Just because you shuffle off your mortal coil doesn’t mean you have to stop gambling. For that matter, it’s got a distinct advantage: you don’t have to pay off your markers. Of course, you can’t really collect your winnings, either, but the thrill of getting action down is really the important thing, isn’t it?
From zeenews.com:
A gambler placed his last bet on his way to his own funeral. Ernest Stephenson enjoyed betting on horses and his last wish was that he wanted his daughter Tracy to back a horse of her choice and spend the money on a holiday.When the 70-year old gambler breathed his last, his last wish was duly honored and his funeral cortege was stopped off at his favorite bookie on the way to the crematorium.
Tracy, 35, aptly put 100 pounds on Sir Ernest, but the horse failed to win.
“My dad loved horses, but I joked he backed more donkeys than horses – this must have been another of his donkeys”, The Mirror quoted Tracy, as saying.
Tracy’s pretty stoic for blowing a hundred pounds on a losing horse, I think.
Stephenson might have something with the idea of betting after death. The whole idea of the wheel of fortune is that life grinds on, mercilessly, no matter what good or ill luck happens, so continuing to gamble after you have departed is perfectly apt.