Is Gambling is Bad for You?

A former Vegas craps dealer breaks down why DraftKings, FanDuel, and the entire sports betting industry are designed to destroy the people who can least afford it — and why every celebrity in those commercials is part of the problem.

Scott Suprina spent years inside the gambling industry before building and losing and rebuilding a multi-million dollar business. In this episode, he and Trevor Jackson go after one of the most aggressively marketed industries in America today and ask the question nobody on TV will ask: how is it morally acceptable for billionaires to take money from people with addictions?

In this episode:
– Why the industry rebranded "gambling" as "gaming" (and what that word swap is hiding)
– The "first bet free" trick — and why it's identical to what drug dealers do
– Why operators of betting sites never gamble themselves
– What actually happens at a craps table that the apps replicate digitally
– The credit-card-and-gambling debt trap most people don't see coming
– Why Scott thinks every actor reading a sportsbook ad should be ashamed
If you've ever wondered whether your "harmless" weekly parlay is actually harmless — or you have a friend who can't stop — this one will sit with you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

How is it morally okay for wealthy people to take money from people with addictions?

SPEAKER_01 0:07

It's their decision to gamble, right? It's not no one's forcing.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Akin to give me a line of coke and then tell me it's my decision to have another one. Do you know a bakery that says have if you have a problem eating cake, dial this number? No, you don't. Because that's not something that can take control of your life.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Don't you think people need the thrill?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

I think you're making that up. First two times for free. Give you a hundred bucks. Okay. It's like the cocaine dealer who gives you a taste. And then you buy more. Where does that belief in people come from? Tell somebody that you want more for them. You are not a fan of gambling. I'm not a fan of national gambling. Of by the way, I should say I don't even know what gambling is, because I believe they changed the name to gaming. Is that true? Sports gaming, yeah, gaming. Because are you sure they remember Gaming. All the all the betting guys are calling themselves gaming. Because they don't want to say gambling, because that would be imply you may lose. Gaming is like it's just a game. Good point. But uh so where are we going on this?

SPEAKER_01 1:28

My opinion on the No, so I think that you're a little harsh on certain things. I think your stance is a tad bit just tough.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

I was a dice dealer or crap dealer. I don't like to say crap dealer because I was selling playgrounds one time and the ladies in the PTA thought I said crack dealer. So I stay away from saying I was a crap dealer. We're talking about gambling.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

And I think your stance is a tad bit, it's too strong. Rigid? Yeah. But is that it's a little judgy to me.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

No, no, no, no. My stance on gambling is pretty much a personal choice. My stance on making gambling so easy for me.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Easily accessible.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

So so easy for me, I don't need to leave my house. I can do it on here, and you invade my privacy by putting it on here. And if I'm weak or predisposed to an addiction of gambling, you're gonna get my money. My bigger question is who, the guys at uh I don't know, all of the big gambling places are owned by wealthy people. How is it morally okay for wealthy people to take money from people with addictions? Thus play let me play God's advocate.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Okay. Can't wait. It's their decision to gamble, right? It's not no one's forcing.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Akin to give me a line of coke and then tell me it's my decision to have another one. Akin to give me a tequila in a bar with a bunch of people and tell me it's my decision to have another one. That's correct. Except that they in the liquor authorities say drink responsibly. And then they say when you're driving a car, if you've had two, you're no longer in control. I suggest if you're no longer in control, you can also not be responsible. So to drink responsibly, what the liquor authority should say is don't drink. That's a good point. To be medically accurate. Here's where I push back. And let's stick to gambling because then the thing's a conversation for another day.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

But you have free will over whether or not you grab your device and go over-unders or whatever have you, or your parlay. I don't gamble, so I don't think.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

