Author’s Note: According to an article by George Will, $23 billion were bet last year on the Super Bowl. (This represents more than half of the budget of USAID.)
Life’s a crapshoot. Or so people say. Of course, they’re right.
My attitude is that there is so much uncertainty baked into ordinary events, the last thing I need is to create more for myself, but lots of people clearly see things differently. This is evidenced by the popularity of gambling.
Here in my “planned” Northern Virginia community, the plan is under constant assault. The citizens are now faced with the push by moneyed interests to build a casino that most of us neither want nor need. Despite strong grassroots resistance, we will probably get one along with more development on our supposed “forever” open space.
The airwaves are inundated with ads for on-line sports betting. Not by coincidence are credit scores plummeting and bankruptcies increasing. These ads leave me cold and feeling sad for their victims.
Why is betting so attractive to so many? Anthropologists may say it is a form of religion. The shaman tossed a couple of bones into the embers and the way they came up portended the will of the gods. When a crapshooter tosses the dice, they are in fact doing the same, testing whether they are favored by God. Scientists will tell you gambling stimulates dopamine receptors in the pleasure center of the brain. This is the basis for many behaviors and addictions.
For whatever reasons, my personality is such that I am disinclined toward wagering. I’m on the lower end of the risk taking spectrum, was never interested in rock climbing, parachuting, bungee jumping, motorcycling or off trail biking. I’m mystified by how many people find gambling such a kick, but then again, I admit I am an outlier. My brain always got enough of a dopamine high from just watching athletic competition and cheering for my favorites or, better yet, participating in one, with just my own skin, no financial “skin,” in the game. The handful of times I’ve been to the race track, it was enough to watch the beautiful horses run. It’s the thrill of the competition itself that excites me, whatever the outcome.
Whenever practical, I’ve always preferred taking charge of my own destiny rather than pinning my hopes on fate or on someone else’s performance. I do not enjoy any kind of gambling, even friendly games of chance. I suppose I’m constitutionally boring. So be it.
I never desired to be a golfer, even though the one time I tried it my dad said I had a natural swing. People don’t believe me, but I hit a hole in one on a short hole that day. (Hey, why not retire at the pinnacle of my game?) Much of the culture around golf turns me off. The betting the players feel they have to engage in is one large disincentive. It’s expensive enough to play that frustrating, time consuming game that I see no reason to add more of a financial burden to it with wagers.
I don’t play cards either. I’d much rather have a conversation with a few friends.
It seems gamblers have to turn everything into a gamble. One evening I was appalled when we dined with two of my heavy betting, golfer friends and their wives. They proposed we draw straws on who would pick up the substantial tab for the dinner, something they said they did with their golf buddies all the time. “Draw away,” said I, “here’s the one third of the bill we owe.”
Wherever there is gambling, there is crime. Now, with legal online sports betting, people are threatening athletes and their families. They pressure players to adjust their efforts in order to “make the spread” or the “overs and unders.” Whatever the heck they are. Players and teams are getting caught up in real or perceived scandals.
Online alone, in 2022, American bettors dropped $120 billion, up 27 percent from the year before, while the gambling entities raked in their billions. I’m guessing those figures are just the tip of the gambling iceberg. There are plenty of other ways to bet.
Probably this all comes off as judgmental, but I don’t begrudge people a little fun. The problem is that a little is not enough for too many people.
All the money people blow on gambling of all kinds could be put to much better use. Not just for the gamblers, but for the world as well. Think of what lifesaving medical and scientific research could be funded with all those billions.
But, hey. Where’s the thrill in that boring stuff?
An Author's Inner Mind 
We must be kindred souls. haha. I also think the expansion of gambling is a disservice to people – enough of who are struggling with money issues right now anyway. I am sad to see the new casino proposal is moving forward in the Virginia Senate. One of the reasons I stopped playing mahjong with the Stratford ladies was because they introduced money on the games. It was only a quarter but to me it did not add anything to the game – you just paid the person who won. And the hassle of having to make sure I had quarters was a deal breaker for me. Who has cash now a days anyway – let alone coins? Though I have to admit (between you and me please) that a few of us did have a bet going as to when Sabiha would figure out that they flag a half staff policy was over…just a little snarky fun for an excuse to buy someone a drink at happy hour – no money involved.
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