Dealing With Gambling
Is gambling a problem? Some object to gambling on religious grounds. People are certainly free to refrain from gambling if they believe that gambling violates their religion. The problem arises when people attempt to impose their religious beliefs on others by passing laws restricting or prohibiting gambling. The principle of informed consent should apply: Gambling should be permitted provided that no cheating is involved and that the odds of winning are fully disclosed.
Some object to gambling because it can be addictive. It’s true that gambling addicts can suffer financially, as well as alienate their friends and family. However, the fact that an activity is potentially addictive does not justify making it illegal. For example, shopping can be addictive and, like gambling, can lead to financial ruin if engaged in excessively, but there are no laws restricting one’s ability to shop. To attempt to regulate the behavior of adults that put only themselves at risk is to treat them like children. It seems hypocritical that the same state legislators who pass laws restricting or prohibiting private gambling because they claim such gambling is harmful find state-run lotteries to be perfectly acceptable.
Investing in the stock market can be viewed as a form of gambling since the rate of return is variable. However, gambling proper, when viewed as an investment, has an average rate of return that is negative, due to the house advantage. Apparently aware that no rational person would knowingly invest money in a venture that had an average rate of return that was guaranteed to be negative, the gambling industry has endeavored to reframe gambling as a form of entertainment, since people accept the fact that payment may be required for entertainment.
The gambling industry has cleverly employed a number of techniques in order to persuade the public that gambling is entertainment. To begin with, the industry uses the term “gaming” to refer to legal gambling. Second, the gambling machines sport flashing lights and sounds that simulate video games. Finally, the casinos put on shows, which are true entertainment, in or in close proximity to the area used for gambling. However, when you see people continuously feeding money into slot machines hour after hour, it appears more likely that those gamblers are addicted than that they are being entertained. (“If it looks like a duck …”)
One might advocate that signs be posted warning people that gambling can be addictive, but given that the dire health warnings on cigarette packs have not been sufficient to deter hardcore nicotine addicts from smoking, it’s not likely that such warnings would have a significant effect in reducing gambling addiction. The onus should be on those who gamble to do so responsibly or suffer the consequences of not doing so.