Gambling Thread

‘I literally can’t stop.’ The descent of a modern sports fan

Really good article on one man's sports gambling addiction.

 

I can't imagine being a player, coach or ref on social media, and read the shit people throw at you for your performance on a game.

 

For any form of gambling, the responsible thing is to look at it as a form of entertainment, decide how much you are willing to pay to be entertained and then don’t spend any more than that. When you start chasing losses with money you didn’t intend to spend, the brakes have gone out on the downhill semi.

 

Got to play Good Beat/Bad Beat today.
Auburn's meltdown and Missouri's game-winning touchdown with about 45 seconds left killed a three-leg parlay that looked like it was sailing home when Auburn was up 11 in the fourth quarter.
I screwed myself, too. The line was Auburn +4 and I took it down to +3.5 to get it into plus-territory. That half-point took the odds from something like -112 to +100, and I kinda liked Auburn to win it outright anyway so I didn't mind. Paired it up with UCLA and South Carolina both -1, rather than the straight money line. I would've at least salvaged the push if I'd just left well enough alone and stuck with the -4.
Then in the night games, Colorado State was up 21-0 and gave up two touchdowns to Air Force in the fourth quarter to get it to 21-13. Air Force decided to go for two after the second one and didn't get it. Ends up 21-13 and Colorado State -7 comes home.
Giveth and taketh away, and all that.

 

But he COULD have stopped. Remove the gambling apps from your phone. Keep yourself in situations in which you cannot gamble.

I feel for the guy and others with addictions, but would the story have been as compelling if he couldn't have stopped winning?

 

What I'm playing for the noon sesh today...

Navy (+13.5) vs. Notre Dame
Indiana (-5.5) vs. Washington
Nebraska-Ohio State over 48.5
Parlay: +614

 

I've got the first two on a parlay as well, along with Illinois (+22) at Oregon. I hate time shifting my parlays, but I couldn't find another 11 a.m. game that I liked.
Navy and Illinois lines seemed a touchdown too big.

After that it's:
• BYU (-1) at UCF
• Wyoming (ML) vs. Utah State
• LSU (ML) at Texas A&M
• And the late-night special parlay of Washington State (-14.5) at San Diego State, Colorado (-7) vs. Cincinnati, and Hawaii (-1.5) vs. Nevada

 

I have a lot of friends/acquaintances in my town who are heavily into sports gambling. They all talk about the SGPs and other exotic bets which they make. They seem like a recipe for burning money to me.

 

There's a reason why the books push SGPs. They're huge money makers for the house. And the ones that pop up as "featured bets" are often crazy longshots, +1000 or worse.

Draft Kings specifically has made all of its parlay boosts only available to a 4-plus leg parlay. It's hard enough to hit a three-gamer. A four-gamer is really difficult.