The different types of gamblers
Locally, we have two race tracks, a racino, a full casino, off track betting facilities, online gambling sights etc. etc. Want to make a wager? You don’t even have to leave your couch.
I know what you are thinking, “This is not about me. I don’t gamble. I don’t go to the casino or the track.” Do you invest in the stock market? Buy scratch offs? Play bingo? Buy squares in superbowl pools? You are gambling.
Gambling is often defined as “the wagering of money or something of value (referred to as “the stakes”) on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning money or material goods.”
We were weaned on gambling in my blue collar neighborhood in Troy. We played poker a few times a week in alleys, in a local brewery’s ruins after it burned, and in houses when our parents weren’t home. On many Fridays (payday) we stuffed the pockets of the pool table at the Mole’s bar so we could shoot craps. One of my friend’s and I played gin rummy and chess for money on picnic tables at Prospect Park. Team handball was another obvious betting sport that we enjoyed. Skill at gambling or being able to win more times than lose was highly valued. Some young boys who might be called geeks today were admired because of their gambling prowess. I know that you have heard this a thousand times, but there are certainly people that will bet on anything. That was us.
Bookmakers and loan sharks were just local businessmen. Gambling didn’t seem to be something abnormal or even against the law. It was just something we did. I know a little more about gambling than most people because of my upbringing and from studying it intermittently since about 1985. Ten years ago I taught a ten hour course on Texas Hold’ Em at Hudson Valley Community College, and I recently presented a five hour workshop, on pathological gambling, for some local therapists.
When I taught Abnormal Psychology, I mentioned three types of gamblers –social, professional and compulsive. Some informational sources may list as many as seven or more types. The social type gambles here and there and maybe goes to Vegas once in a while, but doesn’t lose the rent money or kid’s college fund. Almost all of these folks lose in the long run. Professional gamblers are people who work at it full time, like poker pros and some sports bettors. They are usually intelligent, educated, excellent money managers who most often make money in the long run, because of their use of pertinent research and hard work. Pathological gamblers are out of control and constantly chase the “big win” that is mentioned in Psychology texts. When I was a kid we called it the “big score.” You can see them in the middle of a wedding reception on the phone calling in a sports bet or sitting for endless hours at a slot machine without food, or with piles of scratch offs at a local store. I had a relative who owned a few successful businesses and some nice rental properties. He lost all of them gambling on sports. Six years ago a Saratoga woman was arrested on charges that she stole more than $38,000 from an elderly woman. It was reported in the local papers that she “used the victim’s credit card for personal expenses, including gambling trips to the Turning Stone and Foxwoods casinos.” Under a plea bargain, she was sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to make $29,259 in restitution.
I went to the track last week for Armed Forces Appreciation Day. I won a dozen clams, fried chicken, a glass of pinot grigio, a bowl of gazpacho, a dish of chocolate ice cream, a cigar, and great live music. Oh, the horses? I bought them about 40 bucks’ worth of hay.