Bonnie and I have been married nine years now, and she turned 80 years old June 3. From the get-go, she knew I was a professional gambler, and it became clear to me early on that she had no potential to understand advantage gambling. But she enjoys the meals, cruises, and other traveling that my profession brings me, and my life works better with her in it.
One of the things we did early on was to insulate her from the gambling swings. The bulk of each of our assets are not commingled and file taxes separately. She had some assets of her own coming in — as had I. Our wills are set up that she gives her money to her heirs, and I give money to mine. We have a “Bob and Bonnie account” for household expenses and we each contribute to it.
While it doesn’t affect her directly if I’m ahead or behind $50,000 or more this year, she’s definitely on my side. She wants me to do well, and she helps me as she can.
I get offers from many casinos. Some local to Vegas and some from out of town. If I have competing offers on one weekend (I usually do), I analyze the promotions and select the best one for us. Usually that means the most money for me — but not always. If there’s a promotion that includes a shopping spree that would be of interest to her, and if the deal is otherwise acceptable with her getting all of the goodies, that promotion goes to the top of the list.
In early May, I received a flyer from Harrah’s Lake Tahoe about a celebrity golf tournament in July. I scanned it and put it in my “Potentially Interesting” stack and vowed to look at it more closely later. We had several things to do in May and June and there was no urgency to make a decision when I got the mailer.
In late May, it became time to look at that mailer and I couldn’t find it. I asked Bonnie if she had moved it from where I left it and indeed, she had. She had looked through my “PI” stack in order to see what might be interesting to her. Although she doesn’t dispute that I have by far the biggest vote as to which play is best for us, it’s not like she has no vote at all. If she sees something that catches her eye (perhaps a particular concert, or maybe an excursion that looks interesting, or even one of those shopping sprees that I’ve mentioned before) she lets me know that she has an opinion on it. I sometimes overrule her, but not often.
From our history together, she has a sense of what I’m interested in, but not the details. When she reads that if I earn 8,000 Tier Credits over our stay, then I’ll get $400 in free play, she has no understanding how I calculate how much that is in terms of expected win or loss. She doesn’t remember the machines I play at each place, how much they are worth, or what it takes to earn 8,000 Tier Credits.
On this particular offer, she noticed there was a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. She knows I don’t play golf and has seen me watch golf on television maybe five times in the nine years we’ve been together. So, she figured I wouldn’t fly that far to see something that wasn’t that interesting to either one of us, and that I had placed it my “PI” stack by mistake. She moved it to my “Probably Not” stack. She told me later that she almost threw it away. Clearly (to her) it was an offer we weren’t going to use.
Then I explained why I had placed it in “PI” rather than “PN.” I said there was an airfare component to the offer and what was also happening at the ROW in Reno at that time was important.
“Why? Reno and Lake Tahoe are 60 miles apart.”
“Yes, but you use the same RNO airport to go to both casinos. It costs a total of $120 for both of us to take the shuttle from RNO to Tahoe and back again. And our Reno offers do not include airfare. So, doubling up makes sense.”
“If you knew all of this, why didn’t you put it into the “yes” stack right away instead of the “PI” stack? It seems like you already figured out we were going.”
“Well, we hadn’t received the ROW mailers when I got the Lake Tahoe offer. The dates don’t have to match up. If we decide to go to the ROW at the end of July, this particular Lake Tahoe offer doesn’t help us. Plus, I want to participate in the Improv showcase on July 15 (If you’re in town, tickets will set you back $10 each and the show is family friendly. www.lvimprov.com It’s a very funny show and please come up and say ‘hi’ afterwards) so I don’t want to be in Northern Nevada at that time. In addition, we do get offers from Las Vegas and elsewhere. Some are “can’t miss.” We can’t be in both Las Vegas and Northern Nevada simultaneously.”
“So are we going to Lake Tahoe, Bob? This is all so complicated.”
“Well, the casino offer is okay, not great. We can make the dates work for double-dipping purposes and still allow us to be home for the Improv showcase. Don’t forget that Lake Tahoe in July is absolutely gorgeous. The comparison between the temperature and scenery in Lake Tahoe and Vegas in July makes that part of the decision a no-brainer.”
“So the golf isn’t that important?”
“Well, there will be bunches of stars to watch. You like Steph Curry, Patrick Mahomes, and Justin Timberlake. Watching Charles Barkley swing a golf club will keep you giggling for weeks. He’s in the basketball Hall of Fame, but is a duck out of water on the golf course. There’s a lot of walking, but if you’re up for that, it’s a new experience that you’ll very much enjoy. Maybe not every day. But at least one.”
“So we’re going?”
