How Does Sports Betting Fit into Your Life

I used to think that sports bettors came in three flavors with a clear pecking order:

1. Pros
2. Semi-pros
3. Recreationals

My gambling career has resided in the first two bullets: semi-pro & pro. Right now I am a pro. When I say I am a "pro" - I mean that sports betting pays my bills. I would have defined "semi-pro" as someone who creates some income sports betting. And finally, a recreational is a category that I placed all losing bettors.

But then I started to poke holes in my definitions...

Billy Walters, the best to ever place a bet, made money from other businesses. Does this mean Billy wasn't a "pro"? Billy could have supported himself without betting - so was he recreational or a semi-pro? And because I don't have another business I am a pro?

Take this a step further - does this discourage me from starting another business? Because then I am not a "true pro" eating what I kill from the sports betting jungle.

Considering these definitions lead me to question what the goal of sports betting is. Is there even a pecking order that the pros sit on top of?‍

And I remembered an observation I made during my poker days!

Yes - stay with me for a brief poker story. I used to play in a live 5/5 cash game at the Sugar House Casino in Philly. The game played deeper (PLO) - and the average buy-in was about $2k. In poker this isn't considered a "big" game - but it's big if you aren't trying to make a living from cards.

At the game, there were three buckets of people.

• Winning players: The majority of this bucket was poker pros. Some winning players had jobs - most played cards full time.
• "Shit Regs": It's hard to explain shit regs...they aren't winning players and they don't seem to have jobs. They come and go.
• Recreational Players: These were people with established careers who were here for fun. You have to do pretty well in your career to be able to lose $2k+ in a night of poker - so the recreational players were successful.

I remember losing a big hand in a very unlucky matter to this rich dentist who played in the game. The hand hurt a lot - and I remember being pretty mad after. I usually wasn't mad when I lost to recreational players, but I was jealous of this dentist.

I remember thinking..."Wow, he is just here to have fun. Winning or losing that pot has no real impact on his finances (hopefully)."

Whereas, losing a big pot like that was harmful to my finances. My emotions and ego were tied to the results of hands like that. And yet, I would still place myself ahead of the dentist in my mental pecking order. I was the pro and he was the "rec".

I started to see recreational players and semi-pros in a new light. They had this life outside of poker that fulfilled them AND they got to play the same game I was playing. And they got have fun doing it? It all seemed impossible to me.

So I changed how I viewed the purpose of gambling

Now when I consider how sports betting fits into my life, I don't see it as solely a monetary engine. It also is:

• Something I enjoy
• A way for me to work remotely and live in the area I want to live in
• How I broke free of the standard corporate path - and gained freedom & time
• A community

When I think about sports betting/poker as just a way to make money, I do it a disservice. Because the goal shouldn't be just to make money - if that were the goal I would still be in investment banking. I love sports betting because I can make ENOUGH money, and check the more important boxes.

And I realized goals are personal!

My goal is probably not your goal. I know a lot of people who read this are building a strong second income stream with sports betting.

That's awesome!

If you don't need the second income, but sports betting fulfills your problem solving itch - that's great too.

My definition of success has changed. I used to believe the person that made the most money, or had the best model was the most successful. Not anymore. Now I believe the following:

The most successful sports bettor is someone who gets sports betting to fuel their dream life.

Thank you everyone for reading!