I don't think that's true. I think, well, your free will can be affected by your need for money, your need for money to pay the rent, your feeling that you are less than because you only have five dollars in your pocket and you want to go out with your friends. Gambling is different because gambling, people will hypothesize that they can win and that will change their life. But those are the people who get in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Don't you think that a person that is gambling should be able to use their own discernment to realize this thing is kind of rigged against me in the first place?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Like it's just a those people are the people who don't get gamble. The people with that level of clarity won't put their money on the table. The people who think, wow, there's winners, I could be a winner, they're gonna gamble. The problem that I have, the question that I have is in the old days, when I was young, if you wanted to gamble with the book, you knew you were going to the dark side. You knew the people running illegal betting book, the guys taking book, touting the horses, taking bets on football. It was illegal. Okay. So you had to go to a darker group to do that.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

That's because it was immoral. That's why it was set up that way.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

The dark side. Yes. You had to go there to do that. Now we've waved the magic wand, said we're going to get taxes at the state and federal level. We're going to garner our share of the profits. So let's do the dirty stuff. What is that? And the bigger question I have is very successful people are into the gambling. Movie stars, people with good reputations are on TV saying, come here and bet with us.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Every day. I mean, okay, I got a qu I got a question for you.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Go ahead. Name a gambling site. Give me one. Uh MGM Grant Bet. The guys who own MGM Grant.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yeah. Did they bet every week? I have no clue. I'm sure they're not going to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Let me tell you, if I if I and my family made ice cream, I would eat it. I would be a customer of the good shit I made. But when you own a gambling site, you pride yourself of on, of course I don't play. Why?

SPEAKER_01 6:07

Because you can't win. Did your experiences in Las Vegas kind of change your mind to gambling? Or what the things that you've seen?

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Is that any type of As a personal gambler? When I was in Vegas and didn't have two nickels to rub together, I would gamble in the hopes of having a windfall. So I was one of those people. But I was not the worst of the worst. I paid my rent, I did my thing, but it was a negative in my life gambling. Because I needed the money. Okay, now?

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Don't you think people need the thrill? Because there's a lot of people that have the chicken to spend to gamble, but they just enjoy the thrill. Like you enjoy business.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

I I think you're making that up. No. I think the largest percentage of gamblers on these sites are not the people that can afford to bet what they're betting. It's my experience. I mean, my sons have friends who are betting whatever a week that don't own their own home. That don't own their own home. So they're paying rent and they're gambling and they're paying credit card bills at 29% and they're gambling. Whatever you're going to gamble, pay off your credit card. It's not a discussion. The big problem I have with it is we should be able to agree that gambling is dangerous for people.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

We agree.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

How many people do you think gambling will improve their life? I don't think small percentage. Well, no, it could be a guy who gambles and wins 10 million. If you get lucky, yeah, yeah, for sure. Right. So that could improve. The percentage is tiny. So the idea that as a people, as a society, we've said, let's gamble. And by the way, I believe the predisposition to gamble exists in the people without the money. Agreed? You're more likely to gamble if you have less. To try to get more? Correct? Makes sense? Makes sense. My experience at the crap table in Vegas. The guys coming up there didn't arrive in a Rolls-Royce. Never, actually once. Red Fox game at my table. Who's that? Yeah, it was character. I had some other guys. So and they play for fun. Okay? Yeah. I get it. Um, what's his name? Charles Barkley. Charles Barkley. Probably plays for fun.

unknown 8:36

The thrill.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

I will guarantee you, if you because Charles is candid, if you got him alone and said, are there experiences where you gambled more than you should have? He would even say yes. He would even say yes. But lucky for me, I can afford it. So he's talking about doing something, losing more than he wins, and the part that makes it sustainable is he can afford it.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Did you hear his commentary on gambling and then gambling, the dis-ease? I'll never forget that one. The dis-ase. The dis-ease of gambling. No, I think it's a good idea. Like he basically said, you know, the whole thing with um Chauncey Billups and the rest of the basketball players. And, you know. Essentially he said, You're an idiot if you're doing this and gam and gam and you can't be addicted to gambling. And excuse me, and I was just like, Charles.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

You mean you can't be addicted to gambling? Yes. Or you're an idiot if you are?

unknown 9:36

Both.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Essentially, I'm exactly we already know there are people who cannot control their gambling. I know people that couldn't control their gambling. Okay?

