Best career path for someone who loves gambling
I love gambling. Specifically poker, but I love going to the casino in general. And poker player/quant don’t count because I’m not good enough for those jobs.
Day trader
IB
Based on the most helpful WSO content, if you love gambling but don't feel skilled enough to pursue poker professionally or work as a quant, there are still career paths that align with your interests in risk-taking, strategy, and probability. Here are some options:
Trading or Prop Trading:
Many professionals on WSO have highlighted the parallels between poker and trading. Both require calculated risk-taking, probabilistic thinking, and emotional discipline. Even if you're not a quant, you can focus on developing strong mental math and analytical skills to break into trading roles.
Sports Betting or Arbitrage:
Some users have shared success stories about leveraging skills in arbitraging low-volume, inefficient sports-betting markets. This could be a niche area to explore if you enjoy applying strategy and analysis to gambling-like scenarios.
Casino Management or Gaming Industry Roles:
If you love the casino environment, consider roles in casino management, operations, or even game design. These positions allow you to stay close to the action while contributing to the industry.
Risk Management:
A career in risk management within finance or insurance could be a great fit. It involves assessing and managing risks, which aligns with the strategic thinking required in gambling.
Behavioral Finance or Psychology:
If you're interested in the psychology behind gambling and decision-making, you could explore roles in behavioral finance or research. These fields study how people make financial decisions under uncertainty.
Entrepreneurship:
Many gamblers enjoy the thrill of taking calculated risks, which translates well into starting and running a business. Entrepreneurship allows you to channel your love for risk-taking into building something tangible.
While poker player and quant roles might not be on the table, these paths still allow you to leverage your passion for gambling in a productive and rewarding way.
Sources: From poker to prop-trading, What was the best job you ever had?, Another career-crisis / passion vs career post!
Lol
Northwestern Mutual is always hiring your types
I tried to get an MBA summer internship with America's Cardroom in corporate development in Costa Rica, but it didn't workout and now I have to get a normal job.
How was the potential pay like?
I thought you were set for life, fuck you getting a normal job for
I meant being set for life as on the path. Not retiring.
Normal trading, maybe something in options. Options are all about probability and stochastics, so knowing how to exploit these things to get a positive expected value is very good. I mean, most trading nowadays is somewhat quantitative if it's in options.
Don’t you have to be very good at mathematics and stats for these jobs? Even people I know who are pure math majors and insane at mental math have a hard time landing these trading jobs
Poker is just expected values and probabilities. Yes, you probably want to be good at math, but if you're actually good at poker it likely means you'd be good at math.
compsci ->worm your way into MAMAA. will give you flexible hours, high income, can live closer to vegas. have a buddy in this scenario.
This was what I was hoping to do, but the Compsci job market is so bad now I don’t think it’s possible anymore
LMAO, as someone who did a stint in tech and left, the grass isn't greener.
yeah, it takes years of work to get to rest and vest but the work is never as grindy as ex. IB->PE. this person wants to earn enough to gamble and do it often (in person), so this path would give them more free time to do that. plus side of compsci is you can work for gaming companies and settle in vegas.
You can always play poker as a job, its def possible to clear 500 - 1,000 per day on average playing in poker rooms against vegas tourists.
What stakes are we talking? 2, 5?
That's professional cash game-level performance, not something any "good" poker player can hope to consistently achieve.
Agreed
Credit trader/credit investing. Both rates trading and fundamental credit. Not much drawdown and can move in and out of positions anytime. Research suggests that gambler enjoys the process of placing bets and not the outcome. So credit is perfect fit for this.
Never heard of this industry… is it IB adjacent?
asset management.
Honestly, I'd say go for VC. you invest in like 10 deals with the lowest of probabilities that one might work out and if you're lucky, you beat the house, other times, the house stacks the deck so hard they they literally defraud a bank and get sent to prison for seven years. Which deal will you pick and how will it work out? That's gambing for you. Some skill may be involved.
I think trading is closer to gambling than VC. VC is just kinda not putting all your eggs in one basket.
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