Major Losses

A rare visit to the Betfair Forum led me to a YouTube video featuring a TEDx talk from a former problem gambler. After leaving the Army, the speaker somehow managed to lose £750,000, as well as his wife. 

One slide from the presentation looked familiar, but I can't for the life of me place why:

It wasn't the happiest of talks, (possibly the most upsetting part was that five million people buy the Daily Mail each day), although the ex-Major seems to have got his act together, at least for now, but is a good illustration of how vulnerable some people are to self-destructive behaviours.

Somewhat related was another YouTube talk I found today on the topic of Risk Intelligence, which included this slide:

The speaker, Dylan Evans, explains how for problem and leisure gamblers, betting isn't about making a profit, it's about the thrill of the win. 

For expert gamblers, there is no thrill, it's work. It's something I've written about previously - if you get excited about a big win, you should probably quit betting. 

Evans describes the motivation of the expert gambler as "the cold, rational pursuit of profit, with a certain degree of intellectual satisfaction", something else that I have long suggested, for example these words from a 2010 post on Why We Gamble:

I do find trading and investing a challenge, but an intellectual challenge rather than anything resembling a “war”.

He also talks about how expert gamblers don't see betting in terms of the maximum amount they might win but in terms of expected value, and that by thinking in this way, bets are considered with a longer time horizon.

He ends with a Damon Runyon quote: 

The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that is the way to bet.