Solano Real Estate Scene: Risk vs. reward

I am officially the worst slot machine gambler in America. I have never won a significant jackpot in my life and for some crazy reason I continue to put multiple quarters in exciting and colorful slot machines two or three times per year at Cache Creek and Lake Tahoe. I am a pretty decent poker player, which is considered a skill game based on mathematics but, holy cow, fantasy sports companies like Draft Kings and Fan Duel are legal in California because, like poker, they are considered skill games based on math, player research and predictability and no matter how much I try and research the players, I never seem to win. It is entertaining to gamble and risk money to win big, but based on what I have seen over the past 40 years in the risk management business, many good people lose way too much money gambling. I have a family member who lost $300,000 on slot machines and thank God, went to rehab and stopped gambling. Another family member is up more than $180,000 playing fantasy sports to date after a $200,000 win on a single night in the NBA on Fan Duel. Buying real estate and stocks may be considered a bit of a gamble but if the millions of Americans who have lost billions on slot machines over the past 60 years gambled on real estate or stocks like Disney, Amazon and Facebook, they would be a lot richer and happier than they are today. “Buy land, they aren’t making it anymore.” — Mark Twain.