Quotes on Gambling

We have a stock market which some people use like a gambling parlor.

There has always been a considerable number of pathetic dopes who busy themselves examining the last thousand numbers which have appeared on a roulette wheel, in search of such a repeating pattern. Sadly enough, they have usually found it.

I think I am safe in asserting that the margin trader, speculator, gambler, or whatever you choose to designate the average man who goes to Wall Street after easy money, does not lose money when he sells. He loses it when he buys!

The propensity to gamble is always increased by a large prize versus a small entry fee, no matter how poor the true odds may be.

The trading favorites of 1928 were high-priced, untried, and unseasoned stocks that made one wonder whether the public did not think that the higher the price the better the stock.

It is one of the common pieces of Wall Street experience that when the public goes stock mad and the market leaders are filled with the arrogance of prolonged success, such little things as high money rates or decreases in earnings or unraised dividends have no instant effect on the market -- that is, on the state of mind of the speculating public. In the end, of course, all violations of the fundamental laws of economic and financial common sense are paid for; but every bull thinks he will unload before the break.

"Easy money" means only one thing when it means money that has come easy: It means money goes even more easily than it came.

When people think there's easy money available, they're not inclined to change.

Any time you offer a big prize for a small amount of money, you encourage stupid behavior on behalf of those you're appealing to.

The way I would think about risk aversion is most people would not want to toss a coin for their entire net worth.

The first task of the bargain hunter is to narrow the field and separate the solid prospects from the ones that are counting on hopes, prayers, and miracles.

Avoid long shots. I've bought about 30 long shots in my life. I've never broken even on one.

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done.

The game of professional investment is intolerably boring and overexacting to anyone who is entirely exempt from the gambling instinct; whilst he who has it must pay to this propensity the appropriate toll.

Gambling is a tax on ignorance. People often gamble because they think they can win, they're lucky, they have hunches, that sort of thing, whereas in fact, they're going to be remorselessly ground down over time.

Casino gambling with a system where you have the edge is a wonderful teacher for elementary money management.