What Would You Do If Your Child Became You (As A Bettor)?

CoachTony_Bets

CoachTony_Bets

Market Sharp
Joined
Dec 7, 2024
Messages
466
Reaction score
7
Points
18
Genuinely uncomfortable question that hit me watching my son on his phone last week.

He's 16. I caught him checking scores on three different apps during dinner. Not betting - he's too young - but the behavior was identical to mine.

Same frantic refreshing. Same phone-first mentality. Same inability to just watch a game.

And I thought: if he becomes me as a bettor in ten years, what do I do? Do I intervene? Do I teach him my methodology and call it responsible gambling? Do I tell him to never start?

Here's the real question: would you be proud if your kid replicated exactly what you do?

I coached him not to text at dinner. Meanwhile I'm checking CLV under the table.
 
Oh this is a brutal one Tony.

Got two boys. Twelve and fifteen.

Fifteen year old already asks me about rugby odds.
Thinks it's cool his dad knows stuff about betting.
I play along.

But if he was doing what I do in ten years?
Betting drunk at the pub every Saturday?
Missing family stuff for matches?

I'd be absolutely devastated.

And I know that's completely hypocritical.
 
No kids but I've thought about this with my nephew.

If he grew up and bet exactly like me - disciplined, tracked everything, 56% win rate - would I be proud?

Honest answer: yes and no.

Proud of the discipline. But I'd also know what it costs. The hours. The mental space. The way it filters every sports experience through money.

I'd want him to have what I had before betting. Just watching a game because you love it.
 
I don't have kids but this question is making me think about my little sister.

She's 19 and already asks me about my parlays.
Thinks it's fun and cool.
I've literally helped her pick a parlay before.

Reading this thread I feel awful about that.
 
Have two children. Thirteen and sixteen.

If they became me: disciplined systematic approach, positive ROI, strict bankroll management.

Objectively I should be proud. The methodology is sound.

But no. I would not be proud.

Because I know what the spreadsheets don't show. The evenings at the desk instead of with them. The social narrowing. The way betting colonized everything.

I would tell them never to start.

Then they would ask why I continue.

I would have no answer.
 
No kids.

But Klaus's last line is the whole thread isn't it.

"I would tell them never to start. Then they would ask why I continue. I would have no answer."

That's the hypocrisy perfectly stated.
 
no kids thank god... genuinely relieved about that reading this thread... cant imagine watching a child become what i am...

if i had a son doing what i do id be horrified... chasing losses at 2am... betting on sports he doesnt understand... lying to people about how much he bets...

but id still be doing it myself...

wouldnt even be able to look him in the eye telling him to stop...
 
Klaus and Conor nailed it.

The intervention conversation would be impossible.

"Son, you need to stop this."
"But Dad you do it."
"That's different."
"How?"
"..."

I have no answer to that. Never thought about it until right now.
 
Had almost that exact conversation with my fifteen year old.

He asked me to explain how odds work.

I did. Properly. With examples.

Then he asked if he could bet when he turns eighteen.

I said absolutely not.

He said "but you do it."

I said "that's different son."

He gave me this look.

Didn't push back. Just looked at me.

Felt about two inches tall.
 
No children. No plans for children.

But professionally interesting question. Worked at exchange. Saw secondhand what betting culture does to families.

Colleagues who missed school plays for trading sessions. Wives who attended events alone. Children who stopped asking dad to come.

None of them would have wanted their children to follow that path.

All of them were still trading.
 
Here's what I'd actually do if my nephew came to me at 22 wanting to bet seriously.

I'd show him my spreadsheet. Every bet for 20 years. Not just the profit number - the hours, the events missed, the way it changed my brain.

Then I'd say "if you still want to do this after seeing what it really costs, I'll teach you properly."

I'd hope seeing the full picture would put him off.

But I'd also know that if he's anything like me, it wouldn't.
 
I'm going to call my sister and tell her to stop asking me about parlays.

Like right now I want to do that.
 
Interesting that Princess - who has no child - responds with immediate protective action.

Those of us with children have had years to act and have not.

Youth and awareness together produce what age and awareness alone cannot.
 
Klaus that's uncomfortably accurate mate.

Princess is gonna protect her sister.

We can't even protect our own kids.
 
This question forces me to confront something I have avoided, my son James is thirty-four and has shown no interest in betting, he finds it tedious and has said so, I have always been quietly relieved by this though I never examined why, now examining it: I am relieved because I know what betting has taken from me and I do not want him to pay the same cost, yet I cannot stop myself, I know precisely what it costs and I continue paying, if James came to me tomorrow and said he wanted to bet seriously I would do everything in my power to dissuade him, I would show him the hollow years after Margaret died when betting filled the hours because I had nothing else, I would show him the evenings his sister called and I was analyzing matches, I would tell him to find something that gives back rather than just consuming, and then I would go back to my desk and do my analysis because I cannot stop either.
 
Prof that last line.

"I would tell him to find something that gives back. And then I would go back to my desk."

That's the whole thread in one sentence.
 
What gets me is the "I know what it costs" part.

We all know what it costs. We're not delusional about it.

We just can't stop anyway.

So what would we actually say to a kid? "Don't do what I do even though I can't stop doing it"?

That's not advice. That's just confession.
 
Fade that's the most honest framing of it.

We can describe the problem perfectly. We just can't model the solution.

That's probably the worst thing you can be as a parent. Someone who knows exactly what's wrong and demonstrates it daily anyway.
 
makes me think about my dad actually...

he drank... not heavily but consistently... every evening... told me and my sister to never drink to cope with things...

we both drink to cope with things...

didnt inherit his genes i think... inherited his example...
 
Back
Top
GOALLLL!
Odds