Author Topic: Casino winnings when broke  (Read 6132 times)

katie

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Casino winnings when broke
« on: February 28, 2015, 09:50:10 PM »
My husband has an acquaintance who is broke and working out of town because he "can't find good work here".  We all know what kind of guy he really is, so no need to explain anything.  We heard tonight, while working out of town, he won $300k at a casino.  First off, if you are supposedly broke, why are you gambling.  He was given $180 after taxes by the casino.  So far, he has spent $60k on a truck for himself and is planning on spending $40-50k on a car for his wife.  My DH says he will be broke by the end of the year, I predict before spring is over at this rate.

NykkiC

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2015, 10:04:29 PM »
First off, if you are supposedly broke, why are you gambling.

It may well be a case of 'he's broke because he's gambling' rather than 'he's gambling despite being broke'. The odds against winning 300k from a casino are long enough that I would be highly doubtful of this guy being there less than once a week, maybe more. The other thing is that most people who gamble don't keep track of the ongoing amount they have lost gambling. He may have won 300k that night, but I would bet he has lost a decent portion of that over his gambling lifetime.

MoneyRx

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #2 on: March 01, 2015, 02:10:45 PM »
First off, if you are supposedly broke, why are you gambling.

It may well be a case of 'he's broke because he's gambling' rather than 'he's gambling despite being broke'. The odds against winning 300k from a casino are long enough that I would be highly doubtful of this guy being there less than once a week, maybe more. The other thing is that most people who gamble don't keep track of the ongoing amount they have lost gambling. He may have won 300k that night, but I would bet he has lost a decent portion of that over his gambling lifetime.

Yep, completely agree with everything

zephyr911

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2015, 08:20:12 AM »
My husband has an acquaintance who is broke and working out of town because he "can't find good work here".  We all know what kind of guy he really is, so no need to explain anything.  We heard tonight, while working out of town, he won $300k at a casino.  First off, if you are supposedly broke, why are you gambling.  He was given $180 after taxes by the casino.  So far, he has spent $60k on a truck for himself and is planning on spending $40-50k on a car for his wife.  My DH says he will be broke by the end of the year, I predict before spring is over at this rate.
Gah! What a mor@n.
I'd quit my job tomorrow on a windfall like that.

TheAnonOne

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2015, 10:25:24 AM »
My husband has an acquaintance who is broke and working out of town because he "can't find good work here".  We all know what kind of guy he really is, so no need to explain anything.  We heard tonight, while working out of town, he won $300k at a casino.  First off, if you are supposedly broke, why are you gambling.  He was given $180 after taxes by the casino.  So far, he has spent $60k on a truck for himself and is planning on spending $40-50k on a car for his wife.  My DH says he will be broke by the end of the year, I predict before spring is over at this rate.
Gah! What a mor@n.
I'd quit my job tomorrow on a windfall like that.

On 180k? I get that this blog is all about retiring on small amounts but that only leaves 7k a year for you....

frugalnacho

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2015, 11:08:03 AM »
My husband has an acquaintance who is broke and working out of town because he "can't find good work here".  We all know what kind of guy he really is, so no need to explain anything.  We heard tonight, while working out of town, he won $300k at a casino.  First off, if you are supposedly broke, why are you gambling.  He was given $180 after taxes by the casino.  So far, he has spent $60k on a truck for himself and is planning on spending $40-50k on a car for his wife.  My DH says he will be broke by the end of the year, I predict before spring is over at this rate.
Gah! What a mor@n.
I'd quit my job tomorrow on a windfall like that.

On 180k? I get that this blog is all about retiring on small amounts but that only leaves 7k a year for you....

You're assuming he is starting from zero though.  I know I could retire today if I got a windfall that was significantly less than what my total nest egg needs to be, because my nest egg has been accumulating for years already.

ysette9

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2015, 11:20:13 AM »
How the hell can anyone spend that much money on a truck? Do they really cost that much? Granted, this is my own ignorance coming out because I would never consider trucks, but I always assumed because they are "not nice" they wouldn't cost too much money except for the big waste in fuel. You could get such a sweet ride for $60K buying a real car....

zephyr911

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2015, 01:05:32 PM »
On 180k? I get that this blog is all about retiring on small amounts but that only leaves 7k a year for you....
Hehe... I didn't say "retire". But the 9-5 would be gone tomorrow.
I make about 20k in the Air National Guard, sell real estate for fun, and have a few rentals. 150-160k would go to debt payoffs and new investments, with the leftovers as a safety margin while I spin up my side job to maybe one sale a month. It'd be enough to make the jump from FT govt work to PT fun and still pay the bills. And that's my main goal... complete FIRE is less of a priority than near-term quasi-independence.

gimp

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2015, 02:40:23 PM »
Oh, can I side-track this thread?

You know how you drive past casinos, and they advertise people who won $, and how much they won?

I always laugh when they're advertising some guy winning a thousand bucks. Really, for a thousand bucks, you let them put your name and face up on an advertisement of how much money you won? Jesus christ...

Gone Fishing

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2015, 02:50:35 PM »
Isn't there some saying about a fool and his money?

dandarc

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #10 on: March 02, 2015, 02:51:24 PM »
The other thing is that most people who gamble don't keep track of the ongoing amount they have lost gambling. He may have won 300k that night, but I would bet he has lost a decent portion of that over his gambling lifetime.
Which is going to bite him in the ass this year - could deduct those losses against the win if he kept good records.

AH013

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #11 on: March 02, 2015, 02:54:09 PM »
Oh, can I side-track this thread?

You know how you drive past casinos, and they advertise people who won $, and how much they won?

I always laugh when they're advertising some guy winning a thousand bucks. Really, for a thousand bucks, you let them put your name and face up on an advertisement of how much money you won? Jesus christ...

Hey man, for a thousand bucks some people will let them plaster their face on a hemorrhoids cream billboard :)

franklin w. dixon

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #12 on: March 04, 2015, 11:12:54 PM »
How the hell can anyone spend that much money on a truck? Do they really cost that much? Granted, this is my own ignorance coming out because I would never consider trucks, but I always assumed because they are "not nice" they wouldn't cost too much money except for the big waste in fuel. You could get such a sweet ride for $60K buying a real car....
Trucks are extremely expensive, and even more so now that the manufacturers have to comply with the new CAFE rules. Heavy duty trucks easily run north of 50k if you buy all the dumb leather seats and gigantic touchscreen console options. It's not really new though, like I know my dad spent 24k in 1994 for his truck, or 38k in today dollars, which is just about right on for the equivalent 2500 in modern times, minus the baby.


MoneyRx

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Re: Casino winnings when broke
« Reply #13 on: March 06, 2015, 01:57:23 PM »
Oh, can I side-track this thread?

You know how you drive past casinos, and they advertise people who won $, and how much they won?

I always laugh when they're advertising some guy winning a thousand bucks. Really, for a thousand bucks, you let them put your name and face up on an advertisement of how much money you won? Jesus christ...

Advertising a $1k win is pretty bad. I see people going through 100s and certainly 20s like crazy. Winning $1k for a lot of people in there would be like breaking even for a bad weekend.