SPEAKER_01 9:48

So it's odd to me, and I'll I'll just take a second. To me, it's just odd because if you're spending, I'm gonna just say 20 bucks and you are negative 40 already, there's something in your mind that says, let me cut this dopamine sensor off and let me stop gambling because I do not have enough money to gamble. To me, to me, and I get that I'm oversimplified.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

But that logic would say that the heroin addict says, you know what, this heroin is driving me into a hell hole I spend every dollar on and I'm in trouble. I think you're right. There's no future in that. Why am I doing it? It's an addiction. By the way, I just don't get it. Wait, wait, wait, wait. To understand that the people who run the gambling know what I'm saying, all you have to do is go to their end of their commercial where they say, if you have a problem gambling. Do you know a bakery that says have it if you have a problem eating cake, dial this number? No, you don't, because that's not a problem. That's not something that can take control of your life. The question that I have is all the good people and even on the Jamie Foxx. Yeah, he is, yeah. All over the gambling site. Yeah. He needs the money? We don't know. If I start a business cracking old ladies over the head with a pipe and taking their purses and it's profitable, will he join me? Where is the line? There is no line anymore. Morality doesn't enter into business. If I can make money, I will do whatever. And by the way, thank God, the state, the federal government has blessed it as worth doing, which eases everybody up of their conscience that they know it's wrong. There's a casino, I don't even call it a casino because it's only machines, six miles from here.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Oh, the uh Jake's Jake's 58.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Stand in front of Jakes, count how many people come in, and count how many people come dancing out in a 24-hour period. You will find not many dancers. I was a kid.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

I was a kid too. I was a kid. A couple years back, and I used to mow lawns for money. A lot of lawns. Me and my friend, uh you might have met him, Brandon. We were successful at this. JT landscape. Jackson and Turner. Uh landscape. We used to go out and cut lawns. I used to take my savings. I was we were making about $200 a day, and at the time, you were deep. About $200. So, okay. This is uh my Madden days. Big Madden guy. I played Madden a lot. I had another friend live down the block. We've interviewed him before back, back long ago. Uh Rashawn. Um The Electric Company. Yes, yes, yes. He sells HVAC now. He's making a gill. Okay, anyway. So I go down the block every time I get a couple dollars. I'm like, hey man, he's 50. Let's put 50 up on a game of Madden. I used to be better than him. Now I'm thinking, maybe I'm not better than him because he's whooping my ass. So 50 turns into 75, 75 times.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

By the way, slightly different. That's a game of skills.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Still gambling, though.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Yes. But if you way different than Casino, he's playing a game of skill based on his skill level. He's betting on himself. He's betting on his hypothetical knowledge of the skill and whether the guy is sick today or feeling good today or gives a shit today. Exactly. It's a game of chance. My point is if you're betting on yourself and you think you are the best man at play ever, well, the world is quickly like he said, I was better than him at one time, and then he improved. Well, after a while, you're not gambling to play against him. You're paying him to play against him because he's better than you. So that's but that's different. That's different. It's not as long-lasting and it doesn't bear the lifelong penalty of gambling in something that you cannot influence. You're betting on yourself. If you were in fact the best Madden player, that would be a business. It wouldn't be gambling.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

I thought I was the best Madden player.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Until you didn't. You woke up.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Yeah. But that's why I was a 15, 16, 17 years ago. I stopped gambling.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Betting on a game of skill against somebody can be fun and entertaining, and you're never going to bet $100,000 on that or the house or the mortgage or whatever, hopefully.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

Hopefully.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

And you'll be conscious of the fact that he's better than me.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

You think there is that big of a difference between what I was doing at that age between bet MGM?

