| Gambling (or betting) is any behavior involving the risk of money or valuables on the outcome of a game, contest, or other event in which the outcome of that activity is partially or totally
dependent upon chance or on one's ability to do something.
Though for many it is a form of recreation or even a means to earn a living, gambling, like any behavior which involves
variation in brain chemistry, can become a psychologically addictive and harmful behavior in some people. Reinforcement phenomena may also make gamblers persist in gambling even though they are losing. Because of
the negative connotations of the word, casinos and race tracks often use the euphemism "gaming" to describe the
recreational gambling activities they offer.
Often, it is said that "never putting good money after bad money" is a good way to keep gambling a pleasure and stay away from
gambling addiction. That is, money wagered with a negative outcome are lost, it is time to stop and just accept the loss, instead
of keep betting and losing even more.
Gambling may also refer to engaging in any high-risk behavior in which decisions are made based upon incomplete knowledge.
(For example, high-risk stock investments, difficult and potentially costly ventures, or even personal relationships.)
Gambling games are believed to predate recorded history, with gambling games recorded in virtually all of the ancient
civilizations. Gambling is officially prohibited in Islamic nations and regulated in most other countries.
Legal aspects
Because of the generally negative religious view as well as various perceived social costs, gambling is subject to some form
of censure on most legal jurisdictions. In particular, in many (most?) cases, wagers are not recognised in law as contracts and any consequent losses are debts of honour, unenforceable by legal
process. Thus the enforcement of large gambling debts is often taken over by organized crime, using violent methods. Because contracts of insurance have many features in common with wagers, legislation generally makes a distinction, typically that any
agreement in which either one of the parties has an interest in the outcome bet upon, beyond the specific financial terms, is a
contract of insurance. Thus a bet on whether one's house will burn down is a contract of insurance as there is an independent
interest in the security of one's home.
Furthermore, gambling is either banned or heavily controlled (licensed) in many jurisdictions. Such regulation
generally leads to gambling tourism and illegal gambling.
The latter is often controlled through organized crime. Such involvement frequently brings the activity under even more severe
moral censure and leads to calls for greater regulation. Conversely, the close involvement in governments (through regulation and
gambling taxation) has led to a close connection between many governments and gambling organisations, where legal gambling
provides much government revenue.
Types of casino gambling
Fixed-odds gambling
Fixed-odds gambling and Parimutuel gambling are frequently offered at or on the following
kinds of events:
In addition many bookmakers offer fixed odds on a number of non-sports related
outcomes, e.g. the direction of various financial indices, whether snow will fall on
Christmas Day, the winner of television competitions such as Big Brother, etc.
See Sports betting below.
Non-casino gambling games
- Lottery
- Mahjong
- Dice-based
- Card games
- Coin-tossing
- Street swindles
- Carnival Games
- The Razzle
- Hanky Pank
- Penny Falls
- Six-Cat
- The Swinger
- The Push-up Bottle
- The Nail Joint
- Bar Games
- Put and Take
- The Smack
- The Drunken Mitt
Other types of betting
One can also bet with another person that a statement is true or false, or that a specified event will happen (a "back bet")
or will not happen (a "lay bet") within a specified time. This is done in particular when two people have opposing views of what
is true or will happen and are each rather certain. Not only do the parties hope to gain from the bet, they place the bet also to
demonstrate how certain they are about the issue. A requirement is that it is possible to determine who was right. Sometimes the
amount bet is nominal, winning being the important point.
List of notable wagers
Gambling on horse races
One of the most widespread forms of gambling is betting on horse races. The most
common types of horse race betting involve betting on races between thoroughbreds or between standardbreds.
Wagering may be conducted in parimutuel pools, or bookmakers may take bets personally. Parimutuel wagers pay off at prices determined by
support in the wagering pools, while bookmakers pay off either at the odds offered at the time the bet was taken or at the median
odds offered by track bookmakers at the time the race started.
In Canada and the United
States, the most common types of bet on horse races are:
- win–to succeed the bettor must pick the horse which wins the race.
- place–the bettor must pick a horse which finishes either first or second.
- show–the bettor must pick a horse which finishes first, second, or third.
- exacta, perfecta, or exactor–the bettor must pick the two horses which finish first and second and
specify which will finish first
- quinella or quiniela–the bettor must pick the two horses which finish first and second, but need not
specify which will finish first.
- trifecta or triactor–the bettor must pick the three horses
which finish first, second, and third and specify which will finish first and second
- double– the bettor must pick the winners of two successive races; most race tracks in Canada and the United
States take double wagers on the first two races on the program (the daily double) and on the last two (the late
double).
- triple–the bettor must pick the winners of three successive races; many tracks offer rolling triples, or
triples on any three successive races on the program.
