Gambling. Love it or hate it, it’s got to be one of the oldest ways to make (and lose) a quick buck. Heck, it might have been around even longer than prostitution (and really, it’s not all that different, though it may not quite as clear who is the john, the pimp, and the ho). I’ve been known to spend an hour or four at the casino, playing blackjack, pai gow poker, or craps, but something that I’ve never really gotten into is sports betting.

It’s pretty easy to gamble on sports in BC, considering that you can walk into just about any shopping mall, approach the BCLC kiosk where you buy your 6/49 or Super 7 lottery ticket and ask for their Sports Action menu. To make things even easier, you can go to the BCLC website from the comfort of your home (or cubicle) and gamble that way with your credit card.

Speaking of online gambling, internet poker and casinos aren’t the only ones out there giving you a digital gateway into placing a bet. There’s sites like Party Bets and so on that’ll apparently take your wagers based on the going Vegas line. If the BCLC menu is a little too limited for you and you don’t want to head out to River Rock Casino to waste away a lazy afternoon at their Sports Book, you can hop onto these kinds of websites and bet on all sorts of sports. Party Bets, for example, offers everything from Aussie rules football to boxing, cricket to darts. There’s plenty of live betting and not just on the major leagues.

Now that David Beckham has signed the richest deal in sports history, inking a $250 million contract with the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer (MLS), maybe I’ll start betting on “football.” Then again, maybe not.