SPEAKER_00 14:29

By the way, I will say this about that that there's a weird thing that friends gamble with friends on things like that and continue to take their money where you could just play him to beat him with no money on it, and the result would be better.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

It got so bad where he was just like, Trev, we're good. I don't want to take your money. We're good, we're good. And I was like, and then, but ego could say, No, we're not good. Here's another hundred on the table.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

The lesson of that, and good point, because I wanted to bring it up at the podcast. Young people are afflicted with who am I? And then they adopt top-tier Madden player. That's my claim to fame. What do you mean? That's what you did. Yeah. Who is Trevor? I'll tell you one of his attributes. He's a top-tier Madden playing guy. He could play anybody, he could beat everybody. That's how you build that ego because it's so important to be short of Madden having tournaments and you making a life income out of it. Being top-tier Madden player means absolutely nothing. And it doesn't mean you're a quality person. It doesn't mean you're a God-fearing person, it doesn't mean you're a good guy. Nothing. It means nothing. But people grasp for that because they need something. And my point is, I was meditating this morning and I was reading, and the concept from James Allen was if you worked on who you were on a daily basis as far as how you treat people, are you loving? Are you kind? That's what will bring you joy. If you work on what you can do, like play Madden or something else, and I'm a great dresser, I'm uh and it's all this exterior stuff, you will never find joy because it's too fleeting.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

You don't think the external stuff, like for example, you being really good in business or you your personable in good.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

I will tell you, when I was younger and building my business, the fact that I felt, and I will admit it, may be true, it may not be true, that I was the best seating system installer in the country. I can confirm that's true. Could be true, could not. You know what it's worth? Nothing. There's no value to that. There's no value, even as a person, how you live your life. And when I say value, will it bring you joy?

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Okay. Because I was going to push back.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

I can sell my trade. I did.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Did that bring me joy? The case is I felt great about some projects that I designed and built and the feeling of accomplishment. Okay. That lasted a week. And then I was, who am I? And why am I not happy? And where's my next project? Where if you wake up in the morning, and this is true, this is true, this works, and you build who you are and you consider what you don't do well, and you realize it because it's only you sitting there. And you try to better that. You're being impure, you're being unkind, you're being these things, and you try to change that. There will come a time where you will sit in a place of joy, regardless of the weather. And by weather I mean what is happening in your life. And it doesn't matter if you're in a mansion or you're in a basement apartment like my wife and I started in. Happiness comes from being a solid person, a kind person who cares, a pure person who doesn't chase every affliction, be it sex, be it gambling, be it distractions like that. If you can cleanse yourself from that and sit there and be a good person, that's where joy is. Who's Jay-Z? That would be great.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Who's Jay-Z?

SPEAKER_00 18:25

I know who you are, Jay.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

Don't worry. And he was he was like, you know, there's like times where me and my friends, we just sit here and go, This is crazy. This is crazy. Because, you know, you just said, me and my wife in the small apartment. Everyone has that started. Whether you started from the bottom relative to someone else, it doesn't matter. You started from the bottom.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Everyone has that kind of like And Jay-Z'n not a good example of what I want to say because I think Jay-Z is a happy person. Yeah. I think he found his way to incredible staggering wealth and maintained some semblance of being right.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

But there is a stop along the way which requires satisfaction, not constant desire for more. Please expound. I feel so lucky, and I don't exactly know the reason. I think part of it was being broke, that I don't need to buy another house because I can afford another house. Yeah. I don't need to buy another car because my car is five years old. I don't need to do that because I have found that's not where your happiness or your joy comes from. It's not where it is. And the ability of saying, well, now I can afford a new house, now I'm the man, I I now make $500,000 a year, I make a million a year, I make five million a year, that doesn't make you happy and it doesn't make you a better person. And what I'm saying on the other take is if you're making 20 million a year and you're making 5 million of it because you market online gambling, you have hurt your karma in a way that it will take a lot to repair. Because that five million is coming majority from people who do not know better. Why do you believe in karma so much? I just had cancer removed from my kidney.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

