I noticed this myself when travelling through South America a few years ago. In almost any country I went there was a state lottery where a lot of people played and talked about it. It was like a highlight of the week when the numbers came out. And then there were a lot of scratch card places where I saw often people wait in line to get new cards. It felt completely different to the lottery environment here in Europe. We do sometimes have hypes here as well, but they are rare and only happen for the Christmas lottery or big jackpots. And I rarely see people here doing scratch cards anymore. What surprised me was that there wasn't a lot of advertising for gambling, it must have spread through people talking to each other. It also seemed like the amount of money people used for gambling was higher as a percentage of their salary. This might be the case due to lacking opportunities to get out of poverty in those poor countries. Spending some money each week gives the small chance to become rich overnight, even if these small amounts each week add up to large sums over the years.

Great news, I think this is the best approach you can make when it comes to buying bitcoins. Take advantage of the cheap prices at the moment while still having some funds left to keep buying in the future when prices might drop lower. And even if prices are rising sharply again you are already invested. I am following the DCA method myself for several month now. Dividing assets into Real Estate / Gold / Bitcoins for retirement is a good idea, but I think you are missing one important thing, Stocks. All three assets you recommend don't provide any income when holding it. Real Estate might give you income when you rent it out, but the most likely scenario is that you live in the house or apartment yourself at an old age. And Bitcoins and Gold only gives us income when we sell it or use it to pay bills. One option that makes sense in my opinion is to invest in high dividend stocks, like that you always have some additional cash inflow every year in form of dividends.

While you are right that there are probably more people who lose in gambling than there are winners, it's important to look at the whole picture. I expect that the majority in gambling either wins small or loses small. From my friends I know that we all spend smaller amounts in the casino and try to keep our losses limited. Over the years I wouldn't say that gambling had a big impact on my financial situation, because I also look at the opportunity costs. If I don't spend one evening gambling than I would do something else, like go to the movies, or to bar drinking with friends, or to a restaurant. All of the alternatives would also cost money and should be compared to the losses in gambling. It's not like if I stop gambling I would sit at home and only watch TV. Gambling is much more interactive than to watch passively TV. It's good to focus on the benefits of gambling from time to time. This means reasonable and compulsory or addictive gambling.

Yes of course the bitcoin price will reach 40k USD again. The real question is when, not if. It might take 2 months or 2 years, but eventually the bitcoin price will recover again. Bitcoins has been around for many years now and tends to always move in cycles. After the current bear market will come the next bill market.  As a new trader I would recommend you buy some bitcoins and leave them as a long term investment. The market is very volatile right now, your position can easily go up or down 10% in a week. Making a quick profit or loss can motivate you to trade more often which will always cost transaction. Best to to hold out and wait for a new ATH.

What a final, that was very impressive by Team Spirit, after the first round I thought LGD PSG would win the major. They were the clear favourite before to win.  Luckily I had no bet for the finals, my last bets were on LGD for the upper bracket final when they won 2-0 and on OG to make it through the lower brackets. Somehow the potential winnings on LGD to win the major were already so low that it didn't seem worth the risk to me. Such a strong performance from Team Spirit in the final could also be the final for the International this year. Same like last year seems the most likely now LGD vs team spirit. During the commentary yesterday I think it was ceb from OG who says that teams play a little weaker during major to not show their full strength and best strategy before the international. Now I am wondering if team spirit already calculated to get into the finals via the loser bracket and held back till the very end.

The first step for me to get my personal finances in order was to track my expenses. Only after recording every time I spend money in a month I got a feeling for my situation. Before that I didn't keep an close eye and used to withdraw money every time I needed it. A simple excel sheet helped me a lot to see where I spend most of my money and which positions I could reduce. After removing unnecessary expenses I looked at the fixed cost like insurances and food and other supplies. Just by switching insurance companies I managed to save 50 Euros per month. And I started buying at a discounter supermarket which sells larger quantities at a cheaper price. Instead of planning for the next 2-3 weeks only I look at the next 6 months now and whenever there is a special deal I buy more and have more storage at home. There are a lot of things where we can save money, even if it's only a few cents it will add up over time.

I have been gambling regularly in the last few years and still enjoy it today. From my last 10 sessions I don't remember anything particular out of the ordinary. There are days where I am winning and days where I am losing. My gambling budget per week is pretty tight which limits my potential loss I can have. In the last two month I think I only hit my loss threshold twice. What I do remember from my last few gambling session is a nice poker hand where I won 9 USD with Q10 in hearts. For me gambling tends to have different phases, sometimes I play more blackjack and roulette and sometimes poker. Right now I am in a poker phase again. I don't have so much time in the evenings so I mainly play cash games. You can sit down or stop playing anytime you like, it's a good way to entertain myself after work.

