I sadly watched as one of my former teammates lost everything in his life to a terrible sports gambling addiction.
Betting spreads is particularly a killer. No gambling on sports for me.

(10-13-2022 08:35 AM)BSKB 24 Wrote:  I sadly watched as one of my former teammates lost everything in his life to a terrible sports gambling addiction.
Betting spreads is particularly a killer. No gambling on sports for me.

Yes it can be a scary thing for some people and the easy access to it now on phones makes it even worse. Lots of stories out there now of super young kids in Gamblers Anonymous.

I think gambling is fine as long as it is done in moderation which is why I put a certain amount in and go from there. I used to be a much bigger gambler in casinos back in the day and lost plenty of money, but it was always money that I could afford to lose. Rarely go to a casino these days as I don't really find it fun anymore.

There are certain people that just can't handle gambling and become compulsive and it is sad. I know someone whose friend had a hugely successful restaurant business and lost everything plus some to a gambling addiction.

I enjoy it from the comparative rankings, biases, and analytics perspective. Purely recreational/beer money for me. (Though I track everything in the Action App, and I'm actually up 14.75u on college football all-time with a 310-292-2 record!)

(10-13-2022 04:54 AM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(10-12-2022 09:17 PM)DirtyDukes Wrote:  

(10-12-2022 08:08 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  

(10-12-2022 03:50 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  those who say they win at sports wagering are lying. The more you bet, the more likely you are eventually 50/50 just like flipping a coin. And Vegas gets the 10% juice.

Lol this is extremely incorrect.

Yep. I think i'm up $5k since it was legal in VA, and I haven't bet this year at all really. Also people like Chase Kiddy do it for a living.

No doubt there are winners and losers in many forms of gambling. A handful of poker players certainly do well, and my girlfriend made easy low stakes money off some vegas poker players on occasion because she understood the game better than they did.

Chase works for the house (mgm) though, right? Are you saying he makes a large portion of his income from wagering? Brian Mac went to mgm also, I figured that was because they bought out Hero sports and wanted the eyeballs and traffic.

I know he used to - he may have had to stop once he got that job. But I think a large portion of what he does is give people picks, which he is at least representing as having an interest himself in, so I'm assuming he's actually placing those bets? Maybe not with the house he works for? I dunno, but the money i'm up is entirely due to just mirroring his picks.

(10-13-2022 08:35 AM)BSKB 24 Wrote:  I sadly watched as one of my former teammates lost everything in his life to a terrible sports gambling addiction.
Betting spreads is particularly a killer. No gambling on sports for me.

Just cornhole? Did you ever pay me on that bet!

(10-14-2022 08:31 AM)DirtyDukes Wrote:  

(10-13-2022 08:35 AM)BSKB 24 Wrote:  I sadly watched as one of my former teammates lost everything in his life to a terrible sports gambling addiction.
Betting spreads is particularly a killer. No gambling on sports for me.

Just cornhole? Did you ever pay me on that bet!

I demand a rematch!

I don't bet on sports. I think that, just like poker, money can be made at it by leveraging the biases of others. BUT you have to do a lot of homework, keep an eye out for mistakes, and keep your head. It's a full-time job, and I already have one of those. I suspect that, especially over the last few years as there's an explosion of platforms and new gamblers, there are a lot of easy pickups on small-volume plays (W&M vs. Richmond or something) where the line may just be out of whack because a couple of dumb trust-fund kids put $10,000 on Richmond (which being dumb and rich is how they wound up going to Richmond) or something, so you can take the other side of the bet. But again, you have to catch those "mistakes", play them (still lose sometimes) and do so in enough volume, then eventually those guys will go away and you'll be back where you started. Meh.

I like to play blackjack - at a $5 table, you're going to lose about $10/hr, and that's the same as going to a movie, and it's fun and they bring you drinks, so it's a worthwhile entertainment proposition.

Yeah I think poker is a pretty good comparison. It takes a lot of time and knowledge to be really good at it or even pretty good at it but it's not like it's the lottery or roulette where there's nothing but luck and you aren't going to profit in the long run. It's also similar to poker in that a lot of people who think they really know what they're doing absolutely do not.

One big difference is that with sports betting you have the option to pay a subscription to someone else who does all the work and has all the knowledge so you don't have to fully put in the work yourself. I've never done it myself but I know there are good ones out there, but also that you'd have to be careful which ones you trust.

Poker is more my thing, overall I've averaged making a little over $80 an hour playing cash game at casinos. I'd love to make a living off of it, maybe I'll give it a shot sometime but you'd have to feel comfortable with the ability to have bad streaks and get through times where you aren't making any money knowing it'll work itself out in the long run. I also feel I'm a better tournament player than cash game but making real and consistent money in tournaments takes even more ability to weather a drought and more startup money.

My money is set on fire 'gambling' in the stock market. I can't afford to bet on sports!

Update: I don't think we're going to cover the spread this weekend.

(10-14-2022 04:27 PM)DooX Wrote:  My money is set on fire 'gambling' in the stock market. I can't afford to bet on sports!

Sure, there is a gambling component, but there are a lot of other factors there.
First, there's no built-in house edge. There are transactional costs, sure, but they're low.
Second, those numbers do, pretty reliably, move up over time.
Third, with some experience, irrational circumstances become rather apparent, and you can avoid them.
Fourth, you're fundamentally buying a piece of a business that makes money. For instance, you can buy a share of a REIT (real estate investment trust) that is an apartment complex or warehouse or whatever, and those make money. Once all the management costs are accounted for, you get a share of the profit, pretty reliably. Or you can buy Proctor & Gamble, which is a damned boring company, but they make money and return it to you in dividends. You can call that gambling, but it's decidedly more reliable than betting on Clemson. It's the people who invest in tiny start-ups assuming they'll grow 10x/yr and retire on a $1000 investment who are gambling.

(10-14-2022 04:27 PM)DooX Wrote:  My money is set on fire 'gambling' in the stock market. I can't afford to bet on sports!

I prefer Vegas to the stock market. The result is the same, but at least I get free drinks in Vegas.

JMU opens at -12 over Marshall with a total of 54.5

This thread makes me wonder how many fans got emotional about the outcome because they had a stake in the GS game.

(10-16-2022 06:35 PM)Bill Wrote:  JMU opens at -12 over Marshall with a total of 54.5

I would feel pretty good about JMU covering as they should be fired up for so many reasons.
The over on points total seems pretty likely.

(10-16-2022 09:44 PM)JMURocks Wrote:  This thread makes me wonder how many fans got emotional about the outcome because they had a stake in the GS game.

I was repeatedly offering the football gods a loss on my $50 cover in exchange for a 1 point victory.