That's not circumstantial because someone will push back and say that it's just you know, cancer just built up in your body, your body just caught a bag.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

By the way, your thoughts create your world. Yeah. And if you're being honest about it, if you believe that the universe is conspiring to assist you, if you're good and pure and doing the right things, then you can logically make sense that karma exists. If you believe that you have accomplished all these things because you are the shit, well then you're not gonna believe in karma. Karma's gonna be joked by this idiot on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

How do you explain people that are we had this conversation yesterday, we have this conversation all the time. How do you explain people that are wildly successful that are just scum? Also, before you go, before you go, because this is I always had to be, I always had to push back just to so we can go back and forth. A lot of people will say that are listening to this podcast, a wildly successful man that has experienced life, they will say that the reason you're able to say the things that you're saying currently right now is because you've actually experienced quote unquote being successful and being at the mountaintop. And that's why you're able to have this level of depth.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

The situation in this society today is the bantering of the word successful. You hate it. I think well, I know it is misused. And in your description, it means secure enough financially to do what you do without peril.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Part of it. I think the other part of it is you want to embark on a journey and succeed in that journey, and that is what makes you successful.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

I think it's way simpler. If I lived in a hovel, great word, a hovel.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

What's a hovel?

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Dirt floor, not really, really a shack.

SPEAKER_02 22:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

And I woke up every day happy and joyous to be alive and watch the sun and take a walk, that's as successful as anyone can ever be. If you can live a life where you're joyous, joyous, and your life is filled with joy, which joy is not something that will dissipate. If when you can find real joy, it will exist in your life where pleasure is momentary.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

I believe that, and again, I'm a little younger than you, so I have a lot more experiencing to do. I believe that real success and joy and all these things that you're saying comes from the fact of that you're saying, if you're saying today I'm gonna put up this light bulb and you don't go put up that light bulb today and you bullshit around and you don't do that, you are unsuccessful. That creates a lack of joy in your life. So if you have something you want to achieve, obtain, do with your life, and you're not actually going out there and putting 10 toes down to do it, uh-huh, I think that you are an unsuccessful person. If you have something that's in your mind that you have conjured up that you want to manifest in person, and you're not actively trying to stay active in that dream to do it and going all out in it, you are an unsuccessful person, regardless of how much money you make or you don't make.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

I think the issue I have with what you said is I can't look at Trevor Jackson, and I cannot, from where I sit, decide if he's successful or not. Only Trevor Jackson can decide if he's successful or not. When I look at Bezos, you would say he's successful. I I would say that his And sorry, Bezos, for using you as an example. I hate to I would say unless I spent a month with him, you would I couldn't tell you. Could I tell you, and it just occurred to me, does the man have all tr all the trappings of success? Yes, he has those things. You say this all the time.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

How much do you need? That's what you always say. Well, I in the case of him, I'm like, God dog.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

Well, no, no, no, no. God bless him. No, God bless. You can be happy and you can be joyous and you can keep building this thing. God bless you. You want to have a hundred billion dollars. Good for you. I only hope when you go home, you're happy and you're not going, this fucking guy in Division 1700 lost $42,000 today. I'm all fucked up about that. That would not be success. But if you can get to that level, my my thing is, I don't know if Mr. Bezos goes home joyous every day or wakes up joyous. I don't know that. But I can tell you one thing that he has a plane and a helicopter and a boat and a yacht and whatever will not deliver the joy. It actually, in a lot of cases, delivers fuck, I own that yacht, and my yacht costs me 40,000 a month for man and everything else, and I'm not using it. And that if the yacht is creating stress in your life, you have made an error. You have made an error. Simpler would be better. Maybe the need to show the yacht isn't so important. There is a satisfaction that will come to the people who will stop chasing the carrot. Or there is a satisfaction who will come to people who chase the carrot, reap the abundance as far as cash, and share it. Signifying to the universe, I'm good. My cup overflows, and I have been blessed. And the best thing I could do with my blessings is bless others. And I will tell you from experience, and it is a leap. And I didn't take the leap. I always wanted to do it, so I did it. Every time I tried to help somebody, life rewards me ten times.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Do you worry about going broke still?

