Gambling: When it’s Not all Fun and Games
In the past decade, gaming and gambling in the United States have experienced a great upswing. The majority of states have expanded legalized gaming, including regulated casino-style games and lotteries, there has been a huge increase in the opening of Native American casinos and among other things, online gambling and betting has become increasingly more popular (Humphrey). While at first glance, this may seem to be a good thing, it is imperative that one does not overlook the dangers of gambling. Gambling can be classified by placing it into three different categories: recreational gambling, problem gambling, and pathological gambling. Recreational gambling is just as it sounds, a form of recreation. It is generally harmless and is done as a way of spending leisure time. Problem gambling is classified as when the first negative consequences of gambling begin to appear. Finally, pathological gambling involves addiction and everything that goes with it (Hoffmann). Instead of continuously increasing the legalization of gambling, people need to take a step back and look at the effects it is having on people all over the country. Gambling addiction is a serious problem that negatively affects many people’s lives physically as well as emotionally, it is for this reason that despite claims of it helping the economy, gambling should not be legal.
The Problem
In order to fully understand why gambling is a serious problem, one must look at
Gambling is becoming increasingly popular in today’s society. Major casinos and online gambling sites attract
Up to 90% of adults in Australia have gambled at some point in their life.more statistics The promises made, were lies, and the same errors relapsed over and over again.We will be waiting when you can tell yourself there’s so much more to life than just gambling.We will be waiting for you gamblers to take a step back and think about the love ones whom you are destroying, but when will this happen? and will it not re- occur?. We now so well the difficulties in limiting money and/or time spent on gambling, which leads to adverse consequences for the gambler, their family or friends and for the community. The latest research suggests that about one per cent of the population has a gambling problem. These ranges from increasing levels of debt,
Social Although gambling industry can bring more employment opportunities and offer diversified leisure activities for the public, it could also lead harms. ‘Problem Gambling’ is the main disadvantage that gambling produced, it may result in an increasing number of personal bankruptcy, suicide, crime and child welfare may be ignored and so on (Williams, Rehm & Stevens, 2011). Hence, the Australian Gaming Council formulated the Responsible Gaming regulation to conduct the gambling industry in Australia and reduce the existing and potential harms.
There are many reasons to link financial problems and crime to the large revenues of gambling. Financial losses are one of the extreme threats and costs to the gambler. This is because
Gambling has been a popular activity in the United States from the 1600’s to the present day United States. As gambling grows as a worldwide enterprise, it expands the United States with the opportunities it provides and the attention it consumes. Gambling as a whole benefits different recreational activities and events such as sports. Gambling also allows people visiting places like Las Vegas to enjoy playing poker with friends and even winning money after a game of poker or Slot Machine. Gambling allows many activities to be expanded to their full potential and offer people the full
Middleton and Latif write about the government’s plans to establish casinos in the United Kingdom and that more thought should be put in to the potential health effects it may cause. Both define problem gambling and the effects on one’s physical, mental and social well-being.
The concept of gambling has been around since the 1600’s when the original thirteen colonies had their own individual lotteries where people viewed gambling as a “civic responsibility” to play. These lotteries helped establish multiple universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and William and Mary. Gambling has been legal and then banned several times in three different eras; the first era in the 1600’s to mid-1800’s, the second in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, and finally the mid 1900’s to present day where some types of gambling remain legal. Throughout multiple decades, people have constantly bickered back and forth stating their opinions on what defines gambling, and if it should be illegal or legal. More importantly, all types of gambling should be legalized in the United States since multiple types of gambling already exist and are considered legal, it’s improper to permit some and leave others out. Moreover, gambling stimulates the economy by bringing tourism to the area and creating jobs for those in need of one, as well as, making revenue from taxes, benefiting the state and local government.
