Gambling has for a long time been regarded to as a social vice (Eagley and Chaiken, 1993). The act of gambling is normally regarded to as immoral. This is because it is addictive and in most cases people tend to lose their money or any other valuable item that was used as stake.
However, the more an individual loses, the more he/she feels like playing in order to recover his loss and make a quick profit. In most situations, such individuals tend to end up in even more losses. It is due to this fact that the society has a negative attitude towards gambling. However, in the US, gambling alone bring in more revenue than the sale of movie tickets, theme parks, music concerts and sports events combined (Bernhard and Frey, 2006).
Furthermore, 50 states in the United States have legalized several forms of gambling. This therefore shows that gambling is a part and parcel of our society. The act of gambling has been there in since time immemorial, is with us today and will continue until perpetuity. It is therefore essential for sociologist to understand the positive aspects of gambling and the impact that it has on our lives.
To support these arguments, several theories have been presented that try to explain the social aspect of gambling. During the renaissance era, the Catholics used gambling as one of the weaknesses against the Protestants who advocated for it (Greenwald et al, 2002). The catholic stated that it is wrong and evil to get something without working for it.
This act was compared to the acts and promises that were made by Satan. In the early 20th century, Devereux explained the gambling theory with the use of the institutional theory. He suggested that gambling had more impact on the society that its individualistic and pathological effects that were well known.
At the present moment, sociologists have shifted their views and regard gambling as a form of play (Boyer, 2003). Many countries have lotteries and have legalised gambling which, in many circumstances is controlled by the betting and licensing board. They also state that gambling, as an act is a good leisure activity just like any other form of entertainment.
Critique of the arguments presented
As stated in the article, gambling is an act that can be used for leisure. The act has been a part of the human culture for many generations now. Due to this fact, it is essential to fully understand it and utilize its benefits to improve the status of individuals and the society (Allport, 2005).
As stated in the article, gambling has high economic return. This money can be used to fund other projects hence improve the development of the economy. In addition, the act of gambling keeps people occupied. This therefore prevents them from committing social ills. However, it is essential to control the level of gambling. However, for gambling to be socially viable, it should be controlled. This is because the act of gambling is addictive and may lead to adverse conditions on individuals and the society.
Application of the arguments
Occasional gambling is one of my pass time activities. I have been participating in lotteries and charities ever since I was 12 years old. I do this not only to win but for the fun of it. If properly controlled, participating in charities and lotteries can be fun. From the experience that I have, I think that I believe that gambling can be used to improve the status of the society.
References
Allport, G.W. (2005). Attitudes. In C.M. Murchison. Handbook of social psychology Winchester, MA: Clark University Press.
Bernhar, B and Frey, J. (2006). The Sociology of Gambling. Brayant, 1(1), 399-404.
Boyer, M. (2003). Attentional bias and addictive behaviour: Automaticity in a gambling-specific modified Stroop task. Addiction, 98, 6170.
Eagley, A., and Chaiken, S. (1993). The psychology of attitudes. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.
Greenwald, A.G., Banaji, M.R., Rudman, L.A., Farnham, S.D., Nosek, B.A., & Mellot, D.S. (2002). A unified theory of implicit attitudes, stereotypes, self-esteem, and self-concept. Psychological Review, 109, 325.
For years, several government quarters have continued to debate on the legality of gambling. While the debate continued, people continued to gamble.
The attraction from the beautifully decorated neon lights, the excitement, and even the five start hotels where the gambling activities take place kept gamblers wanting more and more. Although to some it looks like pastime activities, to others it has been a destructive activity that has led to addiction.
Also, gambling has led to accumulation of debts for families. This notwithstanding, gambling has led to increase in crime rates. Finally, the manipulations present in these casinos are a negative factor on their own. Therefore, this paper intends to argue that gambling should not be legalized under any circumstance.
First, gambling leads to an addiction as strong as drugs. Although many people tend to believe that gambling is just a part time and that one could spend a day gambling without any harm, experience has proved otherwise. People have become addicted to gambling hence spending more time in gambling casinos than doing other constructive jobs. These people become so addicted to the extend that they look for any opportunity to enter a casino.
This is problematic because it leads to less working time and hence less productivity. Sadly, the reduced productivity comes hand in hand with increased expenditure as more money is pumped into the casino. Therefore, legalizing gambling creates devastated less productive individuals.
