Confirmed: Sports cards "collecting" is gambling
RonSportscards
Posts: 1,147 ✭✭✭✭✭
Saw this "Lucky Box" - CGC graded card mystery box machine on the casino floor near the registration desk.
I was thinking of taking one for the team just to see how it goes, so I tapped the screen for pricing to see how much.
Didn't feel like risking $159 for maybe getting a CGC10 card of a .192 hitter in Double A who'll never reach the show.
Hell, even if I got a CGC10 of a Shohei Ohtani Topps Now card, I'd never recover the $159.
I guess that's why they call it gambling.
1
Comments
Seems like a smart way to get people who would otherwise not know/be interested in cards to spend on them. The more the public is exposed to cards the more they think there is value to it.
And they get to clear out junk inventories at the same time.
It's clearly gambling and obviously a bad deal, but casino brain will sell.
Llamas and alpacas are camels. They aren't like camels, or related. They are camels. When was anyone going to tell me this?! How long had Bill Nye been holding out on us?
Courtesy of The CGC the Supreme Junk Slabber
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Not even a minute do I buy the whole buh buh buh I'm a man-child japery - Me (2025)
They had one of these right by the sports book in the Vegas casino a bunch of us were staying at last month. I did not give them my money and I did not see anyone else using it either the entire weekend.
As much as real estate is valued at in casinos they must rake it in though.
The bell desk is right across from it and I ask the bell guy that sits there all day if he ever saw anyone using it and he said no.
I forgot to ask him how long it's been there.
Hate to say it, but with so much information about cards being made available these days, even the dumbest of the dumb couldn't be attracted to a mystery box money eating machine, now could they?
PSA is partners with Courtyard, which has a similar concept of receiving a mystery PSA slab.
They gave me a promotion a couple years ago:
Buy a $25 mystery slab and I could trade it back for the full $25 if I didn't want it.
So I tried it and sure enough, I got a PSA9 of some nobody who will be nobody.
I sold it back and got back the $25.... in CREDIT.
Searching through their marketplace, I couldn't find anything as everything was ultra modern and way overpriced.
I finally decided just to overpay for an Ohtani and of course there are fees for buying, plus shipping, PLUS there was some made up "high demand" fee. Seemed kind of scammy.
$50 later, I have a $20-30? card. LOL
Had to try it though, right?
They have all kinds of sports/Pokemon gambling games at casinos all around Vegas.
They do have one of those at the Tysons Corner Mall in Virginia right around the food court and movie theaters too.
There is a crazy Pokémon machine at the airports too now.
seems like a great way to turn potential new collectors away from the hobby forever. You know, when they get a $17 junk slab for their $159.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
But when you're hooked, you're hooked. I worked with a guy that was hooked on casinos, now matter how much he won, he wouldn't go home until he "gave it all back". He always expected the "big hit" would be next.
this is true. I dont get it, but it is true. a number of years ago, I had a couple of retired neighbors. I talked every week with the husband. A casino opened up in town and within a few years, he confided to me that he couldnt keep his wife out of the place. they didnt lose the house or anything, but she sure did like playing those slots...
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
"this is true. I dont get it, but it is true. a number of years ago, I had a couple of retired neighbors. I talked every week with the husband. A casino opened up in town and within a few years, he confided to me that he couldnt keep his wife out of the place. they didnt lose the house or anything, but she sure did like playing those slots..."
And here you are!
JK
but that would be sweet if a casino opened near me. Yall would never hear from me again.
The owners of the machine do not care - as long as they get their $159 right then.
In other news, it has been discovered that water is wet.
dropping 159$ worth of quarters into a mall vending machine and seeing how many 1979 hot tamales you can stick in your mouth would be far more gratifying
I noticed a Hot Wheels machine next to it - I wonder what they charge for those? $20
I just saw TAG grading is charging $59 for a service that was originally $12 to $15 when they started.
What's PSA to grade a card now - $30?
Buy a NFL Topps Chrome "value box" for $40 at Wal-Mart and get 28 cards - ridiculous.
The hobby has jumped the shark to crazy town.
Erik
Asking your wife if she had a good day is a gamble......
Remember in 1993 when people in Beckett were so ANGRY over the idea of $25 Finest packs with only six cards inside? Well one, you could've just bought the whole set for ~$150-$200 (was I did in my early 2000s college years) and two, I don't think my home state (KY) would even have $5 scratch offs for several more years!
D's: 50P,49S,45D+S,43D,41S,40D,39D+S,38D+S,37D+S,36S,35D+S
Q's: 52S,47S,46S,40S,39S,38S,37D+S,36D+S,35D,34D,32D+S
71T: 003,037,061,070,110,141,176,177,190,198,203,239,262,265, 273, 275, 286, 319, 330, 335, 339, 344,351,357,364,384,397,432,439,442,465,493,495,496,529,530,532,535,541,544,545,549,552,571,583,590,594,599,611,620,
629,630,632,644,645,646,648,649,650,658,671,672,673,680,683,688,692,715,735,739,740,744,750
73T:31,55,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,80,152,165,189,213,235,237,257,341,344,377,379,390,422,433,453,480,497,545,554,563,
580,606,613,630
95 Ultra GM Sets: Golden Prospects, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings