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Gambling Facts and Fictions
Seasonal Losing
 
Gambling Facts and Fictions: The Anti-Gambling Handbook to get yourself to stop gambling, quit gambling or never start gambling
Copyright © 2004
 by Stephen Katz
ISBN: 1418472409
Library of Congress: 2004094023
Seasonal Losing
Chapter 36

It is football season, baseball season, basketball season or whatever season it is for your favorite sport. A good time to be a sports fan. A bad time to be a sports bettor. If you bet $100 on a game and if you win, then you win $100. If you bet $100 on a game and when you lose, you do not just lose $100, you lose $110 which is an extra 10%. What kind of a deal for you is that? A very bad deal! This extra 10% is the sports bookie house edge against you. Every sporting event that a bookie takes bets on usually has at least this house edge percentage against you. Usually the house edge percentage is even higher against you on non-team, individual athlete, sporting events such as boxing, golf, tennis and others.

So you think that you can be the sports bettor genius who can overcome that 10% difference? You think that you will be the first person to microscopically analyze all those statistics, know the precise meteorological weather conditions for the outdoor games, know how all of the players are feeling during the games, account for injuries during the games, know what fumbles, errors, turnovers, mistakes and little idiosyncrasies will occur during the games, and also outsmart those sports line oddsmakers in Las Vegas. You believe that if everything else fails then all you need is some good luck. But good luck is impossible in sports betting when there is a bookie house edge. Eventually sooner or later and it is usually sooner, you definitely will always lose your bankroll. Losing all of your money in sports betting is absolutely inevitable.

It does not matter how you handicap the games, trends, players, coaches, weather or anything else. You will over the long-run pick 50% winners and 50% losers on point spread games against the spread. It does not matter how you vary the bets for instance betting more on your top picks. You will over the long-run place 50% of your total money on the winners and 50% of your total money on the losers on point spread games against the spread. But there is a catch. You must pay that 10% extra on point spread games when you lose. So it does not matter how the betting is done, you will always get ground out of your money. All other bookie propositions such as offering 20 to 1 odds on some golfer in a golfing tournament, still always has the bookie house edge built-in which you cannot possibly beat.

You could win money for awhile during a given sports season which would only happen if playing a limited number of games. But you will always eventually lose back all the winning money and then lose your original capital. That is not bad luck. That is a fact. With credit extended to you by casino sports bookies and also by local illegal bookies, the risk can be much more than your original capital. If you gamble long enough, not only will all of your capital be lost, the credit extended to you will also be lost or owed. This is a very common occurrence with sports bettors.

Credit taken out with a casino sports bookie must legally be paid back. The casinos will go after you and sue you if they are not paid. With local illegal bookies, that credit taken out must also be paid back. Although there are few local illegal bookies who will break your legs if not paid what is owed, they can still get very mad. Who knows what action they might take against you? If you are late paying them and then still cannot pay, the local illegal bookies will threaten you in some way and might possibly take action on those threats. So do not start thinking, "I’ll gamble and if I lose then I just won’t pay them the money." That is a very bad idea. Here is a very good idea. Since you are guaranteed to lose money anyway, simply stay away from sports betting with a bookie, legal or illegal. Then you will never have to suffer any of the sorrowful consequences of losing and owing money to them. Local illegal bookies are discussed in another chapter.

Do not shed any tears for the casino sports bookie, internet sports bookie or local illegal sports bookie when you are not a customer any longer. There are plenty of sports bettors out there who think that they can beat the bookie. These gamblers cannot beat the bookie now or ever. Do not become a sports bettor but if you are then stop betting immediately. You will have some nasty withdrawal nightmares along with urges to bet on what is perceived as that sure win game, but you must resist. Your only hope is to resist. These urges must be extinguished. Sports betting is hopeless. It is a bottomless pit of despair and lost money. Do not let the sports bookie own you!