By Sue Haley
If you do there are many ways to go about it; Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Monte Carlo are all destinations that people have flocked to for many years to satisfy their urge to gamble.
You can bet on sporting events – not necessarily legally, play high-stakes poker somewhere in a smoke-filled room, visit a track and spend an afternoon betting on the ponies or cheering on the dogs as they chase a mechanical rabbit around in a circle.
The point is that if you choose to do any of these things you are hoping that you will win, but at the same time you are aware that you might not. If you really like to gamble and you are smart you will understand and accept the consequences that you face if you lose.
Then there are the people at the opposite extreme that wouldn't gamble for even the smallest amount. A $1.00 scratch-off lottery ticket is way beyond what they are willing to risk.
Most gambling, especially games such as card games, dice, roulette wheels and such are based on the laws of mathematics. The smart gambler (is that an oxymoron?) will learn as much as possible about the mathematical probabilities of each possible event. For example in dice there are 36 possible combinations of numbers that can come up when rolling two dice. The chances (odds) of rolling a "2" are 1 out of 36 or less than 3%. The odds of rolling a "7" are 6 out of 36 or almost 17%. The gambler who possesses knowledge and understands the probabilities has a better chance of winning.
People from both of these groups seem content to gamble every day on their insurance coverage. They aren't aware that they are gambling but they are taking huge risks because they don't understand their insurance coverages and they don't have any idea what is their true liability.
I hang my head in shame to admit that, before I became an insurance agent, I couldn't tell you what kind of coverages I had on my policy, much less what the coverages meant.
So, when a fifty-five year old potential customer calls in for a quote and they don't have a clue as to what they have on their current policy, I sympathize. I can't tell you how often I have explained the term "liability" to a baby-boomer. And when it comes time to ask what limits they want to carry, everyone from Doctors, Lawyers, to Indian Chiefs are at a loss.
As much as we pay for insurance, we oughta' know!
My best and shortest definition is the following: "Liability means that you are liable for what you do to other people and their property. If you break it, you're liable to fix it".
The long version is liability pays when an insured (the person who owns the policy) is legally liable for bodily injury and damage to the property of others caused by your vehicle or your operation of most non-owned vehicles (like a bike you don't own, but borrowed). This coverage also pays for your legal defense if you are sued.
Do yourself a favor, look at your policy and get familiar with your coverages. Pull out the little booklet that came with your policy and look up terms you are not familiar with, or call your agent. Take the time to learn about something that is going to protect not only you and your family, but also all of the assets for which you have worked so hard.
Without the right coverage, you could lose it all tomorrow. Don't wait for a claim to find out what coverages you have and what they mean.
If you don't understand all of it try doing a little research or try to "google" them. It pays to invest time in understanding your coverages. If you get totally stumped on what something means, call your insurance agent, he or she will be happy to explain your coverages to you.
Gamble for fun if you like, visit a casino, play the ponies or slots— just don't gamble with your insurance coverages.