Do you gamble to make ends meet? Poll discussion

dixiebb

No, not yet anyway .

Saturnalia

Not really. I get an occasional Euromillions ticket and have had a couple of very small wins. If I had a couple of quid a week to gamble regularly I'd put it on football bets (I used to win back what I bet most Saturdays doing that, but never good enough odds to get a good sum back from it!) And I like betting on the horses when I'm at the races with family a couple of times a year but if I'm not at the races it doesn't interest me to bet on them. Same with the dogs when we had a track locally.

But it isn't part of my financial planning at all. I only ever bet money I feel I can afford to lose. Good job, as I usually do lose it!!!

A friend has had some great wins at the bingo, but it costs a fortune to go so not someting I can afford to do nowadays and I don't seem to have the winning streak!

sharrison01

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Yes. That sort of optional.

How constructive. Thank you for your insight...

msph321

No, no gambling. I've definitely thought about doing it though (but with my luck I wouldn't win anything). As someone who's an expatriate - paying bills here - and paying bills in my home country, when times get really rough (damn near every month), I think of all kinds of things I could do for money. Some are illegal and I'm not trying to have a rap sheet in any country, so I push those thoughts out of my head fast.. (I tried selling old clothes at a vintage market last weekend but that only got me £6.00. :-/ )

Roger_Moore_007

Yes I have done for years, unfortunately when you can't afford to lose, things are much more difficult.

As someone who at various points has made a very good living from betting, I often feel this is the only way I'm going to earn large amounts of money in life.

The problem with betting is that you have to devote a lot of time to research and since I've had a wife and kids for the last five years, I've not had enough time to do the proper research into the sports that I bet on, hence I don't win like I used to. In order to make a profit from betting you have to gain an edge on everyone else, you're not just betting against bookmakers, you're betting against the rest of the betting public. As a rule of thumb I would say you need to have a greater knowledge than 95-98% of the betting public, this means watching as much of the sport you are betting on as possible and reading the form book etc.

In the past I've made tens of thousands of pounds, mainly betting on horses, but that was back when I didn't have any commitments and could afford to lose my pay cheque each month as I was living with my parents. When you have a family to support and no betting bank to fall back on there is generally just too much pressure to make a profit from betting, so I wouldn't recommend it. It's a myth that you can't beat the bookmakers, but as I said it's not very easy to do it on a consistent basis.

jamesd

One good thing about this survey is that it only includes activities where the average result of participants is to lose money.

That's a pleasant contrast to some of the articles, which also use the word gambling to describe activities with an average positive return, like Premium Bonds and most investments, including those used in almost all pension pots.

Soubrette

ringo_24601 wrote: »

How about rephrasing the question - Do you struggle to make ends meet because you gamble? For MSE to even describe gambling as a form of financial planning is nuts.

Because that's not what the OP wants to find out!!

I have a friend who spends £4 per week on the lottery and is hoping to win big as it will solve all her debt problems. She is not in debt because she gambles and she doesn't struggle because of that £4 per week, she struggles because she has taken on too much debt to go on holiday, refurbish her moneypit of a house and general live life well above her income level for years and years.

I would say part of her financial planning is the hope that she will win the lottery - she thinks its a lot more probable than it actually is plus she buys into the 'you've gotta be in it to win it' she actually became quite angry once when I was trying to explain what the actual odds were, even buying £4 of tickets a week. That £4 would be much better used if it were budgeted elsewhere but like I said, it's not that that is pushing her over the edge moneywise.

S_AND_I

I play poker but do not consider it to be gambling. It is a game of skill that involves luck and money; bingo, lottery, roulette you cannot influence the odds. Oh and it helps to be skilful - to consistently beat people with too much money, alcohol or - commonly - both. Do I do it for financial planning? Untaxed profits can't hurt. If I invested and earned the same amount in the stock market people would call me a keen-eyed investor; instead I'm just a gambler. "Yeah, but how much have you lost?" Nothing. I've never had to put any more money in. I make profit from my profits. Change your views society, change! :rotfl:

timbstoke

I voted no - I do have a budget for gambling, but that's considered 'spending' money. All my bets are tracked in a spreadsheet for analysis in the same way as my normal budget, but potential returns don't factor into any financial planning. Usually, I deposit £50/month into Betfair during the Premier League (and now the Europa League!), and every week I'll have a flutter on a few games. Usually, I end up emptying my Betfair account a week before payday because there's no more games I'm interested in until the next pay period. Usually, my withdrawal is pretty much my original deposit, give or take a tenner or so.

mickthemuppet

My Day yesterday was
Laid Correct Scores Tennis V Williams v A Ivanovic Lose £65.70
Laid Correct Score Tennis S Williams v v Zvonerava Win £72.67
Laid 230 Ascot Forecast £ Win 114. 85
Laid 3.05 Ascot Forecast Lose £9.20 Short Head cost me £148
Laid Correct Score Tennis H Tsonga v R Stepenek Win £79.82
Back 3,45 Ascot Lose £5.00
Laid 1st Goalscorer Eng v Uraquay Win £87.14
Backed Speedway Match Win £70.00
Backed Speedway Batch Win £95.00

Today
Laid Tennis Correct Score V Williams v M Hantuchova Win 9.62
Plenty more to come today