Week to week, more seasoned gamblers ("sharps" or "wise guys") bet on football than any other sport, and when it comes to the Super Bowl even the amateurs ("squares" or "fish," to the sharps) who don't usually gamble put down something on the game.
On South Carolina's first possession of the second half, needing less than a foot for a first down, Spurrier gambled on fourth down from his 30.
But with elimination just a bad spell of basketball away, Coach Larry Brown gambled, sitting Iverson down for less than three minutes before reinserting him with 10 minutes to play in the half.
And because of the high level of competition and the sheer sizes of the casinos, they have been forced, in order to compete, to spend exorbitant amounts of money to attract gamblers, and the yields on the amount gambled have gone down because they have to increase the wins to be able to compete.
Make no mistake, the last thing that government wants is for everyone, right this minute, to stop smoking, boozing, gambling and downing those nutritionally empty supersweet sodas.
"And as is so often the way," he adds, rather ruefully, "the land and the estates and the farms have all been gambled away down the years.
When talks between the two leaders broke down, Bhutto gambled on sending in troops and jailing the secessionists.
But Djokovic decided to gamble, to double down on his bet and give the wheel one more spin.
Like Tony Blair before him, Gove is gambling that talking down our schools will build support for further, faster reform.
"It wouldn't be like you had a yen to gamble tonight, drive down to Atlantic City, sign yourself off the list and go to the casino for some credit".