Damn I didn't expect that already 25% of the users so far are owning 1 BTC, somehow I thought the ratio would be a little lower. Good for them, I am not jealous or anything. It was my own mistake that I don't own 1 BTC now anymore. Back in 2016 I managed to get my hands on quite a few BTC over the time, but didn't hold on to them. After stopping to trade in CSGO skins I also sold all my bitcoins. It still hurts to think about it  even if I can't change the past. Most important thing is now to not repeat the same mistake again. My current goal is to reach 1 BTC, before that I would never consider selling any bitcoins. The difference is also that I am now investing alt coins, where in 2016 I only focused on bitcoins. Would be nice to know how many of the people who don't own yet 1 BTC, are owning larger amounts in alt coins.

Poker is one of the few games where you play against other players and not the casinos. There is no house edge involved, and the casino is usually only paid in a fee based on the number of hands being played. That makes poker as not so lucrative for casinos because there is no upside potential. You are right that playing casino based on chance/luck professionally is very hard. There are other ways to remain profitable against the casino by using methods like card counting, or find flaws in the casino setup. These techniques are usually prohibited and will result in a ban from the casino. Cheating is of course another way to try and make money of the casino. Like the famous Phil Ivey case when he was playing baccarat and used edge sorting. In the end it is important on which games you like and enjoy. There is no point in trying to go for a poker career if you don’t enjoy the game. To become professional in gambling it takes hundreds of hours to get used to gambling, develop a good strategy and keep trying to optimise that strategy. It’s hard work and if we don’t enjoy the game it will be nearly impossible to keep a winning mindset.    

That are some serious debt levels private households are facing in USA, which shouldn't be a big surprise. For years economics have warned about the rising debt levels as part of the low interest rate environment we have been living in since 2008. One big loan sector that is worrying are student loans. Going to one of the ivy league university means to start working with 250,000 USD student debt if your parents aren't rich. The next sector is the mortgage market, it's nearly impossible to buy a house or apartment with out a loan. Over the last 30 years property prices increased a lot whereas income only increased slightly, which can lead to people being in debt for more than 30 years. After inflation the average salaries remained pretty much constant whereas many cost increased. Also if you see the government printing money and issuing new loans each year it should be natural for the people to do the same. It's hard to stay out of the debt trap.

It's been a while since I bet on dota 2 games, the last several months I mainly focused on CSGO matches for my bets. Watched a few Arlington Major games and got excited again. Looking at the bookmaker quotes I saw that LGD PSG is a total favourite to win tonight. Their teams looks strong and they play very well together, so far they only lost one map to OG in the tournament. But there is almost no upside for betting on them with quotes around 1.3 - 1.4. The odds for the OG vs beastcoast match are very similar to LGD PSG match, both OG and LGD PSG seem like a clear favourites in their match today.  Whereas the overall tournament match winner seems to be LGD clearly. I wonder why the odds for LGD winning the tournament are higher than their odds of winning today. I will stick with OG and LGD for todays game but will use my winnings for a bit more aggressive bets for tomorrow, a small bet on Team Aster or OG would make a huge profit.

I don't think this is a very likely scenario. First of all, which country should do this USA, China or the European Union? Or maybe all of them together? It's not really realistic that all the big countries in the world would unite against bitcoins. And even if that happen, how would they ever gain access to all the 21m bitcoins? Right now the BTC price is at 24,500 USD, it would already cost a fortune for a country to start buying bitcoins. But as soon as the word spreads that there is a big buyer in the market the price would rise sharply. Eventually the country would have to pay so much for all the bitcoins that it cannot afford it anymore. Also the other option of taking away the bitcoins from people is also not feasible. How could a big country force all the people around the world to turn in their bitcoins for free? There is no way this would happen, I am not worried about such a scenario.

Bei Ebay direkt läuft jetzt alles über den ihre eigene Bezahloption, das Geld wird nicht mehr direkt von Verkäufer an Käufer überwiesen, sondern immer über Ebay, auch bei Rücküberweisungen. Ich glaube nicht, dass man bei da Bitcoins nutzen kann. Ebay Kleinanzeigen erscheint mir als die gute Alternative. Bin schon seit vielen Jahren sowohl auf Ebay als auch auf Kleinanzeigen unterwegs. Ein großes Problem ist das viele Scammer auf Kleinanzeigen unterwegs sind. Hab selbst mal versucht ein paar alte Handy darüber zu verkaufen und man bekommt die merkwürdigsten Anfragen. Deswegen verkaufe ich teure Sachen eigentlich nur noch zum selbst abholen.  In welchem Wert verkaufst du denn? Alles über 50 Euro ist mir das Risiko mit dem verschicken zu groß, es sei denn es ist Vorkasse per Banküberweisung, vertraue auch Paypal hier nicht wirklich. Bitcoins könnte in dem Sinne eine Alternative sein, weil du hier kein Risiko hast, dass jemand das Geld zurück buchen lässt. Ich würde an deiner Stelle einfach die Bezahlmethode von Bitcoins in deiner Anzeige angeben und dann alles weitere per Nachrichten klären. Pass nur auf da du bestimmt einige Anfragen erhält die nicht legit sind.

