Instead, those formative lessons taught me a lot about how to live, and although my wife-to-be shudders at the prospect of me passing on the knowledge to our children, I try to soothe her with its many benefits.
For a start, one learns respect for money. The maxim "only bet with what you can afford to lose" helps you to come to terms with the fact that life is easier if you do not spend funds you do not have.
Indeed, the ability to recognise the value of one's hard-earned cash cannot be overestimated. A gambler, for example, might not waste hundreds of pounds a year on something like home insurance because he has worked out that the odds of ever using it are something like 17,000-1.
If that seems reckless, it is in fact the opposite. Non-gamblers are obsessed by fear, by the thought of what could go wrong – my house could burn down, for example. A gambler should be obsessed with working out the probability and then making a rational decision. Wasting £1 on the national lottery is not one of these.No wonder then that betters can often be accused of being unemotional robots. We don't squander money on things we don't need, nor do we splurge on the flashiest or most-expensive item in the shop. More likely we'll do some eye-boggling research on the internet and uncover which one offers the best value for money.
Gamblers are serious folk to whom impulsiveness is anathema. This is a throwback to the studying of the form guide. We bet on a horse if the ground suits it, the stable is in form and the odds are incorrect. Not because everyone else is betting on it or it has the glassy-eyed pull of being the jockey's last ride in a glittering career. We buy a house if the postcode is solid, not because everyone else is or it has luxurious decor.
When reality bites, it is sore. Often that reality is, as the Stones put it: you can't always get what you want. And gambling is great at dishing out harsh examples. Sometimes you win; sometimes you lose. The ability to not get too high or low respectively is priceless. And I became wise to that early on.
Like the occasion when I saved for months to bet on a washed-up Desert Orchid – after meeting the famous grey at a stable tour on another day off with Dad – only to lose every penny and cry hot tears all the way home.
Sure, you might want to throw your Tandy out of the window on occasion, but that feeling of sanguinity is never far away, no matter the rejection or failure because, fundamentally, there will be other opportunities.
So where is the pleasure? It is manifold. For some it might be about the money. For others it is the adrenaline rush of watching a selection win or lose. For most, however, it is about being proved right. Your knowledge has been shown to be superior over someone else's. Shallow, yes. Compelling, certainly. That is true whether gambling is involved or not
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