SPEAKER_00 26:26

I don't worry.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Do you that was hard?

SPEAKER_00 26:32

No, it was gangster. That was tough. Well, check this out, society-wise. Society-wise. That was cold, brother. I had cancer, I didn't worry.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

Yeah. That was cold.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

I literally had cancer and did not worry. But the cold, hard fact, and I don't get it, and I have a very good friend, the young, a lady, who worries about everything. And I say to her repeatedly, how is the worry helping you?

SPEAKER_01 26:56

You have a book in your office called Be Anxious About Nothing or Anxious About Nothing or something like that. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

That's what it all is. That's what everybody does. They have an idea in their head that they're going to figure out, oh, this could happen to me or that could happen to me. Stay in the positive. Stay in the I'm going to do this, like you said about the light bulb. I really believe that, by the way. Well, and you're on the right track, but the like James Allen will tell you, if you look at screwing in that light bulb as drudgery or something you don't want to do, you don't get it. The things that must be done in life should be done with joy. Utah says it. Do it, do it to your you're washing the dishes. Wash the dishes the best you can and enjoy your time washing the dishes. Because guess what? The dishes have to be washed. Or you can go to the sink and wash them and go, I hate these fucking dishes. I can't stand doing the dishes. And then you will walk away with that attitude, with that upset demeanor, to the next thing you do. And it probably will be your wife walking into the room. And you'll be upset from washing the dishes. Well, your life is more important than that. Learn how to enjoy doing everything that's a necessary part. And that's a very Buddhist thing to say or meditative thing to say, but that's the truth. That if I have a job working at McDonald's, no offense, McDonald's could be anywhere, flipping hamburgers. And I don't go in there with the attitude of I got eight hours a day to do this, I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. Not just to serve the people at McDonald's, because I will learn. I will learn to be more efficient. I will learn to be a better hamburger flipper. I will learn all of these things, and someone will notice. Because believe me, nine out of ten at McDonald's are in no rush to get you your burger. You will stand out by virtue of honestly caring about your work. You believe someone will notice. I know someone notices. I know some. When I my whole life, when I did good work and cared about the person's job, like as if it was my own, they always notice. Even if it's not immediate. Oh, I would actually tell you that in that environment, you're a janitor at a school, yeah, and the old janitor just left, and you take pride in what you do and do a good job, they will notice immediately. And that's how you make progress. You don't make progress by bitching at the guys that you have to pay me more, I'm worth more, I'm worth more. You be worth more. You got to deal from the position you're in. If life has left you where all you can do is find a $16 an hour and a job at some convenience store, stock the shelves, clean the counter, take care of the register, and do it with a smile, and you'll be manager.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

What is your what is your I always try to stay away from interviews, but when we get into this bag and we kind of get the flow, and you know, grandma's grease gets to smell. Grandma's grease is cooking. When the grandma's grease gets a smelling good, but you say some insightful things. Where did your like I yesterday I was just like, Scott, I don't know if I can shoot this podcast. You're like, no, you can't see tomorrow. Like, where does that belief in people come from? Like, what like even if they don't have very little experience from this stadium?

