Why gambling should not be legal

Introduction

Over the past twenty or so years, great wealth and improved economic and social conditions have been assured to the communities that have embraced legalized gambling. However, with 20 years of experience it is time to look back and analyze whether this is true or not. It could easily be said that gambling is as American as apple pie. Gambling has shaped American history since its beginning. Lotteries were used by The First Continental Congress to help finance the Revolutionary war. Many of our founding fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin, have supported private lotteries. It has been said that "Our founding fathers were just numbers guys in wigs” At one time the baseball appeared to be the American pastime. This is not so now. In recent years, the attendance at casinos has nearly doubled the attendance at all major league baseball games, with close to 130 million people visiting casinos every year. Wit.h so muc.h mone.y at stak.e, the average.e gamble.r does no.t stan.d a chanc.e agains.t this bi.g business.s. The casino.s go t.o every lengt.h to analyz.e what make.s a gamble.r bet, sta.y longer, an.d lose as muc.h money as possibl.e. Gambler.s who com.e to casino.s with the intention.n of winnin.g mone.y ar.e habituall.y disappointe.d. As casino crim.e lord, Meye.r Lansky's universa.l gambling trut.h states; "Gambler.s never win, th.e house neve.r loses". Slo.t Machines and mos.t table game.s allow player.s to mak.e bets wher.e the probability.y of winnin.g is relativel.y high. Frequen.t wins are characterize.d by low payout.s. These frequen.t wins encourage.e further gamble.s with low payout.s. Frequen.t winning, lo.w paying game.s are no.t the onl.y way casino.s get people.e to keep playin.g. Nothing les.s that psychological.l warfar.e is going on at casino.s across the countr.y. the aim of this essay is to give arguements over legal status of the gambling and how it is destructive for us.

Discussion

Gambling according to the Merriam-Webster's dictionary states that it is “to play a game for money or property b: to bet on an uncertain outcome c: to stake something on a contingency: take a chance.”Gambling is an activity enjoyed by many people around the world. It is a fun way to spend time and a way that people are able to gain access to easily made money. If not for gambling many things would not be the same in the world. Since the game has been allowed in some countries, it has become a national vice. Pathological gambling is a social disease. What is spent on gambling in one year is an atrocity. America is the country in the world that spends most on gambling, per person, after the Philippines.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association: 'The key symptoms of this disorder is a chronic and progressive failure to resist impulses to gamble and the emergence of gambling behavior that compromises, breaks or injures personal goals, family or vocational. Typical problems involve a ...