People like my mother (who occasionally go to the casino with $40 in their pocket, betting it all in 5-cent slot machines a nickel at a time, then taking back whatever she gets back) go to the casino in order to have fun/relax, and playing casino games is an enjoyable past time to them. Thus while they lose money, they acknowledge that it is more likely than not that it will happen, and are not distressed when they leave with less money than they enter with because their goal was to enjoy themselves, not to end up with more money—getting more money is just a side benefit, something that happens sometimes (about one time in four that she goes, she winds up with more money than she entered with) but which is not really the primary purpose.
Ergo calling it a money pump in such cases is a bit silly.
On the other hand, people who genuinely believe they can win money at the lottery/gambling (against the house; it is not irrational to play poker or blackjack with the idea that you can win, IF you know what you’re doing) are in fact engaging in money pumping activities.
But it really depends on the nature of the person involved as to whether or not it is a true money pump.
On the other hand, people who genuinely believe they can win money at the lottery/gambling (against the house; it is not irrational to play poker or blackjack with the idea that you can win, IF you know what you’re doing) are in fact engaging in money pumping activities.
The only people who I know that do this, do it due to beliefs about their own capability of pre-cognition, not due to incoherent beliefs. There was a non-mistaken variation where someone reverse engineered the PRNG in the slot machines to win.
On the other hand, people who genuinely believe they can win money at the lottery/gambling (against the house; it is not irrational to play poker or blackjack with the idea that you can win, IF you know what you’re doing) are in fact engaging in money pumping activities.
That doesn’t strike me as money pumping so much as having false beliefs.
People like my mother (who occasionally go to the casino with $40 in their pocket, betting it all in 5-cent slot machines a nickel at a time, then taking back whatever she gets back) go to the casino in order to have fun/relax, and playing casino games is an enjoyable past time to them. Thus while they lose money, they acknowledge that it is more likely than not that it will happen, and are not distressed when they leave with less money than they enter with because their goal was to enjoy themselves, not to end up with more money—getting more money is just a side benefit, something that happens sometimes (about one time in four that she goes, she winds up with more money than she entered with) but which is not really the primary purpose.
Ergo calling it a money pump in such cases is a bit silly.
On the other hand, people who genuinely believe they can win money at the lottery/gambling (against the house; it is not irrational to play poker or blackjack with the idea that you can win, IF you know what you’re doing) are in fact engaging in money pumping activities.
But it really depends on the nature of the person involved as to whether or not it is a true money pump.
The only people who I know that do this, do it due to beliefs about their own capability of pre-cognition, not due to incoherent beliefs. There was a non-mistaken variation where someone reverse engineered the PRNG in the slot machines to win.
That doesn’t strike me as money pumping so much as having false beliefs.