Dear Queenie,
I went on a date with a guy to a casino and he gave me money to gamble with. When I started playing he said something that made it clear that he expected me to split my winnings with him.
I didn’t think anything about it until I really started winning. Then I realized I wasn’t winning as much as I thought, because I would only get to keep half of it. When I told my friends about it afterward they said he took advantage of me and I wonder, are they right?
Queenie, what do you think?—Gambling gal
Dear Gambling gal,
I think he was very generous with you. He had a perfect right to ask you to return the amount of money he had given you, even if it came to more than half, or even most or all of your winnings. It was his money that was at stake.
He did not suggest that you pay any part of your possible losses, did he? If you had lost, you would have lost nothing of your own; he was the one who would have been out of pocket. As you won, you were ahead of the game even after splitting with him, without having taken any risk. So how did he take advantage of you?
I think you should have offered to share your winnings with him without being asked.
