Gambler
Il faut parier Blaise Pascal
Bound over for playing pitch and toss
or, more portentously, having gambled
on Her Majesty's Highway,
my father was always an expert
at weighing up the odds,
made light of his brush with the law.
His gambling a science and pastime,
he never lost much, but knew
in the end that the world is flawed.
At best you could only break even.
He had taken us all to Ascot races,
and once took me to the Dogs,
where speakers bounced
their fractured echoes,
the track suffused with lights
and where, having placed
my own small bet,
it all depended on the hare's
mechanical, panicked blur.
Unschooled, he'd never read Pascal,
but knew what he needed to know
about risk, so went to Mass on Sundays.
The odds on heaven were evens.
M.C. Newberry
Thu 15th Apr 2021 12:44
As a man who enjoys pitting personal knowledge of horse racing
against the bookies' own expertise, i enjoyed this venture into the
vicissitudes of "gambling", albeit that the latter word is not one I
would apply to my own choice of pastime - essentially because
it (to me) indicates a devil may care approach, devoid of applying
information to a BET. A spin of the wheel is more like gambling as far as I'm concerned. In betting, you may come out ahead - or
not - when using "the appliance of science" (so to speak), but,
you will have also been paying for the pleasure of being involved -
just as you would for any other chosen entertainment. It's a
case of how much you're willing to spend for that pleasure and
this should always be regarded as "disposable income". I have
no time for so-called addicts who lack sense and self-discipline in
the outlay involved. That is the way to "hell", for themselves, But,
all too often, for others who suffer from their behaviour..