Gamblers Ramblers.

I had a very interesting call from a young man today. The young man wanted to know if I gambled and was rather curious as to why, I, a "Heartlander" did not take part in the usual Chinese New Year activity of - "Gambling." Gambling as it stands, is the most UNCHINESE part about me. I've understood the desire to throw away money I didn't have on the roll of a dice or a series of numbers. That's not to say I don't appreciate risk taking per se - I, of all people have taken more than my fair share of risk. However, I like to think that I either played with skill or simply chose to ignore the options put infront of me.

For some reason, the Chinese cannot help not gambling. Go to any racetrack in the world and inevitably you'll find that there will be a Chinese getting ready to place his last pennies on the horses. It's the same with casinos, the largest punters are inevitably the Chinese. Much as Confucious tried to talk about "moral order," the Chinese people have developed a culture devoted to gambling and the pursuit of luck. While Christians and Muslims pray to get to heaven and Hindu's and Buddhist pray for better reincarnation prospects...the Chinese think nothing of asking the devine for tips on tomorrow's lottery numbers.

Seriously, the Chinese are crazy when it comes to gambling. It's no wonder why Hong Kong looked after its Jocky Club and Singapore has thrown the dice on future economic growth on....casinos. With 75% of its population being Chinese, you're bound to make aload of money when it comes to the gamblers. Tax regimes in places dominated by Chinese (Hong Kong and Singapore) are exceedingly reasonable - governments released it was pointless fighting with people to get them to pay a range of taxes when the people would happily give the same amount of money through lotteries and other forms of gambling.

It's not that I don't appreciate the odd flutter or so. When you go to places like Las Vegas, it's part of the etiquite that you gamble a little, rather like when you sit at a restaurant you make it a point of ordering something. I appreciate games like poker, Mah Jong and bridge - such games are highly educational and require an element of skill. Even horse racing requires skill - it involves things like studying bloodlines, jocky history, track conditions and so on. I grew up with a stepfather who studied these things. Gambling properly requires discipline - you need to control your fear and greed. The first time I played blackjack in Vegas, I was such a wreck, the dealer needed to calm me down and beer did not taste so good. But somehow I was able to finish the game ahead.

But the thing is people don't gamble that way and casinos love this. They love to throw away money on games that require no skill - merely luck. Sometimes they win big ....but most time...people simply don't know when to quit and people who are ahead promptly lose every penny.

What is it about sane and rational people when it comes to thinking they can make billions at the throw of a dice? The answer is most of them get greedy and that brings them down in the most unfortunate way.