Tummy Burger
New member
That's because it *is* different, profoundly so. It's the difference between pure, mechanical gambling like roulette, which has a fixed margin you cannot beat, and betting, in which the margin (the over-round on the book) varies, and you can decide whether it suits you or not.
"Betting" and "gambling" are used so often in the media etc as if the two words are interchangeable that it's understandable many people don't appreciate the difference. There is also the obvious example of FOBT machines, which masquerade as "betting terminals" but are actually hard gambling. If you gamble, you have no more chance of success, and will do no better, than a chimpanzee that has been taught to play the same game. When you bet, you use your brain to make decisions about what to back. You will still probably lose in the end, because of the over-round, but the more you think about it, the less you will lose, and there are those who spend enough time applying thought to it to make a profit in the long term. (Then they face the problem of being restricted, of course...)
Indeed , all of that. Funny, seeing your avatar reminds me how horrendous I am at the horses. This is one of the things that makes me adamant that it is possible to win on the football. My long term Betfair account for greyhounds is down lots, for horses even worse. But the football is the only thing, I have any knowledge of and thus am in profit albeit using low stakes. You need to put the time in to see the rewards IMO. Time I haven't got.