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Gambling : When It 's Not All Fun And Games Essay

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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

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