Retirement, bars and gambling not far behind.

[Koolau]

Sounds about right.
I don't gamble, never bought a lottery ticket.
I did, however, put 25¢ into a 100-square pool for the Super Bowl a few times at work, decades ago...

Heh, heh, I used to bet a cup of company swill (aka coffee) on a local game or school rivalry.

 

[jollystomper]

I grew up in an Irish neighborhood in the Bronx,NY. No joke there was 6 bars/pubs in a 3 block's. 1 or 2 were frequented by my friends and me, a few I would never go into as they were hubs for the Northern Aid Society = IRA. We always had a good time playing pool, shooting darts and watching whatever sports that happened to be on TV (pre cable tv) pretty much anytime you popped in you ran into someone you didn't mind hanging out with. Dollar bears three dollar pitchers. One very good thing is we all could walk or sometimes stagger home, no need to drive ever.

You reminded me of something a good friend of mine who was born and grew up in Ireland once told me. There, he said, one did not really socialize with neighbors and friends in the house. The pubs were the places to meet up with friends, to socialize, and do the things you mentioned. There was drinking, but that was not the main purpose. Whole families would end up there most evenings, especially when football (known in America as soccer ) was on TV - watching was a community like event.

I thought it an interesting cultural difference. I have visited Dublin a couple of times with him and it helped me better understand a culture so different from mine.

 

[mistermike40]

I've only been to a casino a few times. My last time (over 25 years ago) "cured" me of any desire to return. If you've seen the movie "Swingers" - in particular Jon Favreau's character's misfortune at the blackjack table - then you have an idea what happened to me. Me and a friend went after work to one of the new casinos in Detroit. I had $100 to "spend", and the only blackjack table that had open seats was a $25 minimum. Lost the first hand, had an 11 on the 2nd hand so I doubled down... of course I lost. I quickly lost the other $25 as well. Took about 10 minutes total to lose $100. My friend (a much more experienced gambler than me) was sympathetic, but he couldn't help but smile/laugh at how fast I lost my "stake". If I *did* have a gambling addiction to shake, that experience was better than any 12-step program.

As far as drinking, I used to go out quite a bit when I was single (back in the 1980's). Getting married and raising a family quickly put an end to that! I still enjoy a couple beers, but at this stage of life that's enough for me.

 

[shortstop14]

I'll have a beer after baseball practice once in a while, but that's usually about it. Never really cared for alcohol, even in my younger days - so I was always the designated driver. But living half time in France, the wine is kind of ubiquitous, so I've expanded ... slightly.

 

[Badger]

I don't gamble and the last time I went to a bar was in the early 80s. The bar scene was boring and most of the men were older wearing gold chains with medallions. I suppose it might have changed since then but I bet it would still be boring for me.
I do meet with a group of friends at a restaurant/pub once a month and have burger with a beer. So I guess that could be considered gambling with my health and drinking.

 

[wrigley]

My alcohol tolerance is low. A 1/2 serving of wine is plenty to enjoy a nice meal. We rarely drink out. I’m the driver and DH doesn’t care for drinks.

I was amazed on the recent cruise how much alcohol some folks put away. Several glasses of wine during cocktail hour and then more at dinner. And they still seem to function although some slurring may have been involved.

When you're paying for that "alcohol package" you need to get your money's worth!

 

[MichaelB]

A little context

 

[pjigar]

I never buy lottery. I don't gamble usually. If I do when I am with friends, it is generally less than $50 limit. I won a few times but I know the odds are always with the house. As to drinking, similar story. Meet up friends at bar once every other month. I am just too busy doing things that are healthy and productive.

 

[TripleLindy]

Yes- I get a lot of them on the podcasts I listen to and their stocks are frequently touted by the Talking Heads.

 

[folivier]

I did lots of drinking as a teenager and then once in college. Made it through college then continued into my very early w*rking career. Finally realized that hangovers interfered with work the next day. Gave up most of it except for occasional social drinking. Now have a glass of wine with dinner occasionally and Sunday afternoons visit a friend for a cocktail. Gave up carbonated beverages years ago so don't enjoy beer. BTW I never drank alone, it was always socially.
Gambling? never did it. Have been in a couple of casinos but they are depressing to see old people (and some younger ones) sitting there pulling on a handle with so little hope in their eyes.

 

[stepford]

I've never been much of a gambler, but I do enjoy the deals casinos provide to entice suckers customers.

I've never been a drinker, but being a child of the '60s and '70s did enjoy a variety of other intoxicants in my youth. While that ended by my working years I entertained fantasies of getting happily wasted in my retirement. A few experiences in my first year of ER quashed that notion pretty convincingly. What was fun when I was 20 just made me very uncomfortable at 55+. Haven't touched anything in the almost 10 years since.

