Quote:
Originally Posted by chiguy
Take him out golfing and teach how to figure out his handicap
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I'm with you, Chiguy. If the lad plays golf he may spend $40 or $50 a week on 4 or 5 hours of quality time with Dad and/or his buddies. It's all good - the game is great and so is being on a golf course. Toss in walking the course and the shared experience is even healthier.
Contrast that with the lad learning to play the horses today. Sure going on big days with Dad is a tremendous thing. But playing the horses today is nothing like I experienced. For one thing, if I couldn't get to a racecourse I couldn't bet. And when I could bet it was just at the track I was at for the most part. In addition to that fact, If I took $50 to the track when I was learning to play years ago, that was all I was going to lose. And I only had to hit a couple races out of 9 or 10 races to hold my own. Today a bet on a slew of races is a couple clicks away all day long. The temptation to click when the rent was due would have gotten me in trouble for sure when I was younger and dumber.
Then there is the horrendous thought that I would encourage my son to play a game that takes a 20% cut off the table on almost every bet. (If horseplayers are "lucky", it's 20%.
)
Do I want to share my love for racing with my kid? Of course, I do. But it's fairly obvious that he's better off financially learning how to be smart betting craps, blackjack, and sports if he wants to gamble.
Not that people haven't been known to bet a buck or two on a golf course.
