Dark Side of the Casino

Anyone who is old enough to legally enter a casino should be smart enough to know that they will most likely loose money if they play any of the games in there. While spending good money on games that are playable for free on Blazing Games and countless other game sites may not make much sense to me, but some people get a thrill from risking their money. Having money at risk makes the games more thrilling as risk gets adrenaline flowing. That is why some people find gambling enjoyable.

If a portion of casino profits go to the government and the people going to the casino are enjoying themselves by giving money to the business, then why are there a lot of people against casinos? Historically, there is a perceived link between gambling and other crimes such as drug dealers and prostitution. This is why Vegas is quite often referred to as “sin city”. I personally think that drugs and prostitution are going to exist anyway so the presence of a casino is not going to make the situation worse.

The other big concern, one which I share, is the problem of gambling addiction. I have heard some people say that there is no such thing as gambling addiction. Their flawed reasoning is that because no substance is involved, it can not be addictive. An addiction is any compulsive act that a person does even though they know they shouldn’t be doing it which as a result of doing the action can cause the person harm. What harm can gambling cause? Bankruptcy, for starters. Money issues can lead to a huge variety of other problems. If a person is unable to stop themselves from gambling when they can’t afford it, then they have an addiction to gambling! The lack of a physical substance just makes gambling addiction much easier to write off making it much more likely that the addict will not receive the help they need.

Like many addictions, the addict is not always aware of the addiction. In fact, quite often the addict will deny that they have a problem and will make up excuses to justify their gambling. The casino and government solution to the addiction problem is to support gambling addiction organizations by posting stickers with the phone number of the organization on it and enforcing voluntary bans. Both solutions require that the addict, who most likely is in denial of their problem, to take action.

This leads to the question, how can a person know they are an addict. The best way to make sure that you are not addicted to gambling is through money management. This can be done by simply creating a pool of money that you use for all your gambling. New money only gets added to the pool at set intervals in set amounts (for example, $25 every pay cheque). When you go gambling, you only take the money from the pool (and preferably only a small portion of the pool). When the money is gone, you leave the casino. If you make money (or didn’t loose it all) you put a portion of that money back into the pool. If you find yourself gambling when there is no money in the pool or adding to the pool at non-scheduled times or with larger amounts than planned for, you probably have a problem.

The pool approach is very easy to use, and should be used even if you don’t think you have a problem just to make sure you don’t develop a problem. Another sign that you may have a problem is if you ever borrow money for the purpose of gambling. Likewise, if you have borrowed money - especially from your friends and family - and spend money gambling instead of paying back the loan, you may have a problem. Skipping work to go gambling is another obvious warning sign. Finally, if you lie to people about how much you actually gamble, you may have a problem.