Most free-market economists view such claims of desirable social by-products with the indignation of a poker player watching a professionalgambler palm cards.
Placing a big one-time bet "cuts the house edge to its bare minimum because it works on your stake only once, " says Anthony Curtis, a one-time professionalgambler and president of lasvegasadvisor.com.
Of course, simply filling out a few March Madness brackets or throwing down twenty bucks that your buddy will strike out with the girl at the bar is not enough to make you a professionalgambler.