Gambling Outline Essay

Gambling and the unpredictability of the roulette wheel stand at the center of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Gambler. Despite the fact that it is not a very rational activity, gambling captures the enthusiasms of many in The Gambler, enthralling those characters that are intoxicated by the feelings of victory. Experienced gamblers often work out strategies to ensure success, or at least a greater chance of success. Unfortunately, these types of patterns and strategies simply do not apply in games of chance like roulette. As Jeff Love describes, there is not a “fixed constant or indubitable ground permitting a deductive determination of the results of each turn of the wheel” in the game of roulette (Love 373). Put more simply, roulette is a game of

Gambling is becoming increasingly popular in today’s society. Major casinos and online gambling sites attract

Gambling may seem harmless and an easy win with money, but it is really a tax on the poor and gives false hopes. The lottery and gambling is a tax on the poor in ways that people don’t see. As well as the tax, gambling gives people false hope.

Alabama is one of seven states that does not have a lottery system. Because of this, Alabama is missing out on millions of dollars per year. In fact, lottery systems generated $65.5 billion dollars in 2012, twenty-five of which goes directly to state funded projects (Isidore). That is an average of over a billion and a half dollars in revenue per state per year. If Alabama did approve a lottery system, the money it generated would go to education and healthcare. Alabama ranks forty-fifth and forty-sixth in these two areas respectively out of fifty states.

B. In addition, illegal gambling has given crime lords power of controlling gaming set up in illegal casinos.

The concept of the lottery is the same throughout every state, people have money and are interested in “playing the odds”; the revenue from these people is then divided and used to benefit organizations of the state’s choice. Exactly where the money goes to is what differs from state to state. Some states put all the revenue from the lottery into one trust fund that is allocated for a more broad and generalized group. Other states target specific programs such as, preserving natural parks or assisting the educational system with additional funds. The State of Alabama does not have a lottery and its locals are the ones missing out. Due to the lack of the lottery in Alabama, those who choose to play the lottery must travel out of the state, which means their money goes to other state’s lotteries benefiting that states programs and ultimately its residents. By keeping the peoples money in the state a lottery will open an endless amount of opportunities to better state supported programs and the state as a whole.

First and foremost, Jimenez argues the lotteries effect on the majority of lower class Americans and people who are effected by the addiction to gamble. Jimenez backs up this argument by telling of the “Deceptive slogans” used to tempt the less fortunate. Among the slogans used, she emphasizes on the slogan “This could be your ticket out”. This is one of many slogans that explicitly

“Texas law says lottery proceeds are supposed to go toward education” (Oberg 2011). The lottery has only given one billion dollars every year to Texas Schools since 1998, but since lottery sales have become greater, the lottery has not been giving more money to the Texas schools. Even with the lottery earnings increasing the amount of money applied towards the Education Fund has not shown the difference of cash increase. One of the reasons why education is not

Charter schools in North Carolina do not receive any funding from the lottery, while public schools do. Teachers complain about how they do not get paid enough. Voters go to the polls and vote for referendums that would hopefully be used for education purposes. Student population is growing, so should the money. Jessica Swencki, spokeswoman for Brunswick County Schools, said “It does not go very far. Brunswick County got about $800,000 last year which went to reroof one of the aging middle schools. The average price on one of those middle school roofing projects is around $1.2 million, so it really pays for about three-fourths of a roof, if you really think about the check that Brunswick County Schools actually receives.” Swencki also stated, “…Whenever the misperception is out there that these dollars are flowing into the public school system may or may not be using them to their fullest extent.” Teachers are starting to go on more strikes to protest for better pay. Schools never received half of the lottery money. Based on poverty concentration, North Carolina received a ‘B’, which was much better than the ‘Fs’ the state received during the early 2000s. North Carolina then cut funding for wealthy districts, but continued to fund for the poorer districts. Well, what followed the cut? Teachers went years without seeing a raise in their salaries. The amount of students in a classroom increased. Countless numbers of teacher assistants were cut from

In her essay “Against the Odds, and Against the Common Good,” Gloria Jimenez asserts that states should not promote and advertize gambling. Jimenez lists many clever lottery slogans that are deceivingly interpreted. She also argues that these slogans advertise the advantages of gambling and playing the lottery because the money supposedly goes to things such as education and social service. Jimenez explains some arguments in favor of state-run lotteries, such as free participation and the creation of jobs, but argues that they are not relevant to the problem. She briefly touches on a statistic claiming that low income individuals are more likely to spend money on lottery tickets than their opposite, higher income

Gloria Jiménez wrote an essay at Tuffs University in 2003 named, “Against All Odds and Against the Common Good (Jiménez 116). The purpose of this essay is to persuade and support the following thesis: “Still, when all is said and done about lotteries bringing a vast amount of money into the lives of many people into the lives of a few, the states should not be in the business of urging people to gamble (Jiménez 116).” The evidence given in support of toward this argument does not point toward the proper thesis identified in the beginning of the essay.

To support her side of the argument and to answer these counterarguments Jimenez share a few statistics. She tells us that the New York Times reported in 2002, that the state-run lotteries brought in a revenue of $20 billion dollars, and that this is only 4% of the states income. She also tells us about one study in a report from the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy that shows people who earned $10,000 a year bought almost three times as many lottery tickets than those who made $50,000 or more a year. This shows us that more poor people buy lotto tickets, so more poor people are paying the taxes that benefit education and social services.

Gambling, whether for life or money, is risky and success is not guaranteed, even if you ‘win’. Two different tales both involving risk.

Gambling in the words of McLean and Yoder (2005) "means risking something of value, usually money, on an event that has an unknown outcome." In the opinion of the authors, gambling can assume various forms including but not in any way limited to "casino games, betting on sporting events, playing bingo, buying raffle tickets, and playing lotteries" (McLean and Yoder, 2005). Over time, gambling has grown in popularity with the same being legalized in many jurisdictions across the world. However, those opposed to gambling and the legalization of the same continue to cite various reasons in an attempt to backup their assertions. One of the reasons cited by those opposed to gambling according to McLean and Yoder (2005) is that the costs of gambling easily outweigh the benefits associated with the same. This argument advances the idea that the interests of the society override those of an individual. Thus the

Then there are the race tracks. They are now legal in over four fifths of all the states in America. The owners of the track take 18 to 21 percent of money wagered. The bettor has a likelihood of winning only a 0.41 to 0.44 probability of winning. That is about one half of one percent! But, it is a well-known fact that when a man wins at gambling, he is very likely to stay in for another game—and then lose his winnings! It is no wonder that it is called “gambling fever.” It is almost an insanity which grips a person.