It can seem odd to some why people would willfully wager their hard-earned money on propositions that are fundamentally difficult to win in the first place. It’s often said that the lottery is a tax on stupidity, and then gambling may just be a tax on people who are too stubborn to think that they too can lose. The appeal of gambling too many are that you can actually win consistently if you are safe and logical when placing your wagers. If you stick to the generally safer ones, then your $100 may turn into $150 fairly easily, but this is small fry for the most part, and if most gamblers wanted only meager profits, then they probably wouldn’t have bothered in the first place.

For the most part, what appeals most to people about gambling is not that they can turn a tidy profit on some small wagers. To them, the true draw is taking the long shot on something happening that is so unforeseeable and unfathomable, that simply betting on it to happen alone, can already be seen as an act of insanity. Yet, these wagers do exist, and the amazing part is that some of them have come to pass.

Faith in Lewis

One of the most improbable wins in gambling history comes from the world of Formula One racing where noted stalwart Lewis Hamilton once made a man significantly healthier just by virtue of him seemingly living up to his potential. A full decade before Lewis Hamilton won the Formula One world championship; there was someone who arguably had more riding on him doing so than even the driver himself. This was because a wager had been placed that Hamilton would raise this prestigious trophy before he turned 25, and it was indeed a prediction that came to be true. The bet was made for what is a relatively meager 100 pounds but the payoff was massive as the return on the man’s investment was a grand 125,000 pounds in total. It was a highly fortuitous wager if ever there was one.

The Fail Mary Delivers

Perhaps an even more improbable winning wager was the one placed on the infamous Monday Night Football game that pitted the Seattle Seahawks against the Green Bay Packers. The game itself was remarkable for the infamous blown call at the end that was made by replacement refs. Yet, no matter how much grief may have been spilled over the erroneous officiating of that game, one man will always be grateful, because the said blown call led to him going a perfect 15 for 15 on his NFL game selections for the week, and doing so yielded a sum of over $725,000 in winnings. That’s not even the most amazing part, because those winnings come from what amounts to a $5 bet.

Gambling, even to those who have studied it thoroughly can still manage to make hardly any sense at all, but when the stars align and the odds fall in your favor, some amazing things can happen.

Why Sports Gambling Is Often a Losing Proposition

Gambling on sports is a wildly popular pastime among many, and at least a perceived to be viable source of income for some. Whether or not it is can be subject to debate, but what’s clear is that there has always been a market for betting on sports, and this is despite the fact that most of the folks who do engage in this endeavor can easily find themselves down a good amount of money at the end of yet another year. Regardless of whether or not people actually turn a profit from their sports gambling, the only undisputed reality about it is that bets will continue to come in no matter how long the odds. Still, determining the many reasons why people do lose money on sports gambling is a worthwhile exercise, so that will be done here.

Handling the Money

Its one thing to place a bet a day and be content with whatever result comes from that one wager of yours, but we all know that most gamblers are hardly satisfied with just letting their money ride on one bet. The people, who love sports gambling, usually love to spread their wealth around, and that means placing multiple bets on multiple bets and hoping that they just increased their odds for profit, when the reality for the most part is that they just increased the odds that they’ll be further down in a hole. Another reason for why people tend to lose so much money on sports gambling is because they simply cannot help themselves from putting more money on the table or “doubling down” so to speak. This means that when a bet of theirs either wins or loses, they usually register a supplemental bet aimed at either doubling their winnings or recouping their losses; never mind that the longer odds usually taken on in this instance almost always only lead to additional money being lost.

Confusing Sports Knowledge with Gambling Knowledge

Yet another reason why a lot of folks lose a lot of money over sports gambling is because they fail to recognize that they know fairly little about betting successfully. Talk to someone who knows sports and they’ll likely be open to talking to you for hours on end just waxing poetically about what it is that makes their sport of choice so grand, but knowledge of say basketball or football should not be confused with actual gambling knowledge on these two subjects.

No matter how much someone may know about screen plays or cover 2 coverage, these things don’t actually matter that much in the context of gambling, even more so when you consider just how much one game’s outcome being so unexpected can skew the gambling profits so greatly. Gambling rewards the people who know how to spot a good bet and to place their money there accordingly and even then the odds of raking in profits still aren’t that great.

