social topic

2015-12-07 03:46:35 pm

maybe gambling laws are different?

2015-12-07 03:47:39 pm

Our society has a winner-takes-all attitude, where a persons worth is measured by the amount of money they have. Everyone is either a winner or a loser, and everyone is looking for a way to win. Approximately 5% of the public will become addicted, or a 'compulsive' gambler, and as long as gaming is accessible to them they will lose everything they have - not just money but their jobs, their relationships, even their freedom. The social cost of gambling is huge, and taxpayers foot the bill. Crime also goes up, including governmental corruption. The only real winner is the casino.

DJGrenola

2015-12-07 03:48:30 pm

well there are certainly gambling addicts here

Opium

2015-12-07 03:49:20 pm

Gambling is fun but as the saying goes, what happens in vegas should stay in vegas. We don't need casinos all over the place. Every time a new tribe opens a casino in a state that didn't have gambling before, all these problems pop up.

DJGrenola

2015-12-07 03:50:47 pm

don't gamble with your winnings is the trick I think

it's never really appealed to me though, in the long run you're bound to lose more than you win

Opium

2015-12-07 03:51:15 pm

If you don't gamble with your winnings then the other choice is your earnings. Winnings are what you should gamble with.

DJGrenola

2015-12-07 03:52:03 pm

you used to work in casinos didn't you? I remember that now

Opium

2015-12-07 03:53:22 pm

I use what's called the 'progressive method'. I walk in with $500 and play the best game in the house - video poker. If I'm ahead then I increase my bet, if I'm down then I decrease it. I've gone from $500 to tens of thousands in one day - and I've also walked out with nothing on those days. But when I'm betting $25 a hand, it sure wasn't with the $500 I started with. I start betting $2.50 a hand.

DJGrenola

2015-12-07 03:54:13 pm

fair enough I guess

Opium

2015-12-07 03:55:51 pm

The $500 I start with is called the 'purse'. It's always funded by previous winnings. When I say I walk out with nothing, I mean no winnings. I'll still walk out with my purse, or leave other purses at home from a previous winning day. Once you have one big day and you use this method, you almost never have to dip into your earnings again.

Opium

Edit history:

Opium: 2015-12-07 04:00:11 pm

2015-12-07 03:59:27 pm

At the end of the year, my tax return looked like a damn book because I had so much gambling paperwork to submit. Each casino I gambled at gives me what's called a win/loss statement, and it shows how much I spent and how much I won. The game I play is called Double-Double Bonus Poker, and if you hold your cards according to the 'optimal play' rules, then the house pays out 99.9% on the game. That's why it's the most popular game in the casino. It always amazed me at the end of the year when I tallied it all up how accurate that figure turned out to be. Of course, you don't see that happen from a single trip to Vegas. It only materializes in the long run - many many gambling sessions throughout the year.

Opium

2015-12-07 04:01:29 pm

The compulsive gamble is unable to stop so they can't ever follow any rules.

arkarian

2015-12-07 04:03:01 pm

red chamber dream

Quote from DJGrenola:

maybe gambling laws are different?

yes, that's why we don't have slot machines in all our airports

my point is that our laws shouldn't be different ... gambling should of course be totally legal

arkarian

2015-12-07 04:03:48 pm

red chamber dream

we do need casinos all over the place because people should be allowed to gamble if they want

arkarian

2015-12-07 04:04:13 pm

red chamber dream

how we regulate them is another question, but banning them entirely is not appropriate for a country that prides itself on freedom

just makes no sense

arkarian

2015-12-07 04:04:18 pm

red chamber dream

americans love freedom, except we really don't

arkarian

2015-12-07 04:04:51 pm

red chamber dream

we love rules and NOT being able to do stuff

because there's a conservative streak running through all our policy that i don't think will go away any time soon

arkarian

2015-12-07 04:04:59 pm

red chamber dream

so fucking stupid

DJGrenola

2015-12-07 04:05:07 pm

yeah I'm inclined to agree although I've never had a gambling problem or known anyone who had one, if I had I might feel differently

arkarian

2015-12-07 04:06:13 pm

red chamber dream

sure you might. but i don't think that means people shouldn't be allowed to do it

the government's job is not to protect people from themselves, at least how i see it

DJGrenola

2015-12-07 04:07:35 pm

it's weird because I always saw government interference as a left wing thing rather than a conservative one, but perhaps that only applies to economics

Opium

Edit history:

Opium: 2015-12-07 04:08:12 pm

2015-12-07 04:07:48 pm

Working in a casino, you have a lot of 'responsible gaming' training, and you learn how to spot problems etc. There's a certain look on someone's face that you learn to recognize. It's kind of like they're in shock. They come up to you with that look on their face and they tell you that they just lost everything. Sometimes they're crying, shaking. It's awful.

arkarian

2015-12-07 04:08:38 pm

red chamber dream

lol

i know it's a disease but i still have very little sympathy

DJGrenola

2015-12-07 04:09:10 pm

but yeah europe has more than its fair share of excessive government meddling in certain areas, health and safety in the workplace is probably the best known one

which is why you can't smoke in pubs and restaurants any more, and you can't have volume levels higher than a certain threshold in clubs etc

Opium

2015-12-07 04:09:41 pm

Quote from arkarian:

lol

i know it's a disease but i still have very little sympathy

aw man you should have SOME sympathy. It's something wrong with the reward center in their brain. It can happen to anyone.