Sports Betting — End of The Road
This is the business I have been on the last 63 days. I really thought I was going to go home with house money this time but once again I was beat hands down — to a negative of about USD290. This marks my biggest loss in such a period since I started gambling , but perhaps the least expensive since my income level in this moment is a bit more than the last time I played and lost. I called it sports trading to make it sound a bit palatable to my psyche.
I was introduced to sports betting in 2014 just after high school, I played till 2018, then I quit for 2yrs after making nothing but losses. I relapsed in 2020 for a short period then quit after losses, same story in 2021. This was probably my very last shot at it.
From outside looking in sports betting looks like a very lucrative business but colors change when someone is in the game. The games that were ‘sure’ fail, the slips that were to win big money lose by 1 or 2 games etc.. The only way to win in my opinion is to luck into a huge sum of cash e.g. a jackpot or a long slip then keep playing with small stakes. This is highly unlikely from a probability standpoint hence almost not worth pursuing.
A gambler oscillates between two feelings — hope and despair. Hope when he places a bet that he thinks he might win and despair when he loses. Sometimes it is the grief of losing his money, other time it is of losing a promising bet by 1 or 2 games. These vary in degree from one player to another.
From my experience, the only time a gambler truly quits is when he arrives at the place within his mind where he loses the hope of ever winning anything from it. It is that hope that keeps him playing — he thinks to himself that he just needs to win big once. This way he keeps playing — he can lose all his money but if still has that hope he will not have truly quit. If the gamblers’ mind is still in that loop he will not be able to stop themselves until either the gambling consumes his resources totally or he arrives at that realization.
I placed the sh.10k bet — and immediately after I placed it I knew I was not going to bet anymore if I lost it. I just knew it immediately. Even if I had won, I would still quit. The quality of life while sports betting is very wanting, one is smitten with a rollercoaster of feelings and the constant distraction of checking the betting platform every a few minutes to see if the bets are still ‘alive’.
Well, I am out despite losing money. I feel peace that I am out of that frenzy. It felt as if my mind had been possessed by something that kept compelling me to bet. I am free to focus on other things. I don’t think there is anything that can trick me back to betting anytime soon.
If you are reading this, say a prayer for me.
Adiós muchachos!
