Exploring Legalized Gambling

At the risk of making myself sound like a total degenerate, I want to share some thoughts about legal gambling. What I want to discuss is a concept called the “Trickle Up Theory.” This is not the economic premise from years ago that our President called Trickle Down Economics, where tax breaks for the wealthy (you know, the ones who pay all the taxes) were supposed to result in those saved tax dollars being rerouted from the government’s coffers into the economy in the form of either higher savings or spending, thereby benefitting us all.

I have gambled for years, like 45 of them. I learned penny poker in the caddy shack at 13, and carried that knowledge profitably through college into my adult years with an occasional Friday night game. Cards is for me. No slot machines here. Give me a fistful of playing cards and I am a happy guy. As you may have noticed, my hobby has gone mainstream. You cannot turn on your television anymore without coming across some poker tournament – usually Texas Hold ‘Em.

The explosion of poker comes out of one root word – MONEY. Now players are sitting down in tournaments that pay off in six, seven and even eight figures (yes, that means Ten Million Dollars!). It has gone mainstream, even to the point of NBC showing a Heads-Up (one-on-one) Tournament on a Sunday afternoon. Didn’t that used to be a day of rest? But I digress.

There are high level poker stars, dare I say superstars, whose faces and names grace magazine covers. Cool nicknames like The Master, Kid Poker, Jesus and Poker Brat have been hung on the goofiest, nerdiest and most obnoxious of beings because it makes for good television. And the quality of play is excellent at these top tables, too. Many times these guys can tell you exactly what is in your hand, just by your betting patterns.

And the money! Let’s talk about the money for a minute. Last year’s World Series of Poker in Las Vegas had 7,500 entrants, each of whom paid $10,500 to enter. The first prize payout was $7,500,000, and the second prize was $4,500,000. Revenue from the buy-in provided most of the money, and television revenue kicked in some, too. And sponsors have crept into every broadcast by sponsoring players. You can see their caps and shirts at every table.

The Trickle Up Theory works like this: there are online poker games which an amateur like me can enter for as little as six dollars. If I win one of those, I can win an entry into a higher level game, perhaps a $250 level buy-in. Then, if I win one of those, I can earn a $10,000 seat at the TV tournament where I will come up against a nest filled with these professional snakes who are just waiting for me. These pros never pay their way to these big tournaments (their sponsors do) but they get to keep their winnings, plus the cool hooded sweatshirts and ball caps.
I confess that I have been playing online Texas Hold ‘Em now for a couple of months in preparation for writing this article. Not for real money, mind you, but for play chips. Here’s how that works. You find an online site, download the game, give yourself a cool nickname like “Poker Stud” (not my real nickname) and buy 1,000 play chips from the cashier. So far, no money has changed hands. None!

Then you find a game to your liking with stakes you can afford. I started at a 5/10 game, which means I had to put in five or ten chips to play. You sit at a table with nine others and you play away. If you are good (and I am, with play money) you can bust the other players and win all their chips.

After several weeks of this level of play, I had accumulated a bankroll of more than 250,000 chips. I then went up to a higher-level game: 100/200. This would be the players who have already won at a lower level, like me. These would be the good players, like me. On my third hand I was busted back to zero and had to go back to the Cashier to get 1,000 chips. Then I was relegated back to the 50/10 table until I could rebuild my chip stack.

Lesson learned! The Trickle Up Theory is REAL.

I have no immediate intentions of pushing the Real Money button anytime soon. I know I am not paranoid when I say that they really are out there, and they are waiting for me. My point in making this confessional is that when legalized gambling comes into our area next year, there are going to be outlets for people to play slot machines for real money. It may be money that they have budgeted for entertainment, or it may be the rent. Please be careful that when you go, you take what you can afford to lose. If you win, all the better, but with the odds set the way they are, you won’t always win.

Christopher M. Abernethy has been practicing law in Hampton Township since 1976. He focuses on elder law, which includes wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills, and probate matters. He also is proficient in all aspects of real estate law and business law. He is a member of the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys, and the AARP Legal Services Network. He can be reached at 412-486-6624 or by email at cabernethy@aaylaw.com.