If You Can't Spot The Sucker

I've been wrestling with this idea.

More a musing.

And sure, it's dropped some elbows on me.

But I kicked out, brother.

Rising up shaking...

As a young(ish) old(ish) Korean(ish) American man, I gamble.

👈

You!!!

Or at least, I used to.

I did it until the point where I understood I no longer watched the game because of the game, but because of the wager.

The bet became the game.

And it's that way right now, for a lot of us.

The game is coated with the filter of your wager.

Sports have become synonymous with gambling.

Sports = gambling.

And here's the crazy part:

Gambling is now becoming synonymous with investing.

Gambling = investing.

Prediction markets and sportsbooks are creeping into people's investing dollars.

Folks are using hard-earned savings to gamble.

Doing more than that.

And some of these apps now have odds on current events right next to your retirement accounts.

Will Alex say a cuss word in his weird, cleanish, way in this musing?

That's the goal, you know.

To create an all-in-one "super" app where you can bank, invest, gamble, predict, and (hopefully still) retire.

There's this old advertising line where if something is different, make it familiar. And if something is familiar, make it different.

Sports is now gambling.

Once taboo.

Now accepted.

No, encouraged and sponsored by.

That's different.

Gambling is now part of people's investment plan.

That's familiar.

And this usually happens in times of desperation.

For those who are struggling to make any headway.

And it got me reeling:

Is this the new American Dream?

1...

To hit some sort of huge win through one of these mechanisms?

2...

It makes a ton of sense that in this age, a lot of our addictions are digital.

...He kicked out!...

But the impacts are very visceral.

Very analog.

We got casinos in our pockets now.

Banks, too.

That's too close to begin with.

But now, they're in the same app.

Right next to our dreams.

They're in the app now, too.

📲

There's a fortune to be made for the fortune tellers.

Always has been.

Always will.

But that don't apply to the one asking.

Never has.

Never will.

Now, I'm a bettor.

In a different way, but familiar.

I make asymmetric bets.

Small ins, big outs.

But this just seems crazy.

Calling gambling a legit form of investment.

But it do sound familiar.

Sheet.

We have a winner!

💰

Something ain't right.

Got a hunch.

100:1?

Yawn.

1T:1?

I'm listening.