Gambling For Amusement

My father was a horse trainer and since he was teaching me how to ride a horse when I was in grade school, I got to know a bit about horses and horse racing. Although I only go to the tracks to ride in the early morning I would see the bettors coming in as I leave the track after my practice ride - racing starts at 8am.

I know some of the old men who came to the racetrack to bet in horse racing. They were aged 60 and up, with grey or thinning hair and with the pen and racing guide in hand. I saw them as a picture of happiness. They say that they enjoy the thrill of watching the horses run and wishing for their bets to win. Unfortunately, gambling in horse races is not profitable. Even my father would say that. But for an old fellow who has nothing to do and has the money to spare for betting, I guess that moderate gambling is worth their time and money.

And what are we here for on earth? To enjoy life, of course.

 

I have a friend that goes to the slot machines as a form of entertainment she knows she will not make alot of money at the slot machines but it gives her something to do. I don't spend any money on gambling because I see it as a waste of money for myself, but for her it is fun. Her bills are paid, she has food and a roof over her head so if she choose to spend some on the slot machines, I only have one thing to say. Have fun.

 

There is a dark side to gambling, that is anything but amusing.

 

Never was much into gambling games like card playing. Played the slots in a casino once. Went through $75 very fast. However, I do buy lottery tickets but only a few at a time, usually.
Back in 1995 I was working for a communications company. My car was a rusty, beat up 1967 Chevy. I owed money to everyone and creditors were calling my workplace. I was told to get my affairs in order or else.

Payday came. I filled my gas tank so I could get to my job for another week or so and paid my room rent and enough bills to shut up my creditors for another week. I had $15 left. Payday was 2 weeks away. So, I bought 10 lottery tickets for a buck apiece, then made arrangements to eat at least one meal a day at my parent's house. That very Sunday morning I stopped at my parents to read the Sunday paper. On checking the lottery numbers in the paper, I nearly wet my pants. One of my tickets had all the numbers. I couldn't believe my eyes and had my dad and mom check, to be sure my eyes weren't deceiving me.

The end result was, I won $100,000. After the government took their cut I had $67,000 left. Paid off my bills, bought a new pickup and helped out some struggling family members. End of story.

I still buy a lottery ticket once in a while, but guess I used up all my luck.

 

If it wasn't for bad luck I would have no luck at all. I have never been a lucky person myself and for that reason I will gamble. I do have a crazy sort of gift though when it comes to gambling. If I dreamt of a series of numbers I could play that sequence on the lottery and never win, but if I told someone else and they played the same numbers they would hit. My brother in law was always really lucky that way. He would see a license number or an address and play the numbers and win. It was uncanny his luck.

One time I was in a convenience store and the man ahead of me wanted to buy a scratch off but was hemming and hawing over which one to choose, so I tell him choose that one and sure enough he wins $100. At Christmas I always buy each of the guys that work 5 scratch offs, no one has won big but if they ever do the agreement is lunch is on them.

I do have one strange quirk or superstition that does seem to work for me though. When I was really broke in college there would be days when I would have scrape change to get something to eat or drink. Often if you looked under the vending machines you would find a really surprising amount of coins. It never failed that I was able to manage to find enough coins to get something. I would find change on the ground, you know like a penny (see a penny pick it up thing) and I would pick it up. I started to notice that when I would find a coin good things would happen. Maybe it was just all in my head I dunno. Usually it would work like this, I would come out of the store and see a dime and pick it up. That evening going through the mail there was what I thought was junk mail and I wanted to toss it un-opened but my son said no lets look and sure enough it was a notice about some lost funds in my name. A week later I has $102 that was somehow placed in my name on a credit card way back years ago. Pretty weird, but that's my pennies from the heavens. last one was I went to Tim Horton's and when I stepped out of the car there was a ran over quarter, I picked it up and we went it. We placed our order and right after the girl hands us two coupons for free sandwiches, value about $10. Coincidence? We sat and watched, they were not giving these to ever customer it was weird.

 

I used to find money, as well as other items, such as jewelry. It seemed when I needed it, a $5, $10, or $20 would appear under my feet as I was walking. I found (I may have mentioned this here in another thread) a wallet one time, without identification in it, with just under $1,000 in it. I turned it in to the police, but no one claimed it, and a year later, I got it back. I was struggling, so it certainly helped me out. I've even won a few small prizes in games of chance. Nothing extravagant, but it was fun. I like playing slots, and have played roulette and blackjack a few times, but that's about the extent of it. I have been to dog and horse tracks years ago, and enjoyed it then, but now I don't like the idea of them having to live that way, and have heard tales of the animals being mistreated, so I don't go these days. I think like Ike, I have used up my luck, but I still buy the occasional lottery ticket, in the hopes that it will come back my way.