SPEAKER_00 30:32

A observation came to me a while back when I was building stadiums. And I would say to my crew jokingly, when they would be fighting with putting frames together or putting a deck on, and they'd be sitting there and they'd be going, I can't do this. And I would walk up to them and say, You mean that an inanimate object has stumped you? A piece of metal has beaten you. You can't figure out what to do to that piece of metal to make it work for the application it was presented. And with people, I tell my grandkids, they go, they're going to try to do something. I guarantee you, by the time any one of my grandchick kids is 10 or 12 years old, they will no longer use the word try. They will do. They will do it, and if they're in the middle of it, they'll be doing it. And if they're not done with it, they'll be doing it. But they'll be doing it. They're not trying. Trying's a terrible word. If you try to do something, it never includes doing it. And it's mindset, it's how you condition yourself, it's your belief system. Don't try to do anything. Do it. And if you do it wrong, do it wrong again. How do you think kids learn to walk? They do it till they figure it out. No one ever says to the kid, never mind, you don't need to walk. It's a little too difficult. Stop the walking thing, fuck it. You won't walk. All your friends will walk, but they don't tell the kid, it's not try the kid to walk. Parents don't sit across from a toddler and say say try to walk. They say walk. And people in this society, when they don't want to put in the effort, I tried, I tried to go to college, I tried to do this, I tried to do that. If try is acceptable, failure is guaranteed. Guaranteed. If you think you can get out of it by saying, I tried to get the camera to shoot the podcast, and I'll try to do it, Scott. But when I say to you, you can do it, I'm 100% sure that you can figure out how to shoot a podcast with a I'm a hundred percent sure. It's not it's not super, super difficult. The question is, will you give up before you get it right? And that's a personal decision. I'm never going to be beat by an inanimate object. I probably won't be beat by most animate objects. Okay. But when you think about what I said, a tripod for a camera. I'm sure that some people are confused by the tripod, but if I leave you alone with that tripod for 24 hours and said, tomorrow morning I'm going to give you 100 grand if you know how to use that tripod, almost everybody would have it done by morning. But if they said, fuck it, I don't want to do this. I don't want to flip burgers at McDonald's. I don't want to do any of this. You know what? I deserve a better job. I should be the bank manager. Well, what's your education? Well, no, I know I could do it. Well, do the first thing, do it extremely well, and steer towards bank managing, and you'll get there. Play the cards you're dealt. Play the cards you're dealt. You know, to your best of your ability. And they all say that. Buddha says that. Uh James Allen says that. If you live dirt poor in a house, clean that house and make it nice and make it as warm as possible, like you respect it and you love it, and you will continue to do that because the universe will see that and give you more because you take care of it. And the belief in karma, the cool part about that, somebody who doesn't believe in karma, that's okay. They have it anyway.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Do you believe karma goes to your family too? Like sins of a family.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

No, I think I believe that my karma goes with me to the next place I go. That you have life karmas, but that's a separate. My energy, the thing driving my mouth right now, the thing creating my thought, I don't think ever goes away. And I think it's been when they say uh people are uh eternal. Life is eternal. I believe what they're talking about is the energy that drives you to speak, that essence, the spirit, if you will. My spirit's been here before. Yes, it's been here before, it's been here again. You don't die. This dies. This face, this body, this dies, but the energy that's powering you is going back to its source, much like water goes to the ocean, and then it'll come back in another form another time. And that energy will carry the karma of good experiences or bad experiences, or good treatment of people or bad treatment of people. I mean, the idea of the war right now and what is going on about intelligent people on both sides having a sending people from their family, their country to die. How is that okay for another hour? How is that okay for five minutes? You know, this may go on another three months because we can't get our shit together and come to the table and go the gambling. I need more. I'm a famous actor, any one of them. There's many of them. I won't single any out. I'm a famous actor, I make six million a film, twenty million a film, but I have an opportunity to get up there and tell people go online, hit these buttons, put your hard-earned money on the table. My question would be to all those actors do you bet 10% of your earnings every week? Not a one of them, unless they're degenerate gamblers. Pardon the phrase. But that's a little usurious. That's a little me picking your pocket. What's that word? Usurious. What was that? Come on now. If I if I lend you money, well, interesting story. I think the rate for usury in the state of New York is 16 or 17 percent. I can lend you money. If I go above 70 percent, 17%, I've committed a crime. I learned three months ago, unless you're a credit card company, then you can go to 29% without being usury.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

What's extortion?