- sweep–the bettor must pick the winners of four or more successive races.
Win, place and show wagers are known as straight bets, and the remaining wagers as exotic bets. Bettors usually
make multiple wagers on exotic bets. A box is a multiple wager in which all possible combinations of a group of horses in
the same race are bet. A key is a multiple wager in which a single horse in one race is bet in one position with all
possible combinations of other selected horses in a single race. A wheel consists of betting all horses in one race of a
bet involving two or more races. For example a 1-all daily double wheel bets the 1-horse in the first race with every horse in
the second.
In Canada and the United States exotic wagers are made on horses running at the same track on the same program. In the
United Kingdom bookmakers offer exotic wagers on horses at differenet
tracks. The most common is probably the Yankee, in which the bettor tries to pick the winner of four races. This bet also
includes subsidiary wagers on smaller combinations of the chosen horses; for example, if only two of the four horses win, the
bettor still collects for their double. A Trixie requires trying to pick three winners, and a Canadian or Super
Yankee trying to pick five; these also include subsidiary bets. The nap is a term used to mark the best bet of the
day.
A parlay (US) or accumulator (UK) is a series of bets in which the winnings from one race are bet on the next in
order until either the bettor loses or the series is completed successfully.
Sports betting
Betting on team sports is an important service industry in many countries. For example, football pools are played by millions of Britons every week. At sports betting, players may beat the bank.
In Canada and the United States sports betting is usually illegal (Nevada offers
full sports betting and the Canadian provinces offer Sport Select, which is government-run sports parlay betting). However, millions
engage in it despite its illegality.
In Canada and the United States the most popular sports bets are made:
- against the spread; that is, the bettor wagers either that the favoured team will win by a specified number of points
or that it will not. Betting the favourite is called giving the points and betting the underdog taking the points.
See point spread.
- against odds; the most popular types of bets against odds are simple bets that a team will win and over-under bets, which are bets on the total points, runs, or goals scored by both
teams. In making an over-under bet, the bettor wagers that the total will be higher or lower than a total specified by the
bookmaker.
- against a combination of odds and spread
In sports betting a parlay is a bet that two or more teams will all win. In the United States one of the most common forms of
sports betting is the parlay card, on which bettors wager on the outcomes of two or more games. If all their picks win, they
collect. Most such betting occurs in workplaces.
Staking systems
Many staking systems have been formulated in an attempt to "beat the bookie" but it is still widely accepted that there is no
staking system that can make an unprofitable system profitable over time. Below are several widely used systems along with a
brief explanation and risk analysis:
- Fixed stakes – a traditional system of staking the same amount on each selection. This method is good for conservative
punters if the stake is kept below 5% of the bank.
- Fixed profits – the stakes vary based on the odds to ensure the same profit from each winning selection. This method is
very good for conservative punters, although if the profitability of one's bets is independent of the odds the bettor is simply reducing his or her cash flow.
- Due-column betting – A variation on fixed profits betting in which the bettor sets a target profit and then calculates
a bet size that will make this profit, adding any losses to the target. For example, to make a target of $100 profit a bettor
would wager $50 at odds of 2 to 1. If the bet loses, the target becomes $150. If the next bet is also at odds of 2 to 1, the
wager therefore becomes $75. This type of wagering is ruinous in the long run..
- Kelly (optimal) – fair odds (in the European/decimal format) need to be estimated by the punter and then the stake can
be calculated using
- Stake= (Odds/(Fair odds-1))/(Odds-1) Many times used with a divider (most commonly 4 or 8) depending on your bankroll (for
betting)
- This system was developed for baccarat but is widely recommended for horserace
betting. In betting horseraces the stake is further adjusted to allow for inaccuracy in estimating fair odds. Computer
simulations (http://www.coolth.com/optimal.htm) suggest that in betting
horseraces Kelly betting increases losses during losing streaks, that it fails to demonstrate superiority over fixed stakes
betting until large numbers of bets have been made (a drawback in horserace betting because the bettor usually has no reasonable
expectation that any betting advantage he or she has will last over a long series of bets), and that its profitability has been
exaggerated by the use of inappropriate statistical analyses.
- Martingale – A system based on staking enough each time to recover
losses from previous bet(s) until you get a winner. The Martingale is a guaranteed way to failure - the only way it would work is
if you have an unlimited bankroll, your bookmaker has no limit on the size of bets and you are immortal!
Bibliography
- Brisman, Andrew. American Mensa Guide to Casino Gambling: Winning Ways
- Ortiz, Darwin. Gambling Scams
- Reith, Gerda. Age of Chance
- Steinmetz, Andrew. The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims Gutenberg text (http://www.gutenberg.net/etext96/tgamt10.txt)
- Thorp, Edward O. Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One
External links
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