Don't spend time/$ on events of pure chance

How To Design a Lucky Life:

http://lifehacker.com/5966056/how-to-design-a-lucky-life

"Spend your time, money, and energy on things that actually return some sort of positive result for you—or at least have a strong chance of doing so. Buying a lottery ticket might feel like taking a chance on a dream, but that five dollar bill is much better spent saving up for schooling or paying off a little bit of debt or buying a book at a used book sale. Instead of looking at money and time as something you can purely take a chance with, look at each moment and each dollar as an opportunity maker.

What can those minutes and dollars do to help you build a sustainably better life? What can that time and that money do to build your skills or reduce your financial footprint or put you in a situation to grow a social network or help the community around you grow? The more you commit to spending your time, energy, and money in that way, the more you open the door for real opportunities to come into your life."


Interesting.. never thought of it that way b4.
lets see.. how much $ have I lost playing a -EV game? add that it's an hr drive each way to the casino...

Your thoughts of spending time/$ more productively instead of the casino/lotto tickets?

Quote: 100xOdds

How To Design a Lucky Life:

http://lifehacker.com/5966056/how-to-design-a-lucky-life

"Spend your time, money, and energy on things that actually return some sort of positive result for you—or at least have a strong chance of doing so. Buying a lottery ticket might feel like taking a chance on a dream, but that five dollar bill is much better spent saving up for schooling or paying off a little bit of debt or buying a book at a used book sale. Instead of looking at money and time as something you can purely take a chance with, look at each moment and each dollar as an opportunity maker.

What can those minutes and dollars do to help you build a sustainably better life? What can that time and that money do to build your skills or reduce your financial footprint or put you in a situation to grow a social network or help the community around you grow? The more you commit to spending your time, energy, and money in that way, the more you open the door for real opportunities to come into your life."


Interesting.. never thought of it that way b4.
lets see.. how much $ have I lost playing a -EV game? add that it's an hr drive each way to the casino...

Your thoughts of spending time/$ more productively instead of the casino/lotto tickets?

Obviously lottery tickets have terrible odds. Less than 50% payback. A lot of players enjoy the casino and if they play games with decent odds they can have fun at a very low cost. Gambling is cheap if you have proper bankroll and don't overbet. I enjoy playing and to me the fun of it is worth the negative expected value associated with my bets. As someone who volunteers at an afterschool program I spend my time doing something beneficial at no cost to me, but I also enjoy gambling for fun and to me it is worth it.

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time".

What is the end result of anyone's life? Even the greatest life, spent to help the whole humanity - all it achieves is more copies of a particular self-replicating organism on a particular rock, and the end result of its existence will be the same as that of any individual specimen.

This is not to say all is equal. There is choice between smaller immediate and larger distant gains. There is choice between a smaller gain for yourself or a larger combined gain for others. But the end goal - there is no particular goal or purpose, one that is more right and true than others.

Doubt many guys say they wish they had spent more time at the office, when on their death bed.

Quote: P90

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time".

What is the end result of anyone's life?...

You end up dead?

Buncha effin' killjoys, if you ask me.

I take $100-$200 to my local casino every other weekend and play craps at a $5 table making $5 line bets with odds and an occasional place bet on a 6 or 8. This bankroll can last hours. Sometimes I've came home with $500+ ,sometimes I lose the full $200. However, either way, it was fun to me and money well spent. As long as you dont lose more than you can afford to, and dont expect to win everytime, gambling can be viewed as entertainment. I find it more fun than a dinner and movie, or a sporting event than can cost the same or more.

Since I'm an ex-bookie, I'm probably biased; but I think sports betting is high quality, cheap entertainment.

A guy can bet $110 on a football game and watch for 3.5 hours at a total cost of about $4-$5 dollars. Entertainment for little more than $1 per hour seems pretty good. Also, many players bet less than $110.

The utility of the enjoyment I receive compensates me for the $ I spend at the casino

You can spend your time and money on anything that you want to. I absolutely love spending time and money on things that most people think is ridiculous and nobody is going to convince me otherwise!!

Before they started satelliting all the other races to bet on, going to the track was great. 9 races, going to the paddock, watching post parade, etc. And occasionally coming home winners.

The movie " Let it Ride" says it all. Plus there is Jennifer in it too. The director nailed the characters !

Quote: Ahigh

You can spend your time and money on anything that you want to. I absolutely love spending time and money on things that most people think is ridiculous and nobody is going to convince me otherwise!!

Totally agree! Someone will spend $200 a person on a fine meal. I think that is silly. I spend thousands to have my sons go to expensive private colleges. Many think that is silly.
I've seen Ahigh's setup. I can tell he is getting tremendous personal enjoyment from his table/dice throwing machine/cameras/computer linkup/software/etc....
I would guess that few others would feel the same way at the cost. It wouldn't be 'worth it' to me, but it is to him!

It's all about whether you need recreation and escape. And we all do. You don't get it without spending money.

Now, if you just make yourself miserable because the game has control of you, instead of the other way, well, mere philosophizing isnt going to fix that.

Everybody needs a fix. If you are lucky, yours is not self destructive. And I don't just mean drugs. I have seen too many lives destroyed through addiction to religion, gambling, sports, women, liquor. You name it and someone will abuse it or be abused by it !

"I spent over 90% of my money on gambling, women and drink. The rest I wasted." - George Best

Quote: MakingBook

"I spent over 90% of my money on gambling, women and drink. The rest I wasted." - George Best

Hmmm, it seems multiple sources disagree on that quote. I've seen it as "I spent 90% of my money on women, drink and fast cars. The rest I wasted." (source 1, source 2).

I like your version though.

I dig what the author's trying to say, but putting specifics (ie. lottery = bad) isn't where I would've went.

Sometimes $5 on a lottery ticket is a good thing. I barely gamble and never do the lottery, but entering a recent pool, I'd say, was nothing but +EV. Besides a little fun dreaming, it made me think of what I'd do if there were no limits, and reminded me of the things I hold close to my heart. It was a welcome reminder of the things that matter, and it only cost me $2. Can't beat that.

Although I brag that my hockey, the greatest passion in my life, comes in at a steal at <$200, the true cost when figuring in time and gas and equipment and everything is disgusting, probably in excess of $5,000 a year. And in my current situation, I need a raise of about $20,000 a year just to be considered "poor". $5,000 to me is absolutely obscene....and worth every penny.

To each his own. I totally dig the concept "examine your output and make sure every dollar/minute counts". But how it counts is up to that person.