My Accountant: "But how much did you lose?"

[The Stranger]

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I don't even get the 'But how much did you lose?' question. I don't know what they are trying to find out.

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Best I can tell, this comes from people who gamble recreationally, and how they think.

Like your neighbor lady might play scratch lottery tickets, and get all excited because she got a ticket that won $50. She has $50 that she didn't have before she bought the ticket, so she "won," without taking into account all the losing tickets she bought.

So if you tell someone who thinks like that about winning $500 or whatever at the B&M, the question "but how much did you lose?" doesn't make sense to you, because if you buy in for $600, and cash out for $1,100 that's how you came up with the "I won $500." But to them gambling is slots or lottery or whatever, so the concept is hard for them to grasp.

The accountant should have gotten this though, especially after asking whether the xxxxx was gross or net.