Skip to main content

The SCARY Truth About Trying to Get Rich Quick Gambling

Freepik

Two years ago, last October 2023, I wrote an article where I described that the pera-normal settings are resultss of mismanagement. I was running out of ideas, but thankfully, Gemini AI, with its combination of right and wrong answers (that's why double-checking is important), has helped me out of writer's block. I would like to state that because October means Halloween for some, I decided to write this post where I address the scary truth about gambling. This reminds me of the irony of turning down investing in favor of gambling, such as the irony of "investing" in Axie Infinity after pulling out of AXA, or the stupidity of buying lottery tickets in hopes of getting rich.

Back in 2012, I remember losing a huge sum of money to a family friend, who was a habitual gamber. Some people even play mahjong until the crack of dawn, hoping to get rich fast. In another situation, I remember hearing of people who keep playing the lottery, hoping to get rich. This reminds me of the sob story of some crazy female working student, who mentioned how her family keeps buying lottery tickets after work, and she contributes via her silly song and dance. I got mad at her sob story back then. However, after realizing that trying to discipline every single Filipino isn't a sound economic plan, I realized that the crazy girl and her family were but symptoms of a much higher problem. They were the effect and not the cause of bad economic policies, such as the Filipino First Policy. But let's not dwell on that. Instead, I would like to focus on gambling for now.

The mathematics of probability shows the scary truth about gambling

A gamble means to bet on an uncertain outcome. This is the problem with gambling. When you're going gambling, it means that anything you gamble is based on an uncertain outcome. In the study of statistics, we have the mathematics of probability. This time, I'll cite from Investopedia, which is again, another material that my socialist hippie critics hate. This is the sad truth about gambling probabilities of winning:
Math is the universal language, and it rarely ever lies. Each game you play at a casino has a statistical probability against you winning—every single time. While this house advantage varies for each game, it ultimately helps to ensure that over time, the casino won’t lose money to gamblers.

For people who are really good at blackjack, the advantage for the casino might be only 0.5%, but certain types of slot machines might have a 35% edge over a player—and other games fall somewhere in between. The slot machine odds are often some of the worst, ranging from a one-in-5,000 to one-in-about-34-million chance of winning the top prize when using the maximum coin play. 
The house advantage obviously isn’t insurmountable—people do win, sometimes substantially. However, it does mean that the more you play, the more the math works against you, and the better the chances are of you walking out of the casino with less money in your wallet than when you came in.

In fact, playing the lottery is gambling. I tend to laugh (and cringe) whenever that incorrigible female working student, who kept talking about her family woes, and how they've been buying some lottery tickets, hoping to get rich. In fact, Investopedia reveals this sad data about lottery tickets:

Independent Probability

Of course, someone has to win the jackpot. But don't let that certainty cloud your judgment. The rules of probability dictate you do not increase your lottery odds by playing more frequently, nor by betting larger amounts on each drawing. Each lottery ticket has the same odds of winning no matter how many you buy. Each one has independent probability not altered by the frequency of play or how many other tickets you bought for the same drawing.

Buying more tickets certainly increases the overall likelihood of claiming a prize of some sort, even if it's extremely likely to end up below what you spent on the tickets. Spending $1,000 on Mega Millions tickets carries a nearly 50% probability of getting back $64 or less, a nearly 90% chance the prizes won won't total more than $92, and a 99% likelihood they won't top $554.

When the jackpots carry over and grow in size, those who buy tickets to the latest drawing can hope to claim some of the money spent by the luckless players on the prior ones. That may initially improve the expected return on a ticket, but as the higher jackpots and attendant publicity draw other players, the increased likelihood of having to share a jackpot, if you win, can lower expected returns below those on much lower jackpots.

Keep in mind that lottery game prizes account for only 50% of ticket receipts, like the Powerball.

This is scary information, mind you. Investopedia's blunt approach to addressing financial illiteracy, such as people who think supply and demand is just capitalist propaganda, aligns with my style of rhetoric. If we must look into the scary truth that you can never laugh away basic economic laws. Just think of the fact that a good example of a country that tried to ignore the laws of economics is Venezuela.

