The gambler as entrepreneur

We were talking about how unpredictable a game of roulette is. That there were no fixed rules. Take for example the bankroll issue. We tend to pity those who loose and try immediately to find more money to gamble. Those ATMs in the casinos are there for a good reason. And I told him about a couple of times when I had lost my shirt (quite a few thousand) and then went to the ATM to draw all the little money I could (ATMs allow you to draw only a very limited amount of money). And then my luck changed and with the 1.000 euros I managed to draw from the ATM I won back much of my the thousands I had lost that day. So, though it seems an act of desperation, ignoring the rules of predefined bankroll, can sometimes get you some money back. And then we went on talking about bankroll in general. How important it was and how to define what bankroll to use. And he brought up again the gambling as business analogy. This was an analogy he loved very much and would bring up again and and again.

“You can view gambling as a business” he said. “It is something that you work for and something you try to make money with. Every serious gambler should feel a bit like an entrepreneur. In any business, having a good capital is a great advantage. The same with roulette. With every business there is risk and the possibility of going bankrupt. Same with roulette. Playing only with spare money is a very good advice for casual gamblers. But if your are serious… Well I know of a now rich blackjack player, who actually borrowed money from a bank in order to start gambling big money. Just like a entrepreneur would borrow money for his business. But I’d admit that gambling is very volatile kind of business. A field only very few can be successful at.”

Entrepreneur.com: Entrepreneurs and Gamblers Have Much in Common.