Wednesday, November 4, 2009

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The economists in the house tell us (and they give a compelling and legit argument) that it is OK and even good to make bets at online sportsbooks even if the odds are against you. It's even better if you use a sportsbook promotion to play with the sportsbooks money.
While getting my MBA one of the concepts that I actually found pretty interesting was the utility curve theory of money.
The way it works, basically, is to look at the marginal utility of each additional dollar you have, rather than its fundamental economic value.
For instance, to a starving fellow in the street with no ready money at all, the marginal utility of a single dollar is incredibly high, as it can mean at least a bit of food that might literally wind up saving his life. If he won or lost $5 while betting with free money from a sportsbook promotion, this $5 would have a impact on his life.
However, for me (luckily), my quality of life is so completely unchanged whether I have an additional dollar or not that its utility is extremely close to zero. I would likely never notice if a dollar happened to fall out of my wallet once a week for the rest of my life (or if I won/lost $1/week while betting online with money from a sportsbook promotion).
However, on the flip side, for me (unluckily, as I've not wealth of that magnitude), my quality of life would undergo pretty drastic changes were I to win the lottery.
So, while the utility lost to me from spending a dollar on a lottery ticket is extremely close to zero, the utility gained were I to win would be astoundingly large.
Therefore, it likely makes sense for me to subscribe to the lottery (or use a sportsbook promotion to bet on sports online) and have it auto-deduct and play a ticket for me on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. The subscription/no-work-involved aspect is key, because if you add in the utility cost of actually physically going to buy a ticket you lose immediately. It must be as nearly zero-effort as possible in order to maintain the utility/quality-of-life positive balance.
Ideally, if I could literally forget it was even being played for me, aside from a $52 deduction per year out of my account, things would be nearly perfect. I'd never miss the $52 as far as my quality of life goes, and yet I'd always be poised for some pleasant surprise that would make my day/week/life.

But, it gets a little better. I actually like using a good sportsbook promotion to make some bets with other people's money. So, in this case, not only to I not only not miss lose $5/week, but I usually end up winning. And, I have a great time doing it. What more could you ask for?

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[Via Recreation & Sports]

ะพ 12:45 PM

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