You may have heard the quotes or words of wisdom expressed about the phenomena of gambling – some good, and some bad. The Chinese (arguably the champions of gambling) say: “Winning is when luck meets opportunity!” I like that one, because that’s how we like think of ourselves here in the Sportsbook industry, as people who offer you the “opportunity” to play. You might say that’s just a fancy way of saying that we harass the ever-lovin shit out of you until you send the money! But we do this because we know you.
We have a keen perception of who you are: from the fat-cat, high-rolling NASCAR sponsor, to the college kid who has to pool his money with his buddies to scrape up the minimum deposit to bet on the college game, to the little old Greek lady who calls every day asking what the line on The Yanks is. And yes, every player is unique, and there are some real characters out there… but still there’s some pattern recognition to it. We see it because we talk to hundreds of players daily, many thousands over the course of a season.
For example, when you say to us: “I’m not interested”, the first thing we think is… “Oh, he’s with his wife or boss right now and can’t talk about sports”! So in that case we call you in a few hours, or the next day and get a much better response the next time. Or when you say: “I’m busted… out for the season”, we immediately think that maybe you had a rough week betting with your local guy, or went to a river-boat casino playing cards all night until your legs wobbled you out the door (not from too many drinks, but from too much outright concentration). So then we’ll wait a week and call you… and you know what? Boom! You’re miraculously back in action, and ready to roll! Sound familiar?!
You see that’s the beautiful thing about gambling, it’s the pursuit of winning. We all strive to be first, not second, third, or any other consolation prize. But unlike our ancient ancestors, who trusted a witch-doctor to throw bones and sticks onto the dirt and read our fortune, we’ve learned to control our future, at least part, and steer it toward an immediate outcome, a “win” or a “loss” – which is a hell of a lot better than waiting for some conjured-up prediction or unforeseen destiny to be cast upon us!
And one of the most interesting things about this phenomenon we’ve created “gambling” is that we call it “playing”! You would think that since it deals with money, like business, that we would call it “work”. But our language doesn’t describe it that way, does it! So if it’s our language that defines how we view life, then maybe that’s what keeps us playing? Our language tells us to do so! Maybe, just maybe?!
But if you break it down even further, you might even say that gambling is in fact a microcosm of life itself, considering our competitive nature, whereby we subject ourselves to a serious of victories and defeats throughout, our greatest hope being that our victories will ultimately outweigh our defeats. And even with all the cold-hearted competitiveness that surrounds us, still we call it “playing”! Now I’m no philologist (a language expert) that’s for sure, but I do know one thing. And that is, that apart from our competitive nature, the human being is also a very “playful” creature. So to wrap this up, I will leave you to ponder the words of the great writer Kurt Vonnegut, who said: “This life was meant for fooling around, and don’t let anyone tell you different!” So I say, go ahead and trust your instincts, get out there and play, take a shot – because your language doesn’t lie to you!
If you missed the first installment you can read it here.