The Games of Chance

I was recently reading some articles about making extra income. One way some people do it is through gambling. There are lots of poker communities online and tutorials on how to play. Of course everyone wants to be like James Bond in a movie like Casino Royale where the stakes are high, the atmosphere is exciting, and everyone around you is super attractive, but we all know reality can be a little different.

I’ve been known to take high risks myself when it comes to investing like using leverage to increase my potential winnings (and losings, lol) but is it possible to invest time and money into studying the science behind playing poker, blackjack, other card games, or even slot machines, and learn to play them so extraordinarily well that we win more often than you lose? 🙂 Some people claim it’s certainly possible. We’ve all heard of professional gamblers and skilled poker players, so perhaps there is teachable talent involved. If that’s the case then maybe there’s potential profit making opportunity here. And it’s good to know that there are many online sites which makes it convenient to play these games from home :0)

The biggest benefit I can see for anyone to have at least some knowledge of the casino floor is that it can open up other opportunities for us. For example, it can make us more socially approachable. If our friends are playing a casual game of Texas Holdem, we don’t want to be the awkward person who just watches because we don’t know the rules 🙂 By exposing ourselves to how the games of chance are played we can get a better idea of the whole gambling community. What kind of people play which games. Which games have better odds of winning. And how to invest in large casino companies like Wynn Resorts, or  Las Vegas Sands Corp, which are both currently paying a dividend over 2%, and are beating the S&P500 index year to date 😀 We can learn about people’s gambling behaviors, how much the city of Las Vegas makes from this business, and have a better understanding of our economy in general. One of my friends joined a poker community awhile ago. His poker experience then gave him the confidence to dabble in mining for Bitcoins (0_0) Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency. People in the personal finance community have probably heard of it, but most of us, myself included, don’t understand all the related risks to try and invest in it. But you can see how one area of knowledge can lead to another, and now my friend has his own small business and makes extra income every month from it 🙂

However we have to be careful when dealing with high stake situations. Just like how we should protect our potential capital when buying stocks with stop losses or options, we should also limit ourselves when we’re in the casino. We have to know when to stop because practicing responsible gambling is of uppermost importance 🙂 Luckily most governments have programs and services to help those with gambling addictions, like the free assistance programs we have in BC. As the provincial Lottery Corporation saying goes, “Know your limit, play within it.” \(^_^)/