I’m a Betting Man

No, that’s a lie. I’m not.

My risk aversion usually prevents me from doing any serious betting or gambling of any kind, and while it keeps me from going totally crazy, it can be a bit annoying at times as well. For instance, there was no way in hell I was going to win the “poker vs stock market”-bet I had with Tomas. So I lost it because I’m psychologically prevented from playing on high stakes tables. Even when I’m handling fake money, I can’t make myself use them.

But nevertheless, I tend to gamble a little from time to time. For some reason, this usually happens when there are a major football tournament going on, and right now Euro 2012 is happening in Poland and Ukraine. Why I bet on football, I’m not sure. It’s probably one of the sports I know the least about. Thinking about it, that I don’t know a thing about football is probably the reason why my gambling habits are focused on that particular sport: If I lose a bet, it’s simply just bad luck and not my own fault because I didn’t know any better.

So it turns out I’m suffering both from excessive risk aversion and an unhealthy need to blame my failures on bad luck instead of bad skills. Allrightythen…

Anyway. Now that Euro 2012 is underway, I moved about $50 from Poker Stars - where they had been hibernating for 3 years - over to bet365. I don’t know much about online betting sites, but from what I can tell bet365 is a one-stop-shop when it comes to betting online. They have a very streamlined interface, that I was shocked to discover was designed on Flash - it works! - and tons and tons of features: Live video streaming of several events, live audio commentary of all the Euro 2012 matches and continuously updated live bets in a wide range of categories and sports. I even found Formula 1 in there and made a whopping $11.50 on Sunday when I bet there would no safety car during the race. Yesterday, that money disappeared again, though.

So I’m not into the big money yet, but I’m currently about 10 USD in the black. Maybe I can even place an massive $10 bet before Euro 2012 is over and there are two years until my next gambling spree starts: The 2014 FIFA World Cup.


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