Online gambling became a very competitive market over the last few year. Especially the covid lockdowns helped a lot to grow the market shares of online casinos in the gambling sector. Existing casinos are fighting to keep their customer base and attract new customers at the same time, while new casinos need to offer something new to win the customers over. Having a good reputation and history is one way for the old casinos to survive, but that will only last for so long. Eventually new promotion deals need to be matched. Online gambling makes it much easier for gamblers to switch casinos very quickly. I remember from a survey here on the forum that the most important thing in a casino is a reliable customer support, which makes it more important for the older casinos to keep up their good service. New casinos will always need to invest more to achieve that same level. Withdrawals without KYC is a two edged sword, it satisfies some gamblers need to remain anonymous, while it increases the risk of being miss used for illegal activities. In my opinion KYC becomes important for larger transactions.

It's the best thing we can do in my opinion right now, keep buying bitcoins and other crypto coins. Inflation seems to be fluctuating between 7-10% right now in most of the big countries, while interest rates are still very low. In my savings account the bank still pays 0% interest, which makes holding fiat money as the worst possible investment right. Even when you don't want to buy more cryptos, buying stocks or commodities is still so much better than holding cash. It might take another few months for investors to realise, but we are in a very position right now. Low to negative economic growth with high inflation can result in a downward spiral. The best escape for me is to keep buying bitcoins. DCA is a good strategy for people who are looking to buy bitcoins continously and don't need to worry so much about the price.

Not really, I am not reacting that much to reading about gambling. The only times I feel the urge to gamble is when I read about a gambler hitting a jackpot, or watching gambling on TV. When I see a broadcast of a big poker tournament than I want to play myself, or when I see a movie about casinos than I am getting into the mood and want to gamble myself.
While reading through your facts, I don't agree with fact #2 that the house always wins. You are right that there is house edge that makes it more likely for the casino to win, but that is not a guarantee to always win. If 100 people play roulette one time only betting on Red or black, then on average there will be 48 winners and 52 losers. If they all play 5 rounds, than on average there will be 3 people who won every round. This doesn't involve any betting strategy, just a large number of games. The number of losers will be larger than the number of winners, this is how the casino makes money. And still there are people who make money with gambling. The most important thing in a casino is to get lucky from time to time.

I understand your concerns, being tracked online and having other people accessing our gambling habits is scary. We don't know how secure that data is being stored. Is our data only used for tax purposes, or can others evaluate that data and get an advantage over us. It's not only about being afraid of scammers and other criminals gaining access to our personal data. If our gambling habits will be public and others can access it based on our nickname it becomes dangerous for us. Like that could Poker players get a lot of information about their opponents and use it to get an edge. I am for protecting minors from gambling, and maybe a gambling ID helps to shed a more positive light on the gambling industry. But the safety of our personal information needs to be guaranteed.

Isn't the job of the exchange to match buyers and seller of bitcoins, rather than keeping our coins in a wallet of the exchange? In the stock market it's the exact same thing, you have the big exchanges which provide the infrastructure for trading and matches buyers and seller, and then you have the asset managers and banks which hold the actual stocks for the clients. This is a good system in my opinion and I would recommend anybody to not leave large amounts of coins on an exchange. If you trade regularly and need to send coins to your storage wallet often than maybe it makes sense to leave some coins at the exchange. But I would rather pay a little bit more in transaction fee than facing the risk of losing all my coins if there is an security issue at the exchange. Even if the there are no more coins stored at the exchange than this shouldn't harm the business model of the exchange and threaten them with bankruptcy. As long as people trade with bitcoins the exchange makes money in commission.

Thank you for making this thread, I thought about warning other users as well but in the end didn't do anything. On Friday last week I also noticed that two of my posts got deleted. It's been several months since any of my posts got deleted and having two get deleted on the same time made me curious. Both of the posts were in self moderated threads of him. After checking his profile I saw his many scam accusations, it's kind of sad that with so many scam reviews there was no warning when posting in his thread, I wouldn't have posted on the first place. He is the first person in 2 years I put on my ignore list to not make the same mistake again and post in his threads. Only after ignoring him I saw that he has many more threads here in the gambling section.


That would be a good idea, or atleast a big warning in red like you see with new users.

When I was a little kid I always wanted to have my own company and be my own boss. This desire comes mostly from my uncle who had his own business until he was 60. He always had a nice company car and dressed very professional with expensive suits. During family meetings he always had stories to tell and his lifestyle seemed very cool to me back then. My cousins are younger than me so I didn't play with them much when they were younger. Only later I realised how many hours my uncle spent away from family. He got divorced a long time ago and barely saw his kids. I am happy now just being and employee and have no more desire to run my own business. There is much less stress and things to worry about, and as long as you earn enough money to provide for your family life is good.