When to Play and When to Quit

We continue, this week, the discussion which we began last week, about gambling.

One formal definition of gambling is that it is the betting, or staking, of something of value, while being aware of the risk and in the hope of gain.

As we noted last week, to be born at all is a matter of chance. A very very remote, and slim, chance. The life that follows is a series of events, each of which can easily go the other way, giving rise to the expression “the way the cookie crumbles”, meaning that that is the way life is, and that one must accept it and carry on.

All forms of gambling, invariably, call for a combination of strategy, and chance. Some of them, which are conducted on a very large scale, such as lotteries and horse racing, are organised by commercial and professional organisations, to ensure efficiency and transparency. So widespread is the activity that, according to one estimate, the total amount of money involved, in the world, is a whopping $10 trillion per year. That is, if one excludes the part which is illegal.

While state-licensed lotteries are popular in most countries, organised football or soccer also command an equal following, especially in Europe and South America.

Stock markets may also be considered as a form of gambling, although they involve more skill and knowledge, on the part of the players, than other forms. So is the case with insurance, where paying the premium on one’s life insurance is, in effect, a bet, that one will die. An expectation, if you will, within a specified time. Strangely enough, that is regarded as winning as, in the case of premature death, the sum insured is paid to the nominee; and survival, as a loss, as the premium is kept by the insurance company! These two arrangements, clearly, are beneficial to society.

In almost every form of gambling, the probability of not winning, or the ratio of the unfavourable possibilities to the favourable ones is called the odds. The probability of a tossed coin landing on its head, for instance, is ½ and the odds are 1 to 1, which are called even.

Now a days, more scientific methods of forecasting are available, such as advanced statistical techniques. However, such statistical models need scientific data and large samples and are confined, so far, to laboratories.

The possibility of winning, coupled with the excitement associated with betting, often leads to the adoption, especially by some professional gamblers, of questionable tactics. As a measure of neutralising the impact of such tactics, some standard precautions are taken, such as the cutting of a deck of cards before a game begins, in order to guard against the possibility of the deck having been loaded, or arranged, in a manner favourable to the dealer. The ability to maintain an inscrutable facial expression, and a body language that gives no indication, either of pleasure or disappointment, is essential for a successful professional gambler. In poker, probably the most popular or games which involve an element of gambling, such a gift, also known as ‘table presence’, is called keeping a ‘poker face’. That is particularly important, when the player concerned is ‘bluffing’, or attempting to make, the other participants in the game, form a false impression about the cards he/she is holding.

Apart from the occasional fling I have had with gambling in congenial company, while at home, I have had many interesting experiences even while travelling abroad.

There was this time, for instance, when I was working as the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture of the government of India, I had gone to Kathmandu, to attend meetings of a Joint Working Group on Agriculture, Usha my wife, accompanied me. And how can a visit to that enchanting place be complete without a visit to the casino!? Usha and I duly succumbed to the temptation. Luckily, we escaped without our purses being seriously dented!

While on a visit to Hong Kong, where my daughter, my son-in-law and their children stay, we visited Macau a Special Administrative Region of China, and known as the Las Vegas of Asia. The hotel in which we stayed had a sprawling casino, full of all sorts of complicated games, such as Roulette and Baccarat. The rush of blood and raised pulse, which go with gambling in such an ambience, were really worth experiencing. Once again, the damage was minimal.

Easily the most exciting, as well as amusing, experience I had was during the visit to Las Vegas when I had accompanied Vice President Hidayatullah while on a visit to America. The visit to the gambling capital of the world was by way of a relaxing diversion to an otherwise busy schedule. Both of us had a go at the slot machines and other games, in a casino. While departing, we found slot machines in the VIP lounge at the airport. Quite literally, both the Vice President, and I, had to be dragged away from the machines, when the aircraft was just about to take off!

I recall another innocent, but very enjoyable, experience again from the time when I was the Secretary to Vice President Hidayatullah. The Vice President’s Personal Physician, the Private Secretary, the Personal Security Officer and were a part of the entourage in trips within the country, for which we invariably travelled in an aircraft which belonged to the VIP Squadron of the India Air Force. The place was fully equipped, with a drawing room for the Vice President and luxurious seating arrangements for the rest of us. And the food was excellent too. As we had usually done the homework required for the forthcoming engagements, we had plenty of time to relax, with a friendly, but serious, game of cards. By turns, one of us would undertake the task of maintaining a running account, from game to game, and settle accounts on returning to Delhi. The stakes were extremely modest and no one ever lost, or won, more than a few hundred rupees in a trip.

Gambling, its nature as a weakness or an addiction, as well as the underhand practises which some professionals resort to, have been favourite subjects for cartoonists, writers, and movie makers. The popular comic strip ‘Andy Capp’ is an extremely entertaining example. Gambling has also figured as a theme in the plots of many novels, such as ‘Gold Finger’ and ‘Casino Royale’, by the popular author Ian Fleming, both of which also subsequently were made into very successful motion pictures. A similar movie in Hindi, ‘Gambler’, was also a runaway hit in India.

Humor associated with gambling often stems from the paradoxes and ironies intrinsic to the activity. Gambling jokes expose the inherent risk and unpredictability of betting or even the occasional absurdity of the gamblers’ logic.

“When a wise guy was asked “How do you make a small fortune from gambling”?, the reply was “Start with a large fortune”!

(The writer was formerly Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh)