Betcha, this is a betting special !

Editor's Desk

Gambler's Fallacy!

It was an intense moment in a game of dice. The assembled dignitaries were dumbstruck. Yudhistra, the Pandava king, has just lost his palaces, lands, herds, chariots, servants, kingdom and his own clothes to Duryodhana, the Kaurava king, and Sakuni, Duryodhana's uncle. When Yudhistra was willing to accept the defeat, Duryodhana was egging him to stake more. Yudhistra did stake more - he staked his brothers - Nakula, Sahadeva, Arjuna, Bhima - himself and his wife Draupadi. Needless to say he lost everything. What resulted after that loss form the major part of the epic Mahabharata. But a question always lingers in one's mind as what really went through Yudhistra's mind? Why did he continue to stake bets? Why did he not stop himself? Modern science term this behavior as Gambler's fallacy or Monte Carlo fallacy (after a famous event which occurred at Monte Carlo Casino in 1913). In this behavior, an individual believes that gambling is a 'fair game' and the next outcome will favor him as he/she went through a series of unfair outcomes. Unfortunately, it is not true as the outcome is always unpredictable irrespective of how many turns someone went through. It is better to stop rather than predicting the unpredictable!

As captured in Mahabharata, betting has been around from historic days. Even though it is shunned by many, it is widely adopted in running lottery, offering insurance and predicting sport outcome. It is a multi-billion industry and has both legal and illegal arms. Usually, sports betting is not legalized in many countries as the outcome can be altered by the core participants - players, coaches and team owners. This is similar to an 'insider trading' in Wall street lingo. Recently Indian Premier League (IPL) was rocked by such a scandal making every one wonder whether it is fair to follow the tournament! India needs strict anti-corruption law for players, coaches, team owners and other support staffs. But who is going to draft and implement those laws? Corrupt politicians? You bet, the odds are low!

In this edition, we have betting as our primary theme. In brain-tickler section we have a refresher for your knowledge about Junk foods. In health section, learn about Hernia and mull over the announcement of Obesity as a new disease. In the Tamil song section we have paid tribute to TMS - the Golden voice of Tamil Music. In English song section, we have picked soundtrack from movies. Now, read, enjoy and share the magazine with your network!

• In the Brain-tickler category:
  • Don't dunk the Junk! A refresher on Junk foods ...
• In the Health Topic section:
  • Learn about Hernia in the article "What is Hernia?"
  • Know about the new recognized disease, "Obesity is no laughing matter."
• In the World Song category:
  • Listen to our Soundtrack Songs from the movies!
  • Listen to the songs continuously with our Jukebox!
• In the Seriously Funny section:
  • Watch the clip - "I bet my life, it is my car"
  • Read the humor, "Your bet horse called"
  • Read the humor, "Believe me, there is a fair machine at this casino!"
• In the Surfboard section:
  • Read the story "Being Benevolent: Not a time to gamble!"
• In the Tamil Picks section:
  • Enjoy the 10 Tamil songs picked out of 30+ songs we reviewed for "A Tribute to TMS: The Golden Voice of Tamil Music"
  • Enjoy the video picks continuously, on-demand in our new video channel.
  • Listen to the song picks continuously in Jukebox.
  • Read the tamil poem picks "Vilayattil Pandhayangal"
• In the Recipe Spot section:
  • Learn how to make variety of juices from the video "It is summer time, aka Juice time!"
• Nuggets:
  • Enjoy our humor nuggets in various section of this edition
    - "A gentleman ..."- in Editor's desk section
    - "Am I organ donor?" and "Too much food"- in Health section
    - "Gambling Husband" - in Surfboard section
    - "My gambling habit..."- in Reader's footprint section
    - "How do you feel while entering a casino?" - in Your feedback section
    
• Get Inspired by watching the video "Billy Walters: A self-made betting billionaire!"

As always, we are very confident that you will enjoy our picks. Write your feedback about this issue by clicking on the email icon or feedback icon. We truly value your opinion, thoughts and time.

A Gentleman..

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"A Gentleman is a man who will pay his gambling debts even when he knows he has been cheated." - Leo Tolstoy

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