Dear Sage, Once in a while you'd probably see LOTTO tickets in my personal effects when you grow up. I do bet on LOTTO sometimes but no matter how Large the potential winnings are (which could be as high as $5 Million) I make sure that I bet only 20 cents. I figured that I can afford to lose 20 cents a month on lottery. Years ago, my high school teacher computed the odds for me. Whether I bet 200 dollars or 20 cents on lottery does not really matter. The Chances of LOSING your 20 cents is as high as losing your 200 dollars. That's why, in the lingo of 21st century, "hindi ko kina career" ang LOTTO. The risk of losing money is TOO HIGH. Since I can afford to lose 20 cents, I have as much fun in checking if it wins anything but IF I bet too much (more than 20 cents) I don't think it will still be fun if I lose.
There are some risks in life that you should take. And there are some risks that are not worth taking. Examples of the former are legitimate Biz enterprizes, Bungee Jumping (Just make sure it's in Six Flags), and falling in love. Examples of the latter are ALL LEGAL AND ILLEGAL FORMS OF GAMBLING.
The more money you pour into these quagmires, the more money you will lose in the long run. There is a reason why big, money hungry corporations are not betting huge amounts of their revenues into Jueteng, Lotto, and Cock fighting even though the promise of ROI is theoretically 100 million times the original amount- It's because they are sure to lose HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY if they gamble it away.
A lot of gamblers have been seduced by the Catholic school dogma saying that "you should not gamble because it is... IMMORAL" which is like equating gambling to sex, drums and rock n roll. HOGWASH!
LOSING MONEY IS IMMORAL! That's why gambling really, really sucks.
I read a quote once that says "to equalize the money rich and poor people have, the poor should not be permitted to gamble away their monies while the rich should be permitted to do nothing except gamble in the casinos"
The current political leaders are copping out of their duty to protect the people from gambling by legalizing its most virulent form in the Philippines: Jueteng. By doing this they let people believe what the jueteng lords want the people to believe: that it is a "VICTIMLESS" crime.
IT ISN'T.
The victims of Jueteng are not the stockholders of SMART and GLOBE who can afford to lose spare change. The victims are those who subsist on less than 2 dollars a day. The victims are those who can't afford to lose money.
That's why the Poor should HATE THE JUETENG LORDS more than they HATE trapos. The Jueteng Lords take away MOST of their money but to bait them on these criminals give them back SOME of their money as "jueteng winnings" If you bet and lose 1,000 pesos of your hard earned money every month and you win ONLY an average of 500 pesos, you still lose. Unfortunately our people forget that when they add up the loose change (25 centavo coins) they and their community give to the JUETENG LORDS, they forget that it is much BIGGER than the JUETENG WINNINGS that the greedy jueteng lords permit them to win once in a while.
I'm sure that jueteng will still be a problem in your generation. But I hope that this blog entry will make you and your sisters realize why you should be as smart as PLDT, ABS CBN, and San Miguel Corp. when it comes to investing your money.
5 comments:
That's why I never gamble. I hate losing money. Not that I have a LOT to burn anyway...
Besides, I'm unlucky in any form of gambling, even on friendly card games I always lose. :-/
i hate losing money, too, in gambling. the stakes are way too alarming.
I don't bet in lotto. I'm not really that much of a risk-taker especially when it comes to money. Although, I also believe that sometimes, it's worth to take other risks in life.
I remember winning the lottery but not the jackpot (we missed one number) when i was preggy with my eldest. Do i still bet? Once in a while I still do.
thanks for your comments peeps.
Post a Comment