Choosing the Wrong Sports to Gamble on

One of the main reasons why it’s so difficult to actually win anything of significance in gambling is because even when the odds are slightly more favorable, all that just means is that winning isn’t even as valuable as it can be. Take for instance the bets that people like to make on NFL games. Usually, the games with outcomes that the oddsmakers figure to be fairly safe to predict will end up having betting odds that reflect that line of thinking, and thus a lower amount of money to win.

The only real way to make enough money through gambling that’s even worth thinking about is to place bets on the underdogs, and those don’t pan out all the time. This leaves people with one other option, and that’s to find action on other sports where making a bet on something safe can still be profitable. Sports like hockey and baseball are more suitable to this practice, and with enough research, money can be made.

The Effect of Television

Television has certainly made it more enjoyable and a whole lot easier for people to follow and watch sporting events at their leisure. They can just sit at home, turn on the television, and immediately be tuned into to multiple games taking place even at the same time, but there’s a problem that stems from this that is related to gambling. Since these televised games are easier to monitor, and easier to follow, it gives people who love to gamble even more reason to start placing bets. They can get so tempted by the ease of access that it almost becomes impossible for them to turn down the allure of gambling.

The best practice when it comes to gambling on sports is just to do the research necessary prior to making any kind of wager, putting the appropriate amount of money down on that very bet, and then stop thinking about it until the results come in the morning after. Because at that point, watching the game can only lead to more ill-fated bets trying to cover for the lost money if the initial wager is not going well and that is never a good thing. Gambling on sports is good for fun, but that’s all it should really be, because if someone places too much importance on how well they do betting on games, then that can lead to harsher heartbreak.

Gambling wouldn’t nearly be as much as fun if people were confined to only making small and “responsible” bets. Sure, that may be the most prudent way to actually make money from gambling and to actually come home with that money, but it’s safe to say that the folks who truly love to gamble aren’t in it because it’s safe. This is why the high rollers exist. This is why there are countless stories of people who seem to put increasingly insane wagers down on things that seem as likely to happen as them getting struck by lightning twice in one day, but no one ever said that gambling was for the faint of heart, and some people certainly prove that courage can lead to cash. Unfortunately for them, all that courage can lead to a particularly bad beat.

The Tycoon Tosses For It

A wealthy media tycoon by the name of Kelly Packer became came into his money thanks to his keen business sense and possibly some degree of luck, but he became famous for one fateful wager that will always keep him in the hearts and minds of people from all over the world. After over to a fellow gambler and seeing the attention that the man was getting, Packer asked the man of his identity and he found out that he was a Texas oilman and a wealthy one at that, estimating that his net worth was around $100 million. In reply to the man identifying himself, Packer simply replied “Toss you for it”. It was Packer exhibiting what gambling courage truly is, however, the man simply went on his way and left the table.

A Fortune Lost

In one of the most stunning displays of gambling in recent history, Terrance Watanabe, infamously lost $127 million in one year gambling escapade in Las Vegas, Watanabe was a businessman, and logic would dictate that he understood perfectly just what he was doing, and whatever business sense he may have possessed apparently did not translate to gambling luck. Losing in excess of over $100 million is hard enough to pull off in the world of business, and even then it would certainly take more than a year to pull off.

The fact that he lost all that money so quickly is astonishing. The streak itself is incredible not just for the sheer length of it or for the amount of money lost in the process, but because the total amount that was gambled away amounted to the entirety of Watanabe’s fortune. It’s one thing to gamble away millions of dollars if they amount to a mere fraction of your overall wealth, but it’s another thing to lose that much money when it’s all you actually have. Watanabe may not have been successful, but he certainly was a high roller.

Desperation Deals a Lucky Hand

Desperation can do both horrible and amazing things to people, and in the case of Archie Karas, the latter more accurately represents the fate he was dealt when he was whittled down to the last few cents to his name. With virtually no money to his name, Karas, an ex-waiter, borrowed $10,000 from a friend in a last-ditch effort to effectively make something out nothing. He used the money to play poker at the Binion’s Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas, and what happened next was something that not even Karas could have foreseen.

In one of the unlikeliest winning streaks to have ever been documented in gambling history, Karas would use the money to play against and defeat 15 of some of the world’s best gamblers. That feat alone would have required a bevy of rabbit’s feet just to pull off, but Karas even made the whole thing more improbable when he moved over to the craps table, and promptly kept reeling off win after win. At the end of the night, after all the bets and the winnings counted, Karas had ended up winning over $15 million in one night’s work. Not bad at all for a last resort.

