Are You Ready To Legally Bet On Sports?

I've already won (and lost) plenty of money playing fantasy sports over the past twenty or so years. I've taken part in the office March Madness brackets (never won), I've been in on some of the quirky pools that we do around here each football and baseball season, I've done the Super Bowl squares, and plenty of other fun little sports bets.

Now, New Jersey will give me the chance to blow some real money by betting on sports!

Will this make you head to the casinos or the racetrack more often? Honestly, I don't think it will make much of a difference. There is some extra excitement when you have something riding on a game, but I've watched enough sports across my life to know that sports are infuriatingly unpredictable. Crazy upsets happen all the time, and it's maddening when something you know shouldn't happen ends up happening.

Also, as I've often discussed with our webguy and my long-time fantasy football foe/strategist, the pain of losing usually outweighs the joy of winning. Winning a matchup or a championship just feels like a relief, an exhalation; losing is the sort of thing that tears me up inside for way too long, especially when you lose by a small margin to because of one damn player not living up to his projection. Thus, as much fun as it would be to win a big jackpot by picking something with crazy odds, losing money would crush me to the point where I'd just rather not bet at all.

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