SPEAKER_00 37:14

29%? Real simple, if you're at home, if you can't pay your credit card bill every month when it's due and don't have to borrow their money, don't buy that thing you think you need if you want to prosper. If you're paying a credit card company 29%, prosperity is not in your future. At all. Never. Unless you have some ability to create such a windfall that you can get ahead of 29%. Well, what was the word though?

SPEAKER_01 37:47

Come on, go back to the word.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

Usury. Usorious.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

Usury is the act of charging that money. Okay. Usorious is any situation in which there's usury involved. So for somebody to get up as an actor or promoter or business person or sports league and say, come on, game with us.

unknown 38:06

Game.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

Yeah, okay, game. We're playing a game. There shouldn't be any bill at the end of it. We're playing a game. Oh, but this game has a bill. But by the way, just to suck you in, if you want to play the game for no money, you can do that. First two times for free. We'll give you a hundred bucks. Well, Gary, prime the pump. It's like the cocaine dealer who gives you a taste. A lead magnet. No, it's a cocaine dealer who gives you a taste and then you buy more. So if you said to the guys running these gaming sites, well, that, hey, your first bets, if you lose, we'll give it back to you. That is a taste. That's what that is. If you have a good product that people enjoy, let them try it. If they lose, let them stop. Let them stop before they get hooked. But nope, you know what? We're so nice. We're going to give you back that money, let you try again. One more time. You think this is easy? My head's on fire inside. No, if you are gaming, the idea that they will say if you lose, and only if you lose, you can bet again. And by the way, you can't bet after seven days with these token monies I'm giving you because I want you to get the fever. And my goal is if you lost your first five bets, if you lost your first five bets, god damn, you know what I need to do? I need you to get that dopamine from the thrill of winning. So here's your money back. Why? I don't have any costs of running this business. If you bet $1,000 and I allow you to bet it again, what's the big deal? Huh? I don't have a product.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

That part's fascinating.

SPEAKER_00 39:47

I don't have a product. There's not much overhead. There's no overhead. I'll give you another shot at it. I beat you. Here's your money back. Try it again. I'm assuming we're wrong on that. I'm assuming there's a overhead. It's the computer program or whatever, whatever, whatever. But there's the people, the cost per person per bed is minimal. Minimal. I mean, in any other business in manufacturing, your overhead's probably 20% of everything you collect. And there's in gaming, I'm sure it's less than five.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

It's probably some distribution process going along where the where MGM has to pay, obviously, the taxes on what people are paying then.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

So they're doing the financial end of any business without the product end. They're not making cakes, they're not building bleachers.

unknown 40:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

Right. Right. Huh. So they can afford to give you back your thousand and say, bet it, as long as you're going to bet it again. By the way, if they're so nice and I bet and I lose, why don't they just give me back my money and let me leave? They're not that nice. Because they want to hook you. Period. End of story. End of story. And the people who want to market this and advertise for this, if they would not do that, less people would play. If the people who are lucky enough to have avoided gambling or avoided drugs or avoided addictions, and they've surmounted a pile of cash or success in any other business, stayed away from advertising, investing, and marketing gambling, less people would be losing their houses, divorcing their spouse who can't stop gambling, doing all these horrific things. And oh yeah, but all we're doing is running a gaming site. And by the way, if we didn't do it, somebody else would do it. The dark web would do it. Guess what? I don't have dark web on my phone.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

Yeah, good people.

SPEAKER_00 41:38

You have to go out and find them. You have to go find the darkness.

SPEAKER_01 41:41

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

Scott Soprina. And by the way, for the record, anybody that felt like I might have been talking about you when I was talking, if you're an actor or a business person or anything, I got an extra chair for you if you want to come down and do this. Because I do not want to attack anybody. I don't want to persecute anybody. But if you're in that pool, I'm sorry, get out of the pool. Do me a favor tell somebody that you want more for them than you want from them. And if you're having issues, love more. Have a great day, Scott Sabrina. Sit on this.