  5. I was first taken to a casino at 16 (underage). Lots of people in my extended family enjoyed a bet...happily, it's put me off for life! It's lovely that in some places the Lotto pool goes to such good causes. I think where we live it just becomes part of the prize pool.

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    1. I agree, it is nice that the money is donated . . I always assumed the lottery sales money went into the winner's pot.

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  6. Very topical - we just had Melbourne Cup Day - the race that stops the nation (horses). I put in some money in the sweep, but more to have a reason to watch it (cause otherwise I couldn't care!).

    Generally I think gambling is like the saying 'taxes for the poor and stupid'! My mother occasionally buys us scratchies (those scratch lotto tickets) as gifts, it's more fun us all wondering and scratching together I think! I'd certainly never think to buy any with my money!

    That being said, I've worked out that ticket selling for raffles etc isn't about odds or winning, it's about fundraising, so I always try to give willingly (and often try NOT to get the tickets, so I don't win some gaff I don't need and will need to move on from my home pronto). Which reminds me, I should take this time to do a spot of decluttering!

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    1. I hadn't thought of raffles - we enter those when attend charity events. And I like your idea to just give money and refuse the tickets, I'd never of thought to do that!

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