What Counts as Gambling?

What is gambling?

For the past half year, I've often bet on the outcomes of League of Legends pro matches in the Heybox esports center. In Heybox this is also called coin betting, but you don't bet real money. You bet Heybox's H-coins, mostly just for fun.

Even though it's just for fun, sometimes I still get carried away.

Take WE vs BLG a while back. I put 2,000 H-coins on BLG without a second thought, but BLG lost, and I lost those 2,000 H-coins.

Why did that happen? In esports, the strength of teams on paper is usually very clear. Who's stronger and who's weaker, you can tell at a glance from the odds. With matches like these, you just back the side with the lower odds. You won't win much, but generally you won't lose your stake either.

So by sticking to that strategy, my Heybox prediction win rate reached 87%, and overall I'm up about 5,000+ H-coins.

But is betting along with the odds really gambling?

I don't think it is. Most of the time I'm calm, and after placing a bet, I'll most likely make a little profit.

The only time I get nervous is when I bet on the weaker team to win. I'm a cautious type, so when I back a team I think is weaker, I don't feel sure of it, and I end up following that team's every move.

Take a gamble and your bicycle becomes a motorcycle. It's like Empress Ula-Nara in Empresses in the Palace slipping alum into the water during the blood test. The move is risky, but once it works, nobody can ever shake the Empress from her position again.

Later, for WE vs AL, I bet on WE. Not because I was willing to gamble, but because WE had become more credible in my eyes. In the end they won. I was a bit worried, but not very.

Then for WE vs TES, I bet on WE again and lost the 2,000-odd H-coins I'd just won in the previous match.

Today WE faces BLG once more. Even though they've beaten BLG once, WE's odds are still above 3. Put in 2,000, and if WE wins, I'd make a profit of 6,000 H-coins.

Honestly, I'm a little tempted to bet on WE. After all, they've beaten BLG before.

But BLG is the strongest team in the LPL right now. One loss doesn't mean anything, and before that they'd beaten WE more than ten times.

Here's where it gets interesting. What is gambling? This is gambling.