For those that place bets on a regular basis, there is often no end game in mind. They place bets because they want to win money, yes, but they also do so because they enjoy the act of betting. With that in mind, they don’t bother to set themselves an ‘out’, a point at which the betting will stop and they will walk away.
The reality is that a good return when betting would be zero, given that that would mean that you’ve not lost any money. Most people will always lose in the end because that’s how betting companies are set up, to ensure a profit for the company.
There is a reason why the saying ‘the House always wins’ is so well known. It might seem like a bit of a cliché, but in actual fact it is simply true. Whether you’re in a casino or placing bets on horse races and football matches, the company that you’re placing your wagers with has been set up and constructed in order to always win in the long term. If they are winning, that means that someone is losing and that someone is the person that is spending their money placing bets on any number of different subjects across the board.
No Loss Is A Good Thing
Each person that places a bet will need to find their own balance. What is considered to be a good return for one person will not be the same as a good return for someone else.
In truth, most people never even think about what their return might be, instead simply placing bets and waiting to see what the outcome is at the end of it all. It is only the clever bettors that bother to spend time thinking about what it is that they’re hoping to achieve at the end of it all. They will have a sense of what the return is that they’re looking to get vs the actual chances of it happening.
If you have never thought about what your end goal is when placing bets, it is worth doing just that. When you do so, bear in mind that not losing money is a good thing when it comes to betting. The companies that you’re spending your money with are set up with the explicit aim of taking your money from you and making a profit no matter the outcome of an event. As a result, being able to walk away from them without having lost any money is about as good a return as one can hope to get, even though it doesn’t always feel like that.
Enjoying It Can Be A Return All Of Its Own
For many people, the joy of betting isn’t in the winning as much as it is in the taking part. There is no question that certain bettors get a level of pleasure out of simply placing the bet, rather than whether it wins or loses.
As long as you are betting with money that you can afford to lose, this is an acceptable attitude to take. Provided it doesn’t actually matter to you financially whether your bet is a winner or a loser, you can take time to simply enjoy the pleasure of placing a bet with no particular thought in place about the outcome.
That is why being able to walk away with zero losses is a solid aim to have. It doesn’t mean that you’ve got a positive return, but rather just that you’ve been able to enjoy the placing of the bets and not lost any money whilst doing so.
For plenty of punters, that is actually the best outcome that they can hope to achieve. It is why it is always important to spend only money that you can afford to lose and to never throw good money after bad during the process of trying to make up your previous losses that you’ve suffered.
Even Small Losses Are Better Than The Worst Case Scenario
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, betting shops, casinos, bingo halls and any other form of gambling establishment that you can think of are set up with the explicit aim of taking your money from you whenever possible.
Even if you have got a positive return from your experience, that is only because someone else has suffered a negative return and lost money as a result. The long you keep betting for, the more likely it is that you will end up being the person that has suffered a loss and effectively given your money to the company you’re betting with.
If you are able to bet with money that you can afford to lose and understand that there is entertainment to be had from the act of betting even when you lose, you can put yourself in a situation where losing money is effectively the same as paying for the entertainment. Again, it is vital that you never get yourself into a position where you are losing money that you can’t afford to lose, but as long as you can afford to lose it then you will be able to cut your losses and walk away knowing that it doesn’t matter what’s happened during your betting.
Positive Returns In The Long Run Are Unlikely
Unless you are the sort of person that spends time studying your bets and investing the arb markets, the likelihood is that you’re not going to enjoy a positive return.
Indeed, if you get into a position whereby you are actively chasing a positive return then you are simply increasing the likelihood that you’re going to end up losing money. Imagine a scenario in which you go to a casino with some friends, for example. You are talking before you go in and decide that you’ll stop placing any bets if you get to the point that you’ve doubled your original stake.
Your original stake is £100, but you lose it playing a combination of roulette and blackjack. As a result, you get another £100 out thinking that if you double that then you’ll at least have drawn even. You lose that too and suddenly you’re £200 down when your plan was to quit when you were £200 up.
The wise bettor will cut their losses and stop betting at that point, but too many people just don’t stop and carry on betting, soon losing money that they can’t afford to lose. That is why it is pointless to have any specific aim in terms of the return that you’re hoping to get from your time placing bets wherever you are.
Games Of Skill Are Different
Of course, here we are talking about gambling in terms of betting on sports and casino games. It is entirely possible to become good enough at games of skill to make a living out of it. Poker being the perfect example.
Still, most people playing poker will lose, even in the long term. We often hear about those that win millions at big tournaments but ultimately those winnings come from the loses of countless other players.
If you invest enough time, effort and research you can make a positive return from games of skill, but getting to that level will likely see you lose along the way.