Betting On Luck

Weather or not one is conscious of it or not, gambling is everywhere; on your T.V., on the football pool at work, behind the clerks’ counter at the local Circle K, in a friend’s garage on poker night, and even at most retirement homes. The idea of playing the odds has appealed to mankind since the earliest civilizations. The act of gambling is in all actuality a game of chance—a game where the deciding factor is not necessarily based on ones skill, but on ones “luck”, so to speak. As society has grown, so have the many different forms gambling has taken on. As a result, gambling has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment. What drives a gambler? Better yet, what drives the compulsive gambler? What drives the casino owner? What drives communities to endorse gambling? And finally, is gambling moral?
Before I go into the guts of the average gamblers and casino tycoons, I believe a little background is needed to understand the driving force behind the idea of gambling. Gambling is by no means a new idea; according to Earl L. Grinols (Author of “Gambling in America: Costs and benefits”) The Earliest written documents about chance were called “Lament of the Gambler” which was written around 1000 B.C... “Lament of a Gambler” was a monologue by and actual gambler who’s gambling habits had destroyed his content household and driven away his loving and devoted wife. While gambling was becoming wide spread, the first six sided dice were found where one of the first civilizations Mesopotamia once stood. The dice dated back to 2750 B.C. Gambling affected people then in much the same way it affects people today.
There are many things casinos and other places who’s main entertainment attraction is that of gambling, will do to lure one in.
Initially, it’s the physical attraction—Flashy lights advertising games, the sound of money (where the slot machines are, which is everywhere, there is the sound of money dropping), friendly dealers and cashiers, food, drink, and anything else one would need, except a clock. The structure behind every casino, and what they strive for, is customer choice. Everything is built to make it convenient to the visitor, in the hope of making them stay longer.
The promise of easy money, or in some instances, the promise of making back owed money. This is the driving force behind the idea of gambling, the idea of wagering ones possessions on an unknown outcome. Sometimes this can lead to ones demise not only financially but mentally and physically. In “Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits”, states that the bulk of gambling is done by ten percent of the population. This could account for a large disproportionate percentage of casino income. “Nearly all casinos operate honestly up to a point, but if a plunger, or big better, seems likely to achieve a winning damaging to the casino, there is usually a dealer available with skill at prestidigitation equal to that of a stage magician who can manipulate cards or dice so as to recover the losses of the house”, Says Grinol. Although casinos no longer employ things like marked cards or dishonest dice, they have found other ways to extract money from their clientele.
There are two types of gamblers; one is the gambler who plays for fun and is responsible, the other is the compulsive gambler suffering from a mental disease in which they constantly need to feed their hunger for gambling, regardless of their financial position. According to Rani A. Desai, a published author for the Southern Medical Journal says that only five percent of those who gamble become compulsive gamblers. These people according to Desai, start spending more and more time gambling, thinking about gambling or finding money to gamble. They also begin to neglect responsibilities, and in some cases, even commit crimes to support the gambling habit. Often time’s family and friends don’t find out about the addiction until it is too late.
The Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery (IIAR), described the Custer Three Phase Model which was divided into three categories: The Winning phase, The Losing phase, and the Desperation phase. During the winning stage gamblers experience a big win or consecutive wins and become overly optimistic, and thus, continue their gambling. At the time of the losing stage, according to IIAR, the gambler often begins bragging about wins they have had, start gambling alone, and think more and more about gambling. During the desperation phase, there is a marked increase in the time spent gambling. Along with this, there are feelings of remorse, alienation, and the blaming others. Eventually they begin to engage in acts that are illegal to obtain money to gamble.
Although only a small percentage of those who gamble are pathological, they are out there. Nothing illustrated this to me more than when a former boss of mine all of the sudden was fired from his management position, lost his wife, and ended up have to borrow thousands of dollars just to break even, because of a certain gambling habit he had had.
There are even known celebrities who have compulsive gambling problems. Richard Hoffer, writer for Sports Illustrated, writes about golfer John Daly who had lost sixty million dollars gambling. Charles Barkley after hearing of John Daly admitted to losing ten million of his own money. It also talked about how Michael Jordan’s gambling habits led to millions of dollars lost.
Is gambling moral? We can’t blame the problem of compulsive gambling solely on the individual gambler, can we? After all, whose establishment is it to begin with? Who designed ways to keep the gambler interested, without telling him the time? Who has made millions of dollars of mainly off the five percent of the gamblers who are compulsive? Rani A. Desai, states that within five years (1996-2001) Gambling revenues began at an estimates 48 billion, and ended up at 63 billion. Many of these casino owners put on the front that they are respectable business men who are well meaning and portray themselves as being compassionate about pathological gamblers. These are the gamblers that make up the bulk of the gambling industry. This is where the question of weather or not gambling is moral is challenged by economic growth of communities that endorse gambling.
The sheer billions of dollars that the gambling industries contribute in taxes are enough to pave roads, build schools, provide mass transit, and many other services that are generally taken for granted. All these services need money to strive, and casinos provide a valuable chunk of money to fund these public services.
When it comes down to it, gambling is just a game of chance. One can take the risk and instantly win money or instantly lose money, but the deciding factor is not out of ones free will, but out of ones luck. Weather or not it is moral or not is always going to be open to interpretation. With gambling what it is today, it is highly unlikely that it will go anywhere soon.