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Another unusual use of cycling is in this story from NYTimes this morning:

New York Gamblers Cross Into New Jersey to Place NFL Bets Online - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

In theory, NY state allows online gambling, but in practice they haven’t because there are no approved vendors in NY City.  You can go to New Jersey, and as soon as your phone recognizes that you are in NJ you can place bets.  But crossing the George Washington Bridge by car means at $16 toll, so there are many who decide to take a short bike ride across the bridge to place their bets.

I don’t gamble (except what pre-pandemic was a monthly dime-a-chip poker game with friends), but wondered about the economics.

For every $1 bet,

New Jersey takes 13 cents (from the NYT article)

DraftKings (one of the sports betting companies) seems to take 10 cents. It’s more complicated than that (see How FanDuel and DraftKings Work (investopedia.com) )

So that leaves 77 cents for the pool of winnings, roughly. So, on average, everyone loses 23 cents out of that dollar.

But there are professional bettors, nowadays with large databases and artificial intelligence programs, who use that to get an edge. James Holzhauer, the big Jeopardy winner, is one of those people.  If they are making money, that further reduces the chance that I’d make money.

Of course, nearly all forms of entertainment cost money, so a few bucks lost over a season isn’t anything to sweat – as long as these are bucks you can afford to lose.

I saw this article too and thought of the guy Shel mentioned. Here’s the Trib article.

‘Bicycle Bandit’ wearing ‘really loud’ plaid shirts has robbed several banks on South, Southwest sides, FBI says

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-serial-bank-robber-bicycle-bandit-20211007-4xdykjtitrdi5ogm7nflhotlwi-story.html


Suzie (on the move) 🚴