 

Amen Joe! I lived in and around Las Vegas for a little over 2 years and some of the things I experienced were indeed less than amusing.
A retired couple was vacationing in Vegas and hit a small jackpot. With that windfall they called their son back east and told him to pack up their stuff and ship it to them in Nevada thinking that they would never have money worries again because it was so easy to come by. Just play the one-arm-bandit and bingo.......payday. Last thing I heard they had a bus ticket sent to them by their son so they could go back to reality.

I was working north of Vegas in a restaurant and bar and it was about 1:00 a.m. when a guy came in and offered me his wife for $10.00 so they could get enough gas to get them a few more miles up the road. He had apparently already sold a trunk load of tools, a camera, and yes, his wife a couple of times. No......not to me. I called the gas station and had my friend give the guy some gas which I paid for later.

Those are just two of probably more than a hundred stories I can relate and not one of them is good.
Whether for a penny or for more, gambling is a poor choice of entertainment.

 

My wife has played lotto a number of times with absolutely no success. We've both played Scratchers at times, and did win $20 once, but the rest of the time was only a $1 or Free Ticket.

Now, when it comes to casino machines, give me the $1 slots! Wife basically sticks to the 25 cent slots. We generally will have $100 to $150 each to spend. When playing the $1 slots, I only put in $20 at a time, but have had a few good payoffs with that $20, including a $1000 one at the Hard Rock in Tampa, FL.

I remember, while at an Indian Casino in So. Calif. in 2001, I was playing a $1 slot, with the money wheel at the top. I hit "spin" with a bet, and the wheel stops on $500! We let out a "YAHOO!", and I got up and left. The people around the slot thought I was going to stay and continue playing.........well, that didn't happen! We cashed me out and headed home. The next day we bought a nice Olympus Digital Camera.
During another Indian Casino visit, my wife won $200 (playing $20) on a $1 slot. She got up and while she was cashing out, I won $200 (playing $20) on another slot. Don't remember what we done with that money.

We waited 3 months, after getting married, to have our Honeymoon. Went to Las Vegas during the Winter Copenhagen Finals held at the MGM Gardens. We both loved the sport of rodeo and I had done some roping before. We didn't have the money to go to the rodeo. That was until we stopped by the Jackpot Carousel at Circus Circus and I won $200 (again, playing a $20 bill) on a Diamonds $1 slot. We got to go to two performances of that rodeo. Now, that was very cool and a real nice Honeymoon gift for us.
We have flown to Las Vegas a few times for the NFR (National Finals Rodeo) and met up with my wife's family who would drive there from So Calif. While in New York, New York, I won $80 (from a $20) and my wife's sister was amazed. She very seldom gambles. At another casino, wife gave me a $20 to use on a $1 slot. She knew I still had money left, but wasn't winning with it. Well, I lost her $20, so put in one of my own $20's in and won $80. Gave her $40 and I kept $40.

After wife retires, we had given it some thought about moving to Las Vegas, but I talked my wife out of it. Due to the heat and casino's being so close, I wouldn't trust us not gambling most of our money away.

Yes, $1 slots can be nice to me.........most of the time anyway.

 

Gee, that's a very heartening story. You would be rich if you are here with that kind of money. I'm glad you won and you probably have another chance at the jackpot so you can keep on trying with your extra money. We also buy lotto tickets whenever we have the opportunity but we are not regular bettors.

My friend's mother is a lotto addict that she bets every day. We have 4 kinds of lotto here - 6/42, 6/45, 6/49, 6/55 and there is another new event that is 6/58. But her mother buys only 1 ticket for an event in a day and her budget is 20 pesos only, that's about 50 cents. What's thrilling for her mother is when the lotto is being raffled off at 10pm, it is live on tv. You can guess that her mother is glued on tv during the raffling of the numbers.

 

I have relatives that will spend $100 of dollars at a time on lottery tickets. I just have never been able to spend my money that way. My daughter get those scratch off tickets and is often very lucky. I think alot has to do with mind set.

 

Why not go to the races and have a little fun. If the old fellow isn't loosing money that cuts into his needs why not enjoy life a little. When we get to our age we got to find things in life to have fun doing. I like to play games and though I bet nothing I get a kick playing and maybe becoming a millionaire at the same time at pch.com. We all got to have fun in life. When my Grandfather was alive we played Hanafud a Japanese card game. He'd always win unless he lets me win so I'd keep playing with him. Fond memories flood my heart to remember those days we'd play Hanafuda! Let life be fun!

 

Our Close Casino has free breakfast for Seniors on Wed. and Thur..We go just to get away as when breakfast is over, we pay for it on the slots!! We have our limits and rarely go over them..

 

Pip (son) worked as a computer support tech, in securities at a New Mexico casino. He worked there 10 yrs. but couldn't gamble there one of the rules. None of the boys are into gambling. I like Blackjack, little bit of slots, but never won much. We have in Florida the Greyhound dog races, they run after a mechanical rabbit. Many people have adopted these lovely dogs, after being "used." One time watching was enough for me. I'll just play my card games with friends. Double Deck Pinochle we played tonight. We had 2 tables going, and just broke up at 1:00 am. can't sleep