Card Collecting - Harmless Hobby of Youth or Gateway To Gambling

[CamaroDMD]

I have never seen any kind of statistic or any kind or report...but a number of years a thought occurred to me and I have wondered about it ever since.

I'm not a big pack guy...I would rather know what I am buying. But, every time I look at a pack of cards, I see the same thing. On the back, there are odds of pulling certain types. 1:10 game used, 1:25 autograph, 1:150: dual auto game used, 1:5000: Triple auto HOF relic ect. It reminds me of the same thing you see on a lottery ticket: "the odds of winning are 1:..."

Opening packs of cards is a form of gambling. You are paying a small fee for the possibility of pulling one of these desirable cards. There are no guarantees and the "odds of winning" are even listed on the package.

Does this teach kids a bad lesson? Is this instilling a dangerous "thrill of gambling" into children?

Like I said before, I have never seen or heard anyone else ever express this thought...but I would like some opinions.

 

[Taliasen]

not so much gambling, but rather disappointment...
but I am being cynical today.

 

[CamaroDMD]

not so much gambling, but rather disappointment...
but I am being cynical today.

Bust some packs without success? lol

 

[LindaKay]

It sounds like it, doesn't it? That sucks. I'm sorry. I hate when that happens.

I guess I can sort of see the resemblance to gambling. I think it's like anything else; that's kind of like asking if a person drinking the small thimble-worth of wine at church is going to lead to an alcohol problem. For some people, it might. For the vast majority, though, I don't think so.

 

[IQless1]

(stands up)...Hi, my name is IQless1, and...I'm a card collecting addict...

...seriously, I have no idea how many cards I have...and it's annoying me that I can't even pin it down to the closest 10,000th :wideyed:

 

[CamaroDMD]

I guess I can sort of see the resemblance to gambling. I think it's like anything else; that's kind of like asking if a person drinking the small thimble-worth of wine at church is going to lead to an alcohol problem. For some people, it might. For the vast majority, though, I don't think so.

Interesting thought...I have just seen people spend thousands of dollars on packs of cards. I never really connected gambling and cards...until one day it just sort of popped into my head. Maybe I'm just crazy, lol.

 

[LindaKay]

Wow....thousands of dollars...that's pretty crazy. I would never spend that much and have never seen that in my life. I suppose if I saw something like that, I might make the connection as well lol.

 

[CamaroDMD]

Wow....thousands of dollars...that's pretty crazy. I would never spend that much and have never seen that in my life. I suppose if I saw something like that, I might make the connection as well lol.

I haven't spent that kind of money on it either...but I have seen people on other boards buy a "box" which contains 1 pack of 5 cards for hundreds of dollars.

 

[LindaKay]

Phew....I do this for fun, not to go broke. I can't imagine dedicating that much money to cards, no matter how much I love them. I guess it all depends on your budget, though.

 

[CamaroDMD]

Phew....I do this for fun, not to go broke. I can't imagine dedicating that much money to cards, no matter how much I love them. I guess it all depends on your budget, though.

I agree, I try and keep most of my cards in the $20 and below range. I will every now and again go higher. My record at this point is about $290 but I bought a nice vintage Mickey Mantle. At some point, I will get a 1952 Topps Mantle...which will set me back several thousand dollars but that will require some dedicated saving first.

 

[LindaKay]

I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with spending a bit more on a special card. There's a difference between planning for the purchase and just sporadically spending tons of money on cards, ya know?

 

[CamaroDMD]

I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with spending a bit more on a special card. There's a difference between planning for the purchase and just sporadically spending tons of money on cards, ya know?

Oh, I completely agree. I think it's the same idea with anything...no just cards. If you budget and plan/save then it is "responsible." If I go out today and buy an 80in TV on a whim...that's probably "irresponsible" (not that I have any plan to buy...or place to put such a TV).

 

[LindaKay]

EXACTLY.

We have a 65-inch television. We carefully planned for it, decided where we were going to purchase it from, decided how much we could spend and planned on how we were going to pay for it.

That's fine.

I didn't go and snap it up because I was bored one day. That would have been wrong.

Once again, there is nothing wrong with buying what you want, but you can't just do it on impulse. If you can't control yourself from planning for the purchase, then you might have a problem.

 

[racinghy]

I honestly don't think it is gambling. If I am correct, doesn't the "odds" really mean the apx. inversion rate of the inserts/autos/relics/etc. ?

 

[CamaroDMD]

I honestly don't think it is gambling. If I am correct, doesn't the "odds" really mean the apx. inversion rate of the inserts/autos/relics/etc. ?

Yes...the odds mean the insertion rate of a given insert type. How is this different than buying a scratch-off? They too have "odds of winning" listed on them. If I buy a pack that has a 1:10 relic card in it...I am taking a blind gamble of opening it and finding a relic.