There's a statement, "Nobody gets rich from gambling but the casino!" Back to Investopedia, this is also one dangerous fact that we need to consider:

How Do Casinos Make Their Money?

Although casinos may earn some money from food, entertainment, and other venues, the breadwinner for the industry is the games. A significant portion of casino profits are the result of the accrual of all of the losses from casino patrons each year.

Does Playing More Increase the Odds of Winning?

The odds for each game are stacked in favor of the casino. This means that, the more you play, the more the math works against you, and the better the chances are of you walking out of the casino with less money in your wallet than when you came in.

Why doesn't the jackpot guarantee that you'll become rich?

This reminds me of a hypothetical scenario with my incident with that, what if the crazy female working student won the jackpot in between the time we met (2006) and up to this present day (2025). It would soon be 20 years since the incident. I heard that winning the jackpot doesn't guarantee a stop of gambling. It's like, for example, I look at my current investments at ATRAM (I will not disclose the amount, and neither should you disclose your investments in public), the more I think, "Rise some more!" However, given the amount of time equities (stocks) rise or fall, their volatility is nothing compared to gambling. In fact, one must always think that stocks aren't lottery tickets! I have the feeling of a high whenever the NAVPU goes up.

If there's something to think about, gambling is indeed addictive. What's even more tragic is when you realize that gamblers get a high even when they lose. It's an interesting piece of information that has become a clue as to why the jackpot couldn't guarantee you'll become rich. Now, time for a bit of truly scary information from the Gateway Foundation:
Compulsive gambling shows signs of measurable changes in your brain chemistry. As a behavioral addiction, gambling addiction is closely connected with how the brain’s reward system functions. Specifically, the effect that gambling has on your brain’s levels of dopamine — a chemical messenger that causes feelings of pleasure — is what makes gambling so addicting.

Hitting the jackpot releases dopamine, generating exceptionally good feelings each time a gambler wins. Once you’ve experienced the rush of dopamine brought on by a gambling win, you’ll do almost anything to experience that same amount of pleasure again.

The dopamine release from gambling makes it easy to gamble repetitively without a second thought. Before you know it, gambling can become a habit and an addiction. Those with a severe gambling addiction can even get caught up in the “dark flow” — a trance-like state in which players get absorbed into a gambling game for hours.

However, as someone gambles more and more, their brain begins to build up a tolerance for the dopamine released by gambling. Over time, the brain’s reward system gets overused, and betting the exact amounts does not produce the rush of good feelings that it once did. When the brain’s reward system is blunted, those craving more dopamine must take bigger and bigger risks to achieve the same high.

Once a gambling addiction reaches this point, people will struggle to stop placing bets. Since gambling triggers the same dopamine release as using a drug, compulsive gamblers can also experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop. In these cases, people need professional help and support to recover from their addiction.

Let's just say I hit the jackpot. What happens next is that because of a gambling win, the dopamine surge may be a lot higher than when somebody had stock market gains from 5-10 years of boring investment. The same could be true for the day trader who might get a 20% increase of the money within the day. However, that's all by chance, not financial discipline. In short, a day trader who gets a 20% increase would now hope to get more than 20% increase also within the day. If I invest my coupons from a bond to GInvest is reinvesting, the jackpot money is regambled all over again.

Given the chances of losing vs. winning, hitting the jackpot means, "Okay, I got the jackpot but it's not enough." It might result in more than just overspending the jackpot money. The dopamine surge would mean that instead of stopping after winning the jackpot, the dopamine surge from winning the jacpot, will encourage the gambler, to well, regamble the money. 

