House Edge Changes Behavior

A story about how a billionaire mentor's simple logic about gambling changed Shaan's behavior.

"I went with my mentor, my investor who's a billionaire - Michael Birch - to Vegas for a meeting with Rupert Murdoch. We're staying at the Wynn, and we go down to the floor. Any degenerate knows there's a certain feeling that comes over your body when you walk the floor of a casino. When you enter the casino, something about the air, the sounds - it physiologically does something to my body.

So I'm like 'Michael, you want to play? Let's find a table, we got a couple hours before this thing.' I'm 25 years old, he's 40 or 45, and he's like 1000 or 10,000 times wealthier than me and smarter than me.

I was like 'Do you gamble?' and he's like 'Not really.' I was like 'Oh why, you don't like it?' He's like 'Why would I gamble? The house has an edge, right?'

I had these chips in my hand and I just put them back in my pocket and I really haven't gambled since. My mom has told me to stop gambling, I've had friends say 'Why don't you just not do it?' Nothing has ever sunk in except for this guy just being like 'Why would I play? House has an edge.'"