My Gambling Year

A little background.

I've never considered myself a gambler.  Never bet with an illegal bookie.  Office block pools for weekly Steelers games and the Super Bowl was the extent of it.  Oh, and about  ten year run in a fantasy baseball league and poker games with friends once or twice a year.   That was it.  That was the list.

Then the State of Pennsylvania legalized casinos and then it legalized sports betting.  It was fun to make the occasional five or ten dollar bet at the Casino on the upcoming Steelers game, or on who would win the NCAA tournament.   I said that I would never ever get one of those gambling apps for my phone.  Didn't want it to be too easy to make bets, I said.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck us all and changed everything.  All of a sudden, the occasional trips the the Rivers Casino were out of the question, so I then did what I said that I would never do.  I took $150 and opened a Fan Duel Sports Book account.   Thus, making small wagers on various games became a hobby and a distraction for me.    I also decided that I would keep track of my wagers and wins and losses.  I've made a lot of bets, but hardly any were for more that five dollars, and $10 or $20 bet is a huge exception, usually reserved for a "big event" like the Super Bowl, World Series, the Masters, or World Cup.  Plus, I would know that if I was just losing all the time, I could then stop.  Oh, and when my account got above a certain level, I would withdraw fifty or one hundred dollars and treat myself to something.  For example, my earbuds are known as the "Phil Mickelson Ear Buds" based on a ticket I cashed on his PGA Championship win of a few years ago.

Also, and this is not an unimportant fact, making small wagers and tracking them served as a distraction for me throughout the final two years of Marilyn's illness and up to the time of her death.  She knew that, encouraged it, and took great delight when I had a good night at the window.  She was special, that's for sure.  Happily, Linda continues to share that support and enthusiasm.

Anyway, so how did I do with my little hobby this year?  My gambling "fiscal year" begins on the day after the Super Bowl, and it ends on Super Bowl Sunday.  Here is how #bettheSproulecess, as it has come to be known by some, did in 2023-24:

	Amount Bet	Amount Won	Net	# of Wagers	ROI
February 14 thru 28	$‎ 176.19	$‎ 219.18	$‎ 42.99	41	24.4%
March	$‎ 445.08	$‎ 455.97	$‎ 10.89	108	2.4%
April	$‎ 407.57	$‎ 456.70	$‎ 49.13	139	12.1%
May	$‎ 426.02	$‎ 434.41	$‎ 8.39	130	2.0%
June	$‎ 401.29	$‎ 497.97	$‎ 96.68	119	24.1%
July	$‎ 309.28	$‎ 275.58	$‎ (33.70)	72	(10.9%)
August	$‎ 351.38	$‎ 355.54	$‎ 4.16	89	1.2%
September	$‎ 382.42	$‎ 432.90	$‎ 50.48	96	13.2%
October	$‎ 386.85	$‎ 346.14	$‎ (40.71)	125	(10.5%)
November	$‎ 299.03	$‎ 342.98	$‎ 43.95	94	14.7%
December	$‎ 405.62	$‎ 424.96	$‎ 19.34	112	4.8%
January	$‎ 401.36	$‎ 368.85	$‎ (32.51)	87	(8.1%)
February thru Super Bowl	$‎ 162.12	$‎ 238.78	$‎ 76.66	48	47.3%
2023-24 Totals	$‎ 4,554.21	$‎ 4,849.96	$‎ 295.75	1,260	6.5%
2022-23 Totals	$‎ 3,980.71	$‎ 4,512.35	$‎ 531.64	1,037	13.4%
2021-22 Totals	$3,390.33	$3,500.06	$109.73		3.2%
Three Year History	$11,925.25	$12,862.37	$937.12	2,297	7.9%

$4,554.21 covering 1,260 bets (average wager: $3.61) returned $4,849.96, a profit of $295.75 for a Return on Investment of 6.5% (7.9% over three years).  Not as good a percentage as the professional gamers shoot for, but much better than what my money market savings account at PNC Bank is returning.  This year the Super Bowl allowed me to close on a high note.  I had made 22 wagers on various game and prop bets totaling $66.83 and ended up cashing in for $129.81, a 94% ROI!  God bless Patrick Mahomes!

As for the new gambling year, I started by making one $7.50 wager on the Duke Blue Devils -7.5 over Wake Forest yesterday.  The Dukies won by eight, and returned $14.64.  Let's hope that that is a nice omen for 2024.

Good luck in 2024 to all of you plungers out there.