Quote:
Originally Posted by Petert
I can care less one way or the other, it's your money, spend it however you want, gambling or not. Too many self righteous people as always, stop desperately trying to climb up to that moral high ground by dictating how people entertain themselves with their own money.
Chances are, they will find something else to get addicted at and spend away anyway if it isn't gambling. Remember those good old hockey or whatever sport cards, wannabe-traders?
Like it or not, sports betting is not going away.
As a matter of fact, single betting is the best thing that can happen to Canada, the 3 games minimum was stupid and is actually designed to make you lose by forcing people to get greedy.
Just a few examples, Brazil to advance in the group stage was easy money, Bulls to win was easy money, OTT or SJ to lose was easy money, DET or COL to win was easy money, paid for a lot of my lunches back then. Would actually made more with SS back then if not because of the forced 3 games. Reputable sites like William(Mountain) existed for the longest time.
However, it's very very annoying indeed, being bombard by these ads literally non stop, to the point of cutting in during game feed, can't even avoid these with Mario's site anymore. And Cabbie does it so overboard with such a punchable face isn't helping either.
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I have some bad news for you - it is ALL designed for you to lose.
Gamblers will always start with the same refrain: "stick to the easy money bets". Sorry, there are no easy money bets. The payouts are low and the cost of the occasional upset wipes out the gains (and don't argue that isn't the case, it literally is - it is simple math). Did hockey have some weak lines at first? Sure, but quickly rectified, because THAT'S HOW MARKETS WORK - inefficiencies (easy money) attract players, bringing more money, more information, and more expertise, which squeezes out the easy returns. Only fools think they are outsmarting anyone.
Most gamblers will also tell you that they break even over time. No they don't. Why are there so many gambling sites? Because they make HUGE money. The easy money isn't betting on the Bulls, the easy money is being the house. When the spreads are that wide, only the house wins.
I remember when VLTs came out in Manitoba. I was working at an establsihment that had them, and I watched people pump money into them for hours at a time. Every person I ever discussed it with who played them, said they break even. But the government said that 95% of the money that went into the machines
stayed in the machines. Ninety five percent. And that is what I saw. I literally never saw anyone leave with cash. they would sit down with rolls or bags of loonies, and they would paly until they had none left. On an unlucky day, that might be 15 minutes. On a good day, they might be able to play for hours. But eventually they ran out of cash.
When the odds are tilted against you, the more you play, the more certain it is that you will lose. It's just math.
Someone brought up Questrade ads (which are also awful)... Questrade's entire sales proposition is lower fees. Lower fees aren't everything, but they do matter. The idea is simple: there is a cost to each transaction, so to be profitable, you have to make enough money to also cover your costs. And the higher those costs are, the more difficult that becomes.
Which brings us back to gambling, where the spreads are not large, they are cavernous. If people want to gamble, knock yourselves out - have fun. But don't pretend - or preach - that there is easy money to be made.
I don't care if people gamble - I enjoy it personally, as a recreation. But I cannot stand all these ads, and I hate what it is doing to sports. I stopped watching NFL when the game became less important than fantasy football. And if this trend continues with hockey, I will probably be done with it as well.
And bombarding children with it is disgusting at best, if not borderline criminal. And yeah, those segments with Gabby are horrific, skin-crawlingly bad. But when the guys like Elliot start talking odds, that is way too far. That has to stop.