Gambling for profit – is it an option?

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Well, for certain individuals it most definitely is – a “professional poker player” or “professional punter” makes most of his (or her) monthly income off sports betting or the most popular card game of all times. For an everyday fellow like you and me, though, gambling over the internet is more a pastime, a hobby or a form of entertainment with a twist. Especially today, when you can play the best casino games directly on your iPhone, wherever you are.

Online gambling doesn’t have to be all about losing money, though. With the right choice of games and some basic money management its costs can be reduced to a minimum, while still having the feeling of risking real money at the roulette table. Well, actually not the roulette table – that is one of the least rewarding forms of online gambling. Actually, there are a few games that are both entertaining and bear a high potential for winning. Blackjack is one of them – it is a game that gives players an almost 50% chance of winning, that’s probably why its payouts are so low (1 to 1 on hands won, 3 to 2 on blackjack).

The problem with casino games is that they are not designed to be profitable. Casinos have always been about having fun much more than about making a profit. Most casino games are based on mathematical probabilities – or chance, as some like to call it. These games are designed to entertain, but in a way that will usually leave players with their pockets empty. Take slot machines for example. These ingenious games are flashy, colorful and most of the times funny, but rarely profitable. Of course, they have some very attractive jackpots (at least some of them) that, once won, can change a player’s life forever, but these require some very unlikely combinations to land on the payline, so the chances of winning them are really slim.

If you consider becoming a professional gambler, poker might be the right game for you. This game relies much less on chance (although probabilities play a major part in it as well), and much more on strategy and the ability to “read” the opponents’ actions and expressions. When playing poker, sometimes just betting in a certain fashion can win a round, even with some worthless cards in hand. Becoming a good poker player takes a lot of time, though. Learning the necessary skills and strategies, and most importantly when to use them, are a lengthy process. But still, the rewards in sight are sometimes worth it – reaching a high ranking in a serious competition can add thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars to a player’s bank account…

I think we are safe to say gambling for profit is not an option for the everyday chaps like you and me. Becoming a professional gambler requires time, dedication, and lots of available funds – just like becoming any kind of professional. Let’s just leave online gambling as an option for the long rainy afternoons…