gambling not a good finance move

[Goldy1]

I just want to say I never got the gambling bug nor did my husband but we know a couple people who are going into financial trouble on just the lottery!! It is so sad!

[bjl584]

I had a great aunt that developed a gambling problem. It was a shame to watch happen. It started out small. She would play the daily lottery and buy scratch off tickets. She actually won a significant prize on a scratch ticket, and that is when she caught the bug. She ramped up her lottery playing and started hitting the casino. She passed away a few years ago. She was living with a daughter in law a few hours away from here when she died. I can only assume that she died with nothing.

[Nutria]

There's a River Boat (parked on a lake, but that's irrelevant) that I went into once back in the late 90s (during lunch, with some co-workers ). First thing I saw in the main room were rows and rows of old women robotically playing the nickel slots. And not Stepford Happy, either. It was very depressing.

Naturally, I never went back.

[ginene]

I agree. My dad plays the lottery every day, twice a day and never play anything below $20. I play maybe once a year or every other year. I honestly don't think I played last year. But I only play when my dad is with me and he said he had a hunch so I give him a $1 and tell him to get me a 3 digit. If it doesn't come out, that's my number for year. LOL. I'm cheap.

[Nutria]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that lotteries are a "tax on the poor and mathematically-challenged".

[dczech09]

I find nothing wrong with gambling, as long as it is within reason. Never gamble with money that you cannot afford to lose, and never gamble with the anticipation of winning.

It amazes me how so many people see gambling and lotto as a means of "investing" for retirement. Gambling is nothing more than entertainment; so it should come out of your "entertainment budget."

[disneysteve]

I find nothing wrong with gambling, as long as it is within reason. Never gamble with money that you cannot afford to lose, and never gamble with the anticipation of winning.

It amazes me how so many people see gambling and lotto as a means of "investing" for retirement. Gambling is nothing more than entertainment; so it should come out of your "entertainment budget."

Exactly. Gambling is just another way to pass the time and entertain yourself (if it is something you enjoy doing). When it really comes down to it, what's the difference if I spend $150 to see a Broadway show for 2 hours or $150 to play in the casino for 2 hours? Both are perfectly fine forms of entertainment.

One thing that always annoys me, though, is when people lump together casino gambling and playing the lottery. They are far from equivalent. Depending on your game of choice, and your skill at playing it, the odds at the casino can be phenomenally better than the odds of playing the lottery. For the Powerball that everyone was so crazed about a couple of weeks ago, the odds of winning are 1 in 292,000,000. Playing blackjack, for example, the house edge is just 0.44% or thereabouts depending on a few variables. On full pay video poker, the house advantage is 0.46%. Over the long haul, the house always wins, of course, but with that narrow of an advantage, you can sometimes play for hours and hours and walk away even or even up a little.

[james.hendrickson]

This blows my mind also, playing the lottery is a great way to throw your money away. You might as well take your cash and burn it in the fireplace.

[corn18]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that lotteries are a "tax on the poor and mathematically-challenged".

Lotteries are a tax on the stupid.

[Gailete]

Never gamble with money that you cannot afford to lose, and never gamble with the anticipation of winning.

What is the point of the gambling if you don't want to win? Depending on what you are playing, other games are just as much fun and sure cost a lot less to play.

How does a person determine how much money they can afford to lose? Does this mean that they have a good emergency fund in place, fully financed retirement accounts each year, a paid off house, a fully funded college fund if you have kids that will go to college, and have you given an appropriate amount to a charity of your choice? Do they have a full pantry and adequate clothing for the family? If you have done all that, then I suppose you might have some money to burn, but as someone that got knocked down by chronic health problems during my highest earning years and now get a SS check for 1/3 of my past income, I'm glad I hadn't gambled away what I had earned or even part of it. It is hard enough to make ends meet for many of us without tossing away our money.