Gambling addiction is an issue found in numerous areas where gambling is legal. People who are addicted to gambling, also know as problem gamblers, face many health risks including depression, suicidal thoughts, loss of sleep, loss of appetite, migraine and anxiety in addition to marriage breakdown, problems at work and bankruptcy (9). About 2 percent of adults are thought to be problem gamblers (1). In today’s society this costly addiction is not often considered to be a common problem among those who gamble. Only a small amount of states in the U.S. give enough attention toward this rising problem of people that are sometimes even willing to commit crimes just to aid their addiction. In the past our
The interesting thing about this is that Gambling was illegal until around the 80’s. Today, casino gambling is legal in 23 states. Of those states most of these casinos aren’t the “Grand Style” Las Vegas casinos where people can stay the night and see a show. They are small where the only form of entertainment is throwing your money away. (Frum,2013) Due to this, it is really easy for someone to get sucked in and create an addiction to gambling that can easily get out of control.
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
One of the major costs of gambling is problem gambling, also known as an addiction to gambling. Problem gamblers are not only a risk to themselves, but they disrupt the lives of other people, such as their partners, parents, children, or friends. The government providing treatment for problem gamblers does not necessarily repair the casualties committed by the gambler. One third of all gambling revenue is produced by problem gamblers, therefore society is wrongfully profiting off the backs of the helplessly addicted. As of right now, there is no national policy on problem gambling. There is no focus on educating the public on what is responsible gambling or the prevalence of problem gambling. Problem gambling needs to be addressed, because the onus of self-control cannot be placed on those who have a serious impulse control disorder. In the words of John Maynard Keynes, “Individual liberal is important, but it was never the sole consideration because it always had consequences for other individuals”. As much as people have the right to make their own informed choices about gambling, they also have the duty not to infringe on the rights of others. This is similar to John Mill’s claim that “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others”. This is not to say that the state has a duty to parent individuals, but that the state has the duty to intervene if one
However, gambling has negative side effects. In 2012 5.77 million problem gamblers existed in the country costing states $60.6 million (Marotta, Bahan, Rynolds, Vander Linden, & Whyte, 2014). Of particular concern, increased exposure due to expansion of casinos to more states may lead to higher addiction rates. The following paper addresses whether gambling addiction has increased as more states have legalized casinos.
Utilitarianism suggests that the act that results in the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of individuals is the option that we should choose. Whether gambling should be deemed as an ethical or unethical act depends entirely on the consequences and benefits gambling has on casinos, gamblers, and non-gamblers. If gambling results in the overall increase of a casino’s profit and the overall increase of a gambler’s profit and mental health, then the act of gambling would be considered ethical. However, if the act has more negative implications than positive, then the act of gambling would be unethical. For example, it would be unethical if the transaction between casinos and gamblers was rigged solely for the casino 's financial benefit while exploiting those who gamble there. The significant concern of this paper is not to point a finger at casinos and other gambling mediums as a means to blame them for the mental conditions of those who we’d consider as gambling addicts. Instead, the point of this paper is to acknowledge the effects of gambling and propose the importance of responsibility. I will present an unbiased view of gambling, paying close attention to the psychological effects and motives individuals have regarding gambling at casinos. Also, I will look at the positive results associated with having a successful casino business, so that allowing gambling is ethical from a utilitarian point of
Gambling "Gambling is defined as risking money or something of value on the outcome of an event involving chance when probability of winning or losing is less than certain. "[i] Over the past ten years, Ontario has undergone a dramatic change in gambling attitudes. Since the legalization of gambling in Ontario in 1994, there has been an explosion of gambling opportunities for the public.
Most of us have heard of fantasy football. Online fantasy has risen in popularity over the past couple of years, due to advances in technology. With this rise in popularity, it has raised eyebrows at the state and federal government levels. There are many grey areas when it comes to gambling online, that many people still don’t understand. Many questions are being asked, such as legal transactions with credit cards, is online gambling causing a problem with a rise in gambling addiction? Over the course of this report, I will go over the good and the bad of making online gambling legal and regulated.