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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMy neighbor, who is in his seventies hit the exacta in the Derby, $3000 on a $2 bet.
I was so happy for him. He has played the races his whole life. I told him winning on a DQ made up for all the times he lost on a DQ or photo finish. He knew exactly what I was talking about.
When you play the horses long enough you know horse racing will humble you no matter how good of a player you are. You lose some very tough races that break your heart. Sometimes luck comes your way and evens things out.
elleng
(131,292 posts)at140
(6,110 posts)by one huge win! One of my best friends at work was the same way.
lindysalsagal
(20,785 posts)How do you know the house is winning 99% of the time? It's open.
localroger
(3,634 posts)That makes it twice as bad as slot machines in Nevada or Mississippi, and five times worse than most traditional table games. It's twice what most sports books take. It's a game even very skilled bettors blanche at because it's so hard to beat that level of house take. The only regularly legal game that's even worse is the lottery, which keeps 50%.
Low bet / high payoff games are deceptive because few people actually keep track of all those small bets. But I paid my house off by advantage play gambling (alas, most of the games I exploited aren't offered any more; funny that). Nowadays I don't even play low-stakes table games which I used to enjoy, like craps, for entertainment. I've seen how that edge works when it favored me and it just isn't fun any more to know someone else is doing that to me.
Low bet / high payoff games rip you off even worse in the US because of the tax code. Theoretically you can deduct your losses against a win, but only those losses in the year of the win and only if you properly document your action, which nobody does. This really screws slot players who might have ten losing years before hitting a jackpot, and even if they do everything correctly they can't deduct those years of losing action against their win. And realistically, nobody keeps the records the IRS wants to see if they audit you for such a claim.