I will admit that part of my attitude came from having a neglectful father that of his many and various activities that he did to keep him away from the family, he gambled. He didn't care whether there was food on the table and clothes on our backs. Unfortunately those that get the gambling bug and can't quit are most likely neglecting their families needs. A co-worker went to Niagara Falls a lot to gable. When she won over the weekend, she always talked about the great comped room and food she had. When she didn't she was sullen and wouldn't speak about how her weekend went. Then this woman that would get her car detailed instead of cleaning it herself, and could never understand how I could get by on our pay (she got child support as well and I didn't) filed for bankruptcy and the American public helped her to walk away from her debt even though she had a perfectly adequate job to support herself. Oh yeah before she filed she maxed out all her cards to get her new summer wardrobe since she knew she wouldn't be able to afterwards so her bankruptcy was even for more than it needed to be. Me, I wore the same clothes that summer as I had the year before and the year before that, etc. and years later I still wear some of those clothes! It wasn't just the gambling that drove her to bankruptcy but her whole attitude about money and finances.

[Nutria]

What is the point of the gambling if you don't want to win?

You might like to play poker.

How does a person determine how much money they can afford to lose?

What's your entertainment budget? How much is left in it? What part of the month is it (since you'll want to go out later, too)?

Does this mean that they have ...

We regulars on this board are all savers and competent(?) budgeters and are working towards what you listed (even though we haven't accomplished it all).

as someone that got knocked down by chronic health problems during my highest earning years and now get a SS check for 1/3 of my past income, I'm glad I hadn't gambled away what I had earned or even part of it.

Did you ever go out to eat, movies, spend a weekend "away", etc? Almost certainly.

As long as you treat gambling in that same category, your budget will be fine.

Of course, the hard part is the doing of treating it as a line item in the Entertainment category and not getting swept up in addiction.

[disneysteve]

What is the point of the gambling if you don't want to win?

How does a person determine how much money they can afford to lose?

You might like to play poker.

What's your entertainment budget?

Did you ever go out to eat, movies, spend a weekend "away", etc?

As long as you treat gambling in that same category, your budget will be fine.

I just want to echo what Nutria said. Why play? Because you enjoy it. It's fun. It's exciting. It's a day out of the house. It's time I get to spend with my wife doing something we both like.

How much can you afford to lose? That's up to you. As I said earlier, we could spend money to see a show. Let's say tickets are $250. Gas, tolls, and parking are another $75. Another $80 for lunch and dinner so the day costs us about $400. That's not something we can swing too often. But a trip to the casino can be had for about $100. And that's only if both of us lose which rarely happens. Invariably, one of us ends up ahead and one ends up behind. It often works out close to even. We can do that once a month if we want to (we haven't lately but we used to).

[Gailete]

Did you ever go out to eat, movies, spend a weekend "away", etc? Almost certainly.

I guess I grew up that playing games, even card games, had no money attachment. I've rarely have had an entertainment budget. Since I graduated college and now (~40 years) I've been on three vacations, one paid for by a sign on bonus. Currently my husband and I haven't gone 'out' in probably a year or two. It is hard for both of us to feel well enough at the same time to enjoy it. I do go out to eat occasionally at a fast food place if I am out running errands but that is it. Haven't been to a movie in 15 years, never go out for a weekend, or even a day unless a doctor is involved - I get an IV every 6 weeks that can take 3+ hours, that is the most I'm ever out. I haven't been anywhere in 3 weeks because of the snow we have had here. So my life is very different than many of yours. But like I said, gambling has left a bitter taste in my mouth due to what I'm sure was my father's addiction to it.

If you can afford $400 for a weekend out like that, that is great, but some of us are savers with so little money coming in, that to waste it on gambling would be a shame. I'd rather put the money into savings which at this point depending on how my on line business goes, I'm lucky if I have $100 to tuck away each month and tuck it I do. We certainly don't have the money for gambling nor do many of the posters on this forum from what I have seen of their budgets. Not everyone has the self control to gamble and then walk away.

[Nutria]

We do understand and sympathize with your medical difficulties.

[Fishindude77]

We go to the casino a couple times each year. Usually burn through a couple hundred dollars apiece, then call if a night. And every once in a while we walk out of the place up a couple hundred bucks, but that's not too common.

It's fun occasionally, but not something I want to do all the time.
Go in there with XX dollars in your pocket, plan on losing it, and be smart enough to quit when that is gone.