“I think the reason gamblers habitually gamble is to lose. Because they know they have to lose, it’s the law of averages. I’m not talking about bookies or gentlemen gamblers. I’m talking about the compulsive, neurotic gambler. Pain is what he’s searching for. The emotion of pain. It’s much greater than the emotion of pleasure. Bigger, larger, stronger. Therefore more interesting.”
Walter Matthau (quoted in Rob Edelman and Audrey Kupferberg, Matthau: A Life)