In my place, you can gamble on the wake which is normal and a form of sympathy.
That's fascinating, and I mean that. In the states, wakes are usually morbid affairs with lots of crying and no celebrating of life, which is what the living ought to be doing as well as mourning the deceased. Might I inquire as to what country you are from?
I'm pretty sure it's Philippines, gamble on the wake is like traditional of Filipino even kids can play "lucky 9" or "unggoy-unggoyan", and if you play a gamble on wake you need to "tong" (I don't know what the English words for this) it's like if you keep winning you need to give little money to the relative of death.