The Attraction of Prediction and Gambling

My dad was a bookie. Growing up, his education was limited because of various illnesses, and while he couldn’t be academically smart ?he became street smart. He also had one other important characteristic: he had an amazing capacity for mental arithmetic, which was necessary in the days before adding machines let alone computers.

?In the 1950’s he ran his business out of an office, but when betting shops became legal in the UK in 1960, he dove in and found a perfect location outside one of London’s busiest railway stations, which was also undergoing major construction. Within a few years he sold the shop to a major betting company and started another one closer to our home in Wembley.

?As a teenager I would go into the shop on Saturdays, the busiest day of the week for the major sport, horse racing. I would write the results of the numerous races on the board and occasionally take bets. One time, a guy gave me a bet which fortunately I recognized was for a horse that had already won an earlier race. I asked the man to wait while I showed it to my dad, who got very mad and kicked the guy out of the shop.

?My dad would occasionally gamble himself. Sometimes these were hedges against bets he already taken in the shop, sometimes it was just pleasure. He had one piece of advice to anyone who would listen.

?“Never bet more than you can afford to lose.”

?Subsequently, I found my way into the psychology of addiction, and perhaps unsurprisingly started researching gambling. I actually received a government grant to research the subject, wrote scientific several papers on it and was a founding member of Britain’s National Council on Gambling.

?Today, gambling is a multi-billion dollar industry, with many forms from casinos, to lotteries, to online betting on different sports and events.

?The research suggests what may seem obvious. People gamble for a variety of reasons, specifically to…

·????? Increase their interest and involvement in a sporting event that they are typically watching

·????? Heighten their pleasure at the prospect of winning money

·????? Increase their socialization with others, especially other gamblers

·????? Engage their problem-solving and predictive capacities

?Within these parameters, gambling is an easily accessible and fun activity. It only becomes problematic, when the activity is used to improve mood or boost ego, at which point the gambling can become unreasonably significant to mental health and get out of control. At which point my dad’s principle of only spending what you can afford to lose is ignored and thus violated. The compulsive gamblers that I worked with during my career, had all gone done this rabbit hole.

?With the advance of technology, gambling has become increasingly available and so much easier in which to participate. And for the vast majority of people who engage, it is a fun and interesting activity.

?So, as luck (if I can use that word while writing about gambling) would have it, I am now highly engaged as the Science Director with IntualityAI, which happens to have an amazing predictive technology system which has been incredibly successful across a number of sectors, including sports. In fact, for the past ten years, IntualityAI has, as far as we are aware, the best track record in NFL predictions, with a success rate of 58% and an ROI of 449%; you would have won almost 4.5 times your investment based on our predictions over the years.

?We are in the process of making this predictive system available to subscribers for a modest fee, who can get general predictions about the outcome of NFL games as well as in game betting, focusing on upcoming plays.? And such predictions don’t necessarily involve gambling per se. You can use them to guide your experience of any particular game, and shape your interactions with others who might have different perspectives on the evolution of a particular game or games.

?Specific details about our service will become publicly available in the near future. In the meantime if you are anxious to know more please email me at [email protected]

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