One of my favourite moments during one of my backpacking trips takes place in Australia. Things were looking grim. I had ten dollars to my name, and wasn’t sure what my next game plan was. My options were limited, this was afterall pre-Facebook, pre-Skype and options to talk this through were limited. This was the era of the disconnected backpackers. With so little to lose the obvious choice was roulette. Put it all on black! In my head it played out miraculously. I’d leave with cash filled pockets and buy a fancy dinner. In reality after one roll, I lost it all. My visit to the casino lasted about 10 minutes. My face was washed with dread and confusion. It was equally funny as it was sad. It was at this moment that I realized I had sunk as low as I could and the only way out was up.
This lead me to a hostel where I was able to work for rent, eventually taking on extra hours to make enough money to get a real job. I was able to save and continue traveling. I think the biggest lesson I took from this experience was that life doesn’t owe you anything. You can’t count on miracles to pull you out of any situation. If you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. That was the last time I bet in a Casino.
Casino’s market themselves as a tourist destination. But as a backpacker, a budget traveler, and an occasional person who will splurge on middle-class hotels, I think Casinos are a total waste of time and money. Allow me to elaborate.
Gaming is gambling
The next time you stay in a hotel, look for their pamphlets. Now find the local Casino. Look for the world “gamble”, or any derivative of it. You won’t find it. Why? Because gambling is synonymous with addiction. What you’ll instead be sold on is their “World Class Gaming“, they might mention a few popular games such as “Blackjack” or “Texas Hold’em”. But they wan’t to appeal to your base instincts. Fun. Enjoyment. Entertainment. And that slight chance that you’ll be the one going home a bag of money. Casinos are selling a pipe dream wrapped in bright lights, velvet cloth, and tacky carpet.
Gambling is highly addictive
If you have any addictive qualities about you, you’re at a higher risk of becoming one of those people who say “Okay, I’m not doing so good, but I’ll win my way out of this hole“. Only to realize you’re just digging yourself deeper in debt. While it can be hard to admit you’re susceptible to this, a large part of the population was wired this way. If you’re one of those, I’d urge you to steer clear of casinos.
You’re not likely the best poker player at the table
You might consider yourself a pretty good poker player. And while there are some folks who can make that transition from online poker to real life poker, the large majority won’t last long. While poker can be a great way to spend a night with friends when the costs are low, entering casino tables means you’re playing with people that want to win. And you’re playing with the house, who wants you all to keep playing so they can take their own cut. Just remember, you might be decent amongst your friends and family, but in Casinos, you could end up being just a small fish in a big pond.
The Odds Aren’t In Your Favour
When you gamble at casinos, the Casino doesn’t want you to win. They’re in the business of making you lose. So for most games that are played in casinos, the odds weight in the house’s favour. If it were easy to win money at the Casino, well… there wouldn’t be many casinos in business. Whether you’re betting $10 on black, playing a couple of $5 buy ins, or just plugging money into the one arm bandit. The odds do not favour you.
What else could that money go towards
I have friends who’ve told me how they blew $800-1200 a night in the casino. If you mix alcohol and gambling, logic takes the backseat and you end up waking up to some costly mistakes that you could be paying off for some time. One of my favourite travel tips is to think of the money you spend in quantities of travel. $800 could get you a round trip somewhere. $200 could cover almost 6 days of hostels in Canada. Think in this abstract for a week or two and you’ll surprise yourself how much you’re able to save away. Suddenly the costly things that add up in your life become less important when you’re able to substantiate what else you could purchase with their sum value.
Exceptions To This Rule
While I think Casinos are for the most part a waste of time. One of the big exceptions I have to this rule is live music or live entertainment. Depending on the city, many Casinos host live acts. If your favourite band or comedian is in the same town as you then by all means spend the money if you’ve thought it through. My wife and I, before we married, would regularly take the pedways from Barington to the Waterfront and catch live shows at Halifax Casino. On Friday nights they had free local musicians performing. Beer was cheap, and there was no cover, which ended up in any potential savings from that situation being spent on more beer. But all in all, those are the types of experiences I see as good ways to spend money in a Casino. The only gamble is whether the band you’re seeing is any good.
Gambling is one of those things that you’ll never stop. It’s wired into the risk-reward centre of our brains. But if you can just remind yourself of some of these reasons, you may end up discovering that your hard earned money doesn’t deserve to find a new home in the coffers of Casinos. Spend it where it means the most to you.