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I truly hope that you all enjoyed this process as much as I did, and I know that we all learned some valuable knowledge from it! This project has confirmed further that mathematics is at the center of everything in the world. From sports betting, to driving a car, to watching television, there is a place in every part of life where math is embedded. 

In Week 2 and Week 3 of my project, I explored the world of sports betting in general, and learned about the fundamentals. The key terms, concepts, and guidelines that I became familiar with supported the rest of the research process for me. This fundamental base of knowledge is crucial in any setting, and it is important that I scaffold learning like this for my students. In Week 4, I started to incorporate mathematics and statistics in my research. This is the main component of my Genius Hour topic and took a lot of researching to find what I was looking for. It was extremely interesting to investigate the real-life application of math in gambling. As an educator, it is a goal of mine to foster and enjoyable learning environment by ensuring my students are intrigued in what they are learning. This is the purpose of a Genius Hour project: to research and learn about something you have interest in! Weeks 5-8 involved consideration of different perspectives, as I investigated the stakeholders included in sports betting. This provided me with different perspectives in the matter; it allowed me to stay neutral and without bias. I must facilitate a neutral stance for my students and encourage them to be open-minded and non-bias when doing research! For the latest blog post, I explored some reasons that sports bettors keep coming back, despite losing money on a regular basis. This expanded my viewpoint even further on the topic and helped me understand how some sports bettors may think, without putting blame on anyone.

To conclude, it is important to remember that sports betting – and gambling in general – is a losing game. The house wins 99% of the time, and this happens at the peril of the bettor. Children and adolescents must be taught how to play safely, or simply not gamble at all!. One suggestion I have is to enjoy other ways of enhancing sports, such as wagering something insignificant with friends and family every once in a while. For instance, my friends and I always bet McDonald’s when our favourite teams are battling one another. Whoever’s favourite team wins that night receives a McFlurry from their friend whose team lost. This is just one way that sports betting can be made fun, without having to play against the much-advantaged companies and Bookmakers, who have mathematics in their favour!

Well folks, that’s it! I hope that you all enjoyed my Genius Hour journey as much as I did. More importantly, I hope that you were all able to learn something. Maybe you’ll think twice next time you want to place that wager, and remember how statistics are used in sports betting!

Goodbye for now!