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Wanting Wealth WITHOUT Financial Discipline

Many people want to be rich, but not so many people want the discipline on how to be rich. Isn't that the plain hard truth ? As I do this sideline blog , I contemplated whether I should write another post after writing several posts years back, or when I wrote about Venezuela as a cautionary tale . Back on topic, I thought about how financial discipline is something often overlooked. It's easy to talk about Christmas since that's probably the most wonderful time of the year to be spendthrift , only to find out that one's broke by the New Year . The cycle of reckless financial habits tends to restart in January, even when January becomes that time of reckoning between debtors and creditors! January 2026 will end, February 2026 comes, and then the cycle of financial recklessness continues. It's the same cycle over and over! Last Christmas, I remember how DTI Secretary Christina Roque spoke about the PHP 500.00 noche buena, for a family of four . I called it tactless b...
Read more

The Philippines will NEVER Get Richer by Blaming Its Richer Asian Neighbors

Gemini AI Updated: September 27, 2025 It would be nice to talk about the typical blame game in the Philippines. I could remember that, as a child and a teenager, I had this habit of blaming people I disliked for my failing an exam. The reasons are mostly imagined. What I remembered in my later college years was when I met a couple of super irresponsible students. They had this attitude to say something like, "My parents don't care if it'll take me 20 years to finish my bachelor's degree." Some people even say something like, "It's the fault of the rich that we are poor." It was a backfire when I told such people, "Isn't it any wonder why your finances are down? It's because your parents don't even value the money when they don't care if it'll take up to 20 years to finish college!"  Understanding the blame game and why it feels so good Psychology Today presents this on why some people will always blame others . These fin...
Read more

Venezuela as a Cautionary Tale on #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba, Nationalistic Pride, Welfare State Economics

The Sunday Guardian Years ago, I wrote about Venezuela's pride and protectionism , under a more "formal" style of writing compared to my latest posts. I decided to use an even "less formal" and "less academic" tone since I'm not writing a term paper. Instead, it's like how a professor and a student discuss the thesis using first person over third person, using contractions, etc., while the thesis doesn't use such tones. Back on track, I thought about the arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro can spark debate. Was it a violation of sovereignty? I'm no expert on international law. However, Venezuelans can be seen celebrating Maduro's arrest. Right now, I'm using Gemini AI and Google search to help me find some sources for this blog. It's because I don't want my blog to become another gossip central, but a place to discuss facts with my own personal opinions (making sure they don't  derail the facts).  I used Venezuela ...
Read more

Helping Others is Good But Not to One's Own Expense

I advocate for helping others. I believe in helping others but there were times I overdid it. One time, I gave up so much that I had to be stopped. I was told, "If you gave everything now, how can you help others later?" I would donate some sums here and there, without thinking much. I'm not going to write them all. Some of them left me good while others left a bad taste (and a bad record) for me to endure. Sure, I want to help people but I tend to overlook the consequences. Some of the bad habits I had in the name of helping others are like: Being too generous with buying with credit. Eventually, I lost a lot of money which was never recovered . Some seasoned entrepreneurs may admit their own falls including the credit trap pitfall. Being too willing to give a discount without thinking about how it'd affect profits. Sure, a cheap price can draw people near. However, there are times when the prices of goods and services need to be raised to keep a business running. I ...
Read more

Hussam Middle Eastern Restaurant: A Trip Into Authentic Syrian Cuisine At Ayala Center Cebu

  The last time I ate at a Hussam Middle Eastern Restaurant branch last year, I couldn't give a good assessment. I haven't been to Hussam's main branch at Il Corso, so I didn't formally meet its owner, Hussam Alfakeh Alkourdi. The branch I ate was in Ayala Center Cebu instead. This is the interior of the restaurant. Ayala Center Cebu has Persian Palate on the third floor, above Timezone. Hussam is near one of the entrances of Ayala Center Cebu--near a Chinese restaurant. Persian Palate was my entry point to Middle Eastern cuisine.  Hussam serves authentic Syrian food. There are dishes similar to those from the Persian Palate. They serve Syrian bread, different from my favorite Pita bread served at Shawarma Gourmet (read my review here ), a Lebanese restaurant. So far, I tried their mixed meat platter with Syrian bread. My second dish there was actually baked Arabic rice with grilled beef kebab. I love their tomato sauce (which I mistook for ginger sauce) and garlic sauc...
Read more