With Life on the Line

Perhaps the greatest amount ever put forth in a wager was made by Captain Matthew Webb. Captain Webb already had a claim to fame by being the first person to swim across the English Channel once upon a time, but finding himself down on his luck he wagered that he could swim across the Niagara Falls for $10,000. Swimming the English Channel on its own, without the any aid of any sophisticated gear, is a feat worthy of great acclaim, but whatever wealth the captain may have gained from this exercise, was not present.

As impressive as his previous accomplishment may have been, the Niagara Falls is an entirely different entity from the one that he had already conquered. The rampaging waters of the waterfalls were significantly more difficult to navigate, and even for someone with as much experience dealing with the elements as Captain Webb, it all became too much to take on. The captain never did end up making it across the Niagara Falls, and perhaps the wager he placed on himself was too much for even him to cash in.

The act alone of placing a wager is already an act of courage unto itself, but to add more onto it by upping the stakes involved is what gives birth to the true high rollers.

Let me start by saying that this article will not be about finding which odds on the sportsbook are historically the worse when it comes to making a profit or something like that. This instead will be about underlining the inherent dangers that come with falling in love with sports gambling and why people should do their absolute best not to fall into their traps. With that in mind, let’s start with what they are.

Spending Too Much Time Monitoring Bets

It’s one thing if betting simply took only your money and that’s about it, but the folks who are truly into making wagers understand that the largest toll may not be on someone’s finances, but on their time instead. This is because when people place a particular wager, what they tend to do is to monitor that game closely to see just what shape they’re in as it relates to the money they have on the game. Watching only one game isn’t too much and can be excusable, but most people don’t just bet on one game per day. Most people who love sports gambling, particularly those who love to gamble on football, find themselves placing wagers on almost, if not all of the games on the schedule on any given Sunday.

If the games start at around 1pm and end approximately around midnight, then they will likely be glued to the set all throughout just to see if they are ahead or behind. This is not a good habit. Spending your time like this can lead you to lose all kinds of perspective and even lead you to disregard the people around you. Betting can basically become your world is what I’m trying to, and you obviously shouldn’t let that happen. If you want to place bets, then that’s only your money you may be potentially losing, but if you purposely take time to be with your bets and away from your family and friends, then that may be a sign of something more sinister.

Having Secrets When Gambling

Gambling in general is not all that harmful to your bottom line, but it can be if you’re not careful. Take someone who may be a head of a household for instance, and understand that they have certain things they need to do with their money, and gambling probably isn’t one of those things. The problem is that people who love gambling, but who may not be particularly good at it will quickly realize that what they’re not doing any good with their wagers and will naturally want their actions to be hidden, and secrets like that rarely lead to anything good.

Trying to Make a Living from Gambling

After hearing some old stories about how some random person was able to retire at an early age after making some good bets, it’s easy to think that the same thing can happen to you. Gambling is one of the few things that actually enable you to instantly boost the amount of money you have to your name, as long as you have the intestinal fortitude needed to make those wagers in the first place. The problem though is that people are often blinded by the big paydays and often ignore the simple fact that the odds are simply too unreasonable to believe that any consistent form of winning can actually come from simply making wagers. The thing is that the people who end up as the success stories of the gambling world are the exceptions to the rule. They are definitely not the norm. For all the stories about people making it big from gambling, there are probably countless more of those who flamed out because they did the exact same thing. Gambling is a game of chance after all, and sometimes the odds simply don’t favor the person putting down the money.

Prioritizing Gambling

Here’s another reason why gambling can also lead to something worse as opposed to something better. Gambling should at best, be considered as something of a hobby. Thinking of it as anything more than that won’t lead to anything good. If you choose to prioritize gambling, then this can lead to you spending most of your money and time on it, two things that are too valuable to simply take a chance on gambling away. Getting your priorities in order is always a great tip to remember when it comes to doing anything right, and if you stray from this ideal, then you put yourself at risk for getting into more than trouble than you could have possibly bargained for.

The reason why gambling can become destructive is not because it’s some sort of moral scourge or legal nightmare. Quite simply, the reason why it can be bad is because people just don’t know how to manage it properly, but if sports gambling is done in moderation, then it can be fun and maybe even profitable.