If you see yourself as a serious gambler, it’s probable that you bet on sports, other activities or poker, as all these things require judgement. Logic has it that if you play games of chance over a long period, you’ll lose. So games like bingo, slots games and casino games all have a house edge which dictates that – if you play on long enough – you’re sure to lose out. It’s the law of probability on which casinos are built.

With poker tournaments, however, and with all forms of gambling on sports, there’s a far greater degree of judgement, skill and strategy involved, so you stand a fair chance of coming out ahead if your judgement proves shrewd enough. The problem with this simple logic is that it doesn’t take full account of three things; fun, big bonuses and the lottery-like chance to win large amounts.

Firstly with fun; the thing is that many games are fun to play. Each to their own here, of course, but if you’re sitting on  a train, on a plane or in the back of a car on a long journey – then whiling the time away playing your favourite casino game, slots game or bingo game can be great fun. Many players even do so for nothing for the fun of playing only – though most of us prefer at least a small stake.

Then there are the bonuses. You’ll read on this site all about the best and biggest bonuses around which often mean you can play for free, effectively. You can also put the odds in your own favour for a while tanks to these bonuses and if you play these shrewdly enough, you can do very well.

Then there’s the chance to win really large amounts of money thanks to some sites’ enormous progressive jackpot bonuses. This is akin to buying a lottery ticket. You know you very probably aren’t going to win – but you’re certainly not going to land it if you aren’t playing, and it’s a lot of fun to dream. As the slogan goes – it could be you.

Overall, though, the odds aren’t with you. So for many players – doing a little of both is what it’s all about with small stakes for the chance-only fun-based games and the larger, more serious stakes for those areas where you’ve proved to yourself you can come out ahead thanks to your superior value-based odds judgements.

If you go to betway.com/sports-betting, for example, you’ll soon see that you can profit to the tune of £50 for free sports bets. But you can also get up to £1,000 in the Betway casino – so putting both your eggs in the same basket may be wise for once.

The trick is to play the casino for fun maximising the bonus offers all along the way – and using the sports book when Betway’s odds are able to beat the rest of the market. In this way, you’re gambling on chance for the fun of it, and on your own judgement when it really counts.