“I think so. And please don’t re-file my flyers. This one was in the “PI” stack for a reason.” She won’t remember all of my reasons why I want to go (or even what make the offers at the ROW so interesting), but hopefully she remembers not to re-file my flyers.
Lake Tahoe in the summer is a no brainer…just got back..still lots of snow…beautiful place!!!
You call what you do for a living a profession?? Really?
That’s like a bank robber calling himself a cash transfer facilitator or a kidnapper a family reunification coordinator.
Hint: Professional people do not wear disguises, use fake names or otherwise skulk about when engaged in their chosen calling.
Call a spade a spade and get on with it, but don’t attempt to legitimize or glorify it.
Astrid,
What defines a profession? To me, if it is your major source of income, that makes it your profession. There are professional corn hole players, social media influencers and slot players who get paid by a casino to play high stakes slot machines. Since the people derive their income from these activities, this is their profession. Doesn’t matter if you don’t approve of the profession.
Seems like a snotty reply that is factually incorrect.
For Astrid:
Yes it is a profession. Lots of studying and lots of time putting money in video poker machines. Try it sometimes.
Astrid attempts to out-nasty the gang in Kitchen Sink.
It is not always easy when one tries to play VP with a spouse, especially one who did not gamble prior to being married. On the other hand, it roughly doubles your EV. I found that the most difficult part was that she was very prone to a negative reaction to losing. Fortunately, over time, that passed and now.a big loss is the kind of thing that gets us irritated, but by the next day, it is gone. We even joke about being “professional losers”.
@morongobill Investing large amounts of time and energy into an endeavor does not, by itself, make that endeavor a profession. Career embezzlers may have studied accounting for years in order to commit their financial crimes, but embezzlement is not a profession.
A profession must add value to society. It must contribute to making people better off such as teaching or nursing (Hi, Candy). Advantage gambling does not do that. It only takes. It contributes nothing, and therefore does not qualify as a profession. (One can refer to a burglar as a professional thief, but one cannot elevate burglary to its being a profession.)
I have nothing against people who spend their lives pounding away at a video poker machine until it produces a royal flush if that seems like a good idea to them. Just don’t call doing that a profession.
@Candy By going after the messenger rather than her message, *you* sound more like a kitchen sinker than me. (But I love nurses!)
28 year old twitcher xQc just got a $100 million two year deal to live stream from his parent’s place. Now that’s what I call professional. Before that he was a professional Overwatch player.
On a different topic, not only is having a separate gambling account that is not commingled with personal savings. a good idea, it is a requirement if you want to be a professional gambler. When I went through my ordeal with the IRS, that was an item that the appeals officer made a big deal about. I did have separate accounts, so I passed that part of the test.
“A profession must add value to society.” Really? How is ‘value’ determined? Are CEOs more beneficial to society than adavantage gamblers? Do CEOs add ‘value’ to American society? According to the Economic Policy Institute, CEOs earned 399 times as much as a typical worker in 2021. In 1965, the ratio was 20-1. Because a company’s payroll is finite, this enormous inequity means much less is paid today to the rank and file. On the other hand, Bob and other advantage gamblers use their wits to win against greedy casinos. The advantage gamblers do not have an adverse impact on others’ quality of life. The only damage is to the casinos bottom line. In addition, one’s work is not the only way to contribute to society. There are many ways to help others who are in need: volunteering, donating, giving blood, etc. Bob recommended volunteering on his old podcast, so I would not be surprised if he has done some of it.
I’m thinking that if the IRS lets you file a Schedule C and Schedule SE for your gambling activity, the IRS views gambling as a profession, and if the IRS views gambling as a profession, I’d say it pretty much is one.
Bob is also an entertainer and most likely donates money to causes. He buys groceries, clothing and cars. He blogs about things other than just gambling. All of this is productive indirectly if not directly. He uses his brain far more than most people and still dances. These area healthy endeavors; he is not a drag on society milking his federally funded (tax payer funded) medicare insurance.
Does being productive include not being unproductive? Productivity should be measured on a net basis. I often throw a few cents to a person standing on a road median because I figure it’s his or her profession. After all, they are likely using fewer natural resources and producing less pollution than most of us, and they aren’t crawling into my house by a back window they broke out. I appreciate that, so I toss some loose coins.
I don’t totally disagree with Astrid’s take about being productive, but a job is not what makes everyone productive. It seems Bob and many others in all walks of life are productive on and off a job.
On another note, Bob, it was good to see you up and dancing a few weeks ago. I’m sorry for interrupting your hot double date at SP but I appreciate the quick hello.
As a top tier organizer/planner, have/haven’t you put your EOL matters into living trusts to avoid/expedite probate and beneficiary costs/delays ???