After last weeks loss on spreadbetting I decided to try a bit of betting. Now I have a friend who bets on horses daily and I believe he makes a considerable loss. My plan was to 'lay' the clear favourites and collect the pennies once they fall. Laying is basically betting on a horse to lose, as it's our primal instinct to win I was hoping for a tidy profit from others greed. So with £125 I started laying the favourites and my liability was lower than evens. If I wanted a £20 profit, I would be risking about £15 as the odds are pretty low. I lost all my money. How? When we bet on horses to win, we lose, we bet on them to lose, we lose? It does not make sense and my dreams of easy money are shattered and I'm pleased. There is no such thing as easy money and had I won, I would have no doubt thought it was the key to future success. Back to hard work and reading my book on the 'mis-behaviour of the market' to try and understand stocks and shares better. Looks like I'll be sticking with long term investments.