Over 62,114,900 people gamble and out of those people only 1 million get addicted. If gambling was made illegal that wouldn’t be fair. What about the other 61,000,000 people who gamble responsibly. Okay, say you have an obese person and they misuse junk food and then the government decides well they used it wrong so let’s take it away from everyone else too. That would not be fair, but getting rid of gambling is the same thing and you think that’s fair?
Many people think that casinos and gambling are the problem, but in reality it is the people behind the choice. If you do not support casinos and the industry, then don’t go to them. If you have a gambling problem, than don’t gamble. The fact is when people get addicted to gambling they are not addicted to the game, they are addicted to these 3 main things. These things are the illusion of control (feeling like they have control of something in their life), the lure of the jackpot (wanting and feeling like they will win money) and believing their luck will change (if they win feeling like their life will change). Gambling is not ruining lives and families, it is the people who waste their life on it and dedicate all their time to it. I understand that gambling is an addiction and It is quite a common problem but there is help and many organizations that can and will help you quit. Some of them are gambler anonymous, NCPG, and gambling therapy.
Gambling means wagering money with an uncertain outcome and people know that. If gambling were to be made illegal, then many would lose their jobs. The worst thing is that if gambling is taken away people are going to do it illegally so what really is the point of making it illegal if people are just going to play it anyway. There are 3 main elements when it comes to gambling and that is consideration, chance, and prize/loss. Going into a bet or gamble you know that you will gain or lose something, but the people who are doing it irresponsibility don’t think about that they just want the feeling of it, the “high” they get from it. Again for the addicted there’s help but it’s not fair to take it away from those who are clean and responsible with it. Only 24% people believe gambling should be illegal that means that 76% of people think it should be legal. The people who think it is wrong believe this because they say it is morally wrong, but it is not. Look at the bigger picture when you make a bet with a friend you gamble, when you buy a house that’s a gamble, even when you go to the flea market and toss back and forth prices, guess what — that’s a gamble too!
Now I’d like bring up casinos again; people say they are bad because of money loss and they don’t care about you they just want money but that is all people said. Surprisingly they have a pretty positive impact on the economy they provide tourists who bring money, they make new jobs, and bring an influx of cash. So like I stated above, if you don’t like casinos than don’t go. As to online gambling, I do not know exactly how I feel about this because many kids are able to access the internet and lie than be able to gamble, so I feel that the restrictions should be higher and it should be much much harder to access. Though it is a choice to do it can lead to more addicts and money losses again.
Last thing I want to show is the perspective of an irresponsible gambler and a responsible gambler. The irresponsible gambler compared it to drugs, said it put him in a financial crisis, said it adds no value to society, you can lose everything you worked for in second, he broke up his family, and calls it a game for the greedy. If you look back on what he said he made all those were choices to make that bet that put him in a financial crisis and he went out that night that broke up his family. He made every single one of those choices it was not the game that made him do it, he can only blame himself. The second person (responsible gambler) said that it depends on the person and to be careful with what you do and put out. They said one thing that I think really proves my point and that is “Why not ask is this person using gambling to escape their already ruined life?” and that is what I have been trying to say as well as some other things is that people can blame the game but it is them who is playing it.