We had family in town and went to Canterbury Park to watch the horse racing. Some were very into it and some weren’t. Fortunately, I was only better $2/race so the fact that I had only one winning ticket didn’t matter. It was still less than the cost of going to see a move with popcorn in a theater.
It was interesting to watch the different ways people bet. No matter how much information is available about the horse, owner, trainer, jockey, and track, most of us were just going with our gut. Even if the information we had indicated that one horse was a clear favorite, not all of us picked that horse.
We make lots of bets in our lives. Not necessarily monetary gambles, but taking action with the expectation that certain evens will happen. We bet on the cars going in the opposite direction will stay on their side of the highway. We bet that the lawnmower wasn’t made with defective parts and won’t explode at high rpms while we walk around our yard.
Most of the bets we make on a daily basis are pretty good. Sure, there are terrible stories, but the risk of them actually is very low. The internet allows us to hear about every single one. One fluke episode and everyone hears the story. We factor that fear into our risk assessment. And we never get it right.
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