I can't imagine the first time that phrase was uttered by someone, and I can't help but think that it may have been as far back as Biblical times. Perhaps two young men were talking about running and one said he was faster than the other and the other one mentioned the now famous quote "Do you want to bet?" Look at what's happened since then! We have horse racing facilities, (as I sit down to bang out this article, Santa Anita is opening today). We have professional football teams, most started by then bookies who are now sportsmen. We have all types of other sports and sports arenas. All of these clearly led to a major business in gambling and even some major personalities such as the late Jimmy the Greek.

We have the gambling capitals of America, Las Vegas and Atlantic City. And based on their example, we since have created the gambling capitals of the world which are larger than all the physical casino's in the world: Internet gaming.

And while there are millions of stories about gambling I have found none which have been quite as ridiculous as my wife's. I believe it was 1998 or 1999 when we were at our Condo in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. I was out for a jog and when I came back she came downstairs saying that we had to get to the casino to place a bet. She had just watched the movie "Heaven can Wait" and said that she now understood that the L.A. Rams were going to win the Super Bowl. My wife has never gone with me or anyone to a football game, and I am not even completely sure that she has ever watched one in its entirety. The Rams, I informed her, weren't the L.A. Rams anymore, but the St.Louis Rams. She didn't care. I told her they had just came off a terrible season and probably wouldn't make the playoffs. She didn't care. We went and she bet $20 and got 50 to one odds and of course that was the year the Rams turned it all around with the help of Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner and came within a couple of yards of losing the game. Okay, so they Won. And so did she--$1000.

We are now heavily ensconced in the "betting season" with all of the collegiate bowls going into full swing. Even my beloved Bruins of UCLA are going to be playing. The casinos couldn't be happier as this is their "Holiday Season". And thanks to the status of Indian reservations and some knowledgeable Indian leaders, even the American Indians are celebrating the "Holiday Season" in their lavish casinos that dot the landscape across this nation. As I have said before I don't know of any casino with a mortgage, not casino and hotel, but just a plain old multi-million dollar state of the art gambling palace. And yet, we go like sheep to the slaughter as we head east, west, south or north to be part of the opulence of the gaming industry.

I go and watch. When I was a young man, I went with some friends to Las Vegas and lost all my money while they were getting the room ready for a very long two night stay. I was able to cash checks at a very expensive check cashing place, as I recall about 1/3 of the check was theirs to keep, and I was able to eat and pay for the room for the "vacation". That experience probably saved me thousands of dollars in my life time as I realized that the food was pretty inexpensive, the rooms weren't bad either, drinks were free and the hotels seemed to be sprouting up every where. How did they make their money?

The phrase that gets to me the most is when people tell me they only take the amount of money with them they can afford to lose. I cannot remember one day in my life that I awoke and after some thought said to myself, I think I can afford to lose X amount of money today so what can I do to accomplish this? Writers note: people only determine the amount of money they can afford to lose after they lost it. Ninety-nine percent of the time, it is always the exact amount of what they lost. Coincidence? What do you think?

I don't want to give the impression that this week is the only major week in gambling in the United States. Not even close. I believe I have been told that the Super Bowl in football is the winner for major betting in our Country and that the World Cup of Soccer is the overall champion in world sporting events when it comes to wagering. Like the stock market, we now have a chance to increase our bets in the derivative market. Guessing who will win the coin flip is a very popular bet. (You get it over with before the game even starts). I am sure there will soon be a bet, maybe it's already here, as to which team gets the most favorable results from the instant replay decided by three people we never see and the referee.

I bring all this up for a reason. Betting is fun to some, addictive to others, and ridiculous to still others. I have seen great betters, great losers and very addictive gamblers who have lost millions of dollars and one who actually lost his house. I am not against gambling, or gaming as it is called, but I believe it has a time and a place and that is really the core of what I wish to discuss. Continued...