Summary
In the bewildering logic of "gaming," one disposes of that sweat-stained cash as swiftly as possible, replacing it, ideally, with magically fresh and exciting money one has acquired through play. Here, Rotella talks about his experience gambling and betting and how he got hooked gambling.
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Extract
Three Landscapes, with Gamblers
Water-Gazers
I was idling at Pier 11 in Manhattan on a breezy weekend morning, waiting to take the Seahorse Express boat down to the racetrack at Monmouth Park on the Jersey shore. It was the day of the Haskell Stakes, a day of big races and bright July sunshine, and I was eager to get away from the routine of post-collegiate life: office work, bars, playing house with my girlfriend. Seagulls called in the narrow, potholed streets that surrounded the deserted pavilions of South Street Seaport. I had intended to give the racing form a thorough reading while I waited, but the play of sun on water distracted me.That made me a water-gazer. In the first chapter of Moby-Dick, Ishmael marvels at the pull exerted by the sea on New Yorkers: "There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs-commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme down-town is the Battery, where the noble mole is washed by waves and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there. . . . Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thou...See the full content of this document
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