 

[GravitySucks]

I’ve spent way too many nights working on a neon tan. I do still go to a local pub a couple times a week for game nights. Only drink one night a week though. The older I get the worse the hangovers are, so I’ve cut back even more recently.

Gambling was never a big issue. Once a year to lose a hundred bucks on roulette and a few bucks on lottery tickets a month.

I do see what the OP was referencing. I never enjoyed day drinking but I used to stop at the local dive bar in the day time to say hello to my bartender/philosopher friend and there would always be a core group of retirees there from noon till the working folks showed up. A couple were former coworkers that I heard passed away much too young.
There’s also a Native casino not far from me that has a nice lunch deal. Every time I’ve gone for lunch the slot machines are occupied by retirees.

The gambling apps are crazy popular. Everyone under 30 at Trivia night is grabbing their phones checking their bets between rounds. ESPN seems happy to help. Check a score on their app now brings up the current odds.

Well we all have our vices, I try not to judge

 

[sparky08]

And now gambling...sports betting has come to our phones.A LOT of ads on TV touting just how EZ it is to win.

I think about the millions of dollars it took to develop those betting apps. And the $$$ to pay the famous endorsers. And the hundreds of thousands per year to host those apps in the cloud. And the people to support it. And the investors that want a hefty return.

Then I ask myself...what are my odds of winning by playing their betting games

(I also have the same reaction to the gigantic casinos and the costs to keep them running.)

 

[jazz4cash]

Sports? Betting, er, I mean "trading on prediction markets" in today's lingo, encompasses a lot more than sports. Nothing seems out of bounds as fair game for wagering with these so-called prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket.

As if the explosion of sports betting isn’t bad enough on it’s own, I put the prediction markets in a whole other category. What could go wrong?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/03/04/kalshi-khamenei-bet-controversy/

TLDR
1. His Kalshi app placed green check marks next to his bets, indicating he’d won payouts worth more than $63,000.
Minutes later, however, Kalshi froze the $54 million trade for everyone who bet on that scenario, saying the site doesn’t allow transactions “directly tied to death.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Gambling occasionally was fun when I was young and didn't have enough money to retire. DH and played penny slots with real pennies.

The minute I became FI, years before retirement, it lost its appeal entirely. It's boring. Never enjoyed the bar scene. DH was in a bar band for almost 10 years. The went on tour in Canada the year after we were married. It didn't last long and the stories he had from that experience resembled The Blues Brothers movie. They played at a high end racquet club for a few years, then was a hotel band. At the racquet club they had fans a followers who came night after night and drank. And bought drinks for the band. The band routinely poured the drinks ot surreptitiously.

I enjoy wine and occasional drinks, but stopped entirely several months ago. I enjoy being at normal weight a lot more, I'm much happier.

 

[Diogenes]

You reminded me of something a good friend of mine who was born and grew up in Ireland once told me. There, he said, one did not really socialize with neighbors and friends in the house. The pubs were the places to meet up with friends, to socialize, ...

I did lots of drinking as a teenager and then once in college. Made it through college then continued into my very early w*rking career. Finally realized that hangovers interfered with work the next day....

Some folks were too busy studying in college, to socialize much... let alone to drink. I see this from the other side presently, as a college professor. My students spend every waking moment on HW/studying, projects, or part-time jobs. Most commute. There are no frats, and very little campus social life.

So then these fine folks graduate, going to work for Boeing or Lockheed or whatnot (aerospace engineering context here). Then what? What sort of social life awaits them? They're saving every penny (remember, these are engineers), learning about investment, advancing their careers, maybe doing grad school part-time. Or helping their younger siblings, elderly parents and so on.

The point: ours is a socially broken society. We don't have the Old World convivial social gatherings, whether that Old World is in Europe or Asia or wherever else. We're atomized. We study, we work, we retire - and then what? In a better world, we'd have viable social interactions outside of immediate family and outside of work. Because... if you neither work anymore, nor have family,... what's left? Meetup.com?

 

[Mulligan]

I was gambling long before I retired. I enjoy (still do) the travel, break of my daily routines, the excitement, etc. I drank a lot more a few years ago but these days a few beers while at the tables is all I need or want.

I have been sports betting since before I almost got my ass beat by the principal’s paddle after a teacher busted up my 6th grade home room sports betting ring. Quick thinking spared me the paddle, but I still had to permanently suspend school operations as part of the deal, ha. Its been part of my daily life most of my adult hood. Though my preferences are mostly the season long win/point total over daily game wagering. Its been a very good year. Cleaned up on all 4 season long NFL/NCAA futures and NHL heading for a likely 3-1 season. But the NHL playoff series bets are where I typically do the best. Well not with DraftKings anymore as they shut me down to $2 bets because I was cleaning their clock last year (relatively speaking). Thankfully Fan Duel hasnt but I never withdraw the money there, so that may be why I havent been throttled as they think they got a shot to get it back, ha.

 

[Car-Guy]

^^^^^^To be honest, I've done much better with my sports betting the past few years than I have at the tables. I've even won a few big parlays. (Not so easy to do)

 

[TripleLindy]

The older I get the worse the hangovers are, so I’ve cut back even more recently.

My hangovers aren’t bad, per se, but I’m just so lethargic the next day, which is worse than it was even just a few years ago. I certainly don’t sleep well when I drink, so I’m sure that’s part of it. And my drinking is almost always of a social nature - parties, dining out with friends, etc. I rarely drink at home, but every now and then during the summer, I might hang out around the pool with a margarita, if the mood strikes. I’d probably enjoy a beverage more often if it didn’t make the day after a wasted day.

Outside of friendly poker games, I’ve never been much of a gambler. Gotta say, the way gambling is featured in just about all sports shows now is a real turn off for me. I just don’t care to watch a segment about betting on a receiver having more than 1 catch in the first quarter.

 

[Mulligan]

^^^^^^To be honest, I've done much better with my sports betting the past few years than I have at the tables. I've even won a few big parlays. (Not so easy to do)

Im a bit odd on the gambling. We go to casino mostly for her. A couple weeks ago on a Saturday we went and I put $20 in a slot machine and built it up to $40 on slots, then dropped back to $20 and quit. I just wont spend much casino gambling. I dount I would be very good at table games, so I dont try. But I did walk across to sports book and plunked $800 to win $500 that Bridgeman would win the Genesis Open. Which he did, barely the next day. That was just a fortunate I was bored bet. I typically only bet golf majors pairings bets.

 

[Koolau]

Some folks were too busy studying in college, to socialize much... let alone to drink. I see this from the other side presently, as a college professor. My students spend every waking moment on HW/studying, projects, or part-time jobs. Most commute. There are no frats, and very little campus social life.

So then these fine folks graduate, going to work for Boeing or Lockheed or whatnot (aerospace engineering context here). Then what? What sort of social life awaits them? They're saving every penny (remember, these are engineers), learning about investment, advancing their careers, maybe doing grad school part-time. Or helping their younger siblings, elderly parents and so on.

The point: ours is a socially broken society. We don't have the Old World convivial social gatherings, whether that Old World is in Europe or Asia or wherever else. We're atomized. We study, we work, we retire - and then what? In a better world, we'd have viable social interactions outside of immediate family and outside of work. Because... if you neither work anymore, nor have family,... what's left? Meetup.com?

Interesting take. Thanks for sharing.

If your experience is universal, it's changed in the generation since I taught at the university level. Not disputing your observations, but it's totally different than what I saw. Of course, my field was way different than aerospace - though I had some students that used to be in that field.

 

[pacergal]

DH does not drink, I will occasionally have one drink when out to dinner, mostly on vacation.
We will occasionally go into a casino on vacation. We allow ourselves to have a certain amount of $ for the night(usually only 100 each--not big spenders! lol)
Funny story--our friends were frequently at a local casino for years. They got comped rooms, got "gifts" every month, etc. Going there was how she dealt with her brothers brain cancer journey--gve her an outlet I guess. I have no idea how much they have won and lost, has to be in the multiple thousands. They would tell us of $7000, $10,000 wins. Never how much they actually spent.
Last time we were there, DH was sitting next to them on the slots, losing repeatedly. She couldn't believe it, so she took her casino key slot and put it in DH machine. He started winning multiple times. Came out about $500 more than he put in. As soon as she took her key out and DH played his $, he started losing again! He stopped and we simply sat and enjoyed visiting with them while they played.
I don't know how random the slots are, but it was odd to start winning big after utilizing her key.

 

[Markola]

Everyone I know in our early 60s set drinks less than we used to, many not at all. I grew up in the Bible Belt and never learned cards, e.g. I know I’ll lose at gambling.

 

[timbervest]

I drink wine occassionally with dinner or when dining out. Not every night. Maybe a beer if I go to the ball game. I don't care for hard liquour.

I will occassionally gamble (craps) when in Las Vegas for other reasons. Tables have gotten expensive so there are always the machines. I would not go there or to any of our many Indian casinos specifically to gamble.

Neither of these are compulsions and I can go weeks (or in the case of gambling months or years) without thinking about it.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Today, March 6, 2026, my stock portfolio probably went down about the price of a nice new car. Doesn't bother me a bit. But, if I had lost $50 at a casino I'd be mad at myself.

The thing is, the $50k down turn in my stock portfolio today will come back. I only have to wait. The $50 lost in a casino is gone forever no matter how long I wait.