Second, gambling leads to accumulation of debts. As mentioned in the above paragraph, most gamblers spend time gambling which reduces there productivity while increasing their expenditure. Given the addiction, one would rather borrow from a friend to go and gamble than stay home when he has no money.
This borrowing leads to amassing of debts. Studies have shown that a seasoned and addicted gambler has an average debt of $ 80,000. With such great amounts of debts, it becomes difficult to take care of ones family. Eventually, some of these families break up due to inability to carry out ones obligations as a father or mother.
Gambling leads to increase in crimes. Compulsive gamblers look for every reason to gamble whether they have money or not. After too much accumulated debts from borrowing, a gambler might find it difficult to get money from friends. Given that he cannot control himself from gambling, he might opt to use other means of getting cash to spend in the casinos.
This is how crimes begin to escalate in a given region. This is very true based on the fact that the odds of winning in a casino are as low as 1-54 million. This is as good as nonexistent.
It has also been proved that very few people can afford to lose in a casino. This larger group of people that cannot afford to lose is the one that opts to indulge in crime so that they can make some money to go back to the casino with the hope that they would have a chance of getting back their money.
Statistics from the Atlantic City of New Jersey pointed out that development of casinos in the region witnessed a 467% increase in crime within a short span of nine years.
Gambling also strains the governments budget. As mentioned earlier, gambling is as addictive as any drug. Equally, a person can be salvaged from this destruction through rehabilitation.
The government hence loses a lot of money trying to rehabilitate the addicted gamblers. The strategies to increase security cost money. Therefore, the government is forced to spend a lot of money to mitigate the crime caused by gambling.
Furthermore, gambling leads to lowering reputation of the city in question as a result of the crimes associated. This means that tourists fear to come to the city fearing the likely consequences and for their safety. With this, the city loses a lot of money that would have been brought in by the tourist. Finally, gambling diverts money that could promote other business activities.
A great percentage of the Citys money goes straight to gamblers and owners of the casinos while other business people get pea nuts in return. A comparative analysis of the contribution of casinos and other businesses to the states economy shows that casinos contribute pea nuts while demands more from the government. This means that casinos are a liability to the city or state in question.
In conclusion, it is necessary that policy makers make gambling illegal. This is as a result of the associated damages and negative contributions not only to the individuals but also to the state. For instance, gambling will lead to increased rates of crime as witnessed in Atlantic City of New Jersey.
Gambling will also lead to straining of government budget. The government is forced to spend a lot of money in controlling crime and rehabilitating addicted gamblers. Finally, gambling leads to addiction and debts hence devastation of the family institution. Given these arguments, I believe that gambling should not be legalized under any circumstance.
In the United States nowadays, individuals are playing online gambling for money. When asked about the unavoidable passing of a law decriminalizing online gambling in the US, the CEO of Sams Casino stated that the legislation would not have any impact on their trade. Nevertheless, the legislation will certainly have a tremendous effect on the dealings of the Casino. The negative outlooks of the legislation make it seem as if all computers in the US will be connected into a casino through the Internet. Legalization of online gambling would be bad for Sams Casino, the US, and the entire world at large.
The legalization threatens kids, families, and nations. Online gambling sabotages the rule of law and negatively affects the global economy. This paper addresses the CEO of Sams Casino and attempts to prove to him of the global economics, legal, socio-cultural, and technological impacts of the legislation on online gambling. This paper also discusses the threats and opportunities existing here and what strategies the CEO has to get underway to counteract the threats and get hold of the opportunities.
Global Economics Effect
Some people argue that online gambling is just a game and thus fun. However, online gambling would further weaken the economic system of the United States if the country legalizes it. The editor in chief of The United States International Gambling Report (USIGR), Kindt, wrote a compilation with many volumes, which concentrate on the business, communal, and economic effects of legalizing online gambling actions (Griffiths, 2003). He stated that gambling as well affects the end-user economy immensely by getting money out of the pockets of the consumers.
In high online gambling regions of the United States, people purchase at least ten percent less foodstuff in addition to twenty percent less attire, since they are looting their bank savings with the intention of gambling. With the legalization of online gambling, banks will continue to lose liquidity and funds, whereas, in families, children will continue facing a shortage of food and clothes while their parents lose money in online gambling.
The capacity to set online gambling or casino application on cell phones could be a technique for economic calamity. In mobile phones, online gaming would turn out to be a destroyer application since the number of individual bankruptcies and persons obsessed with gambling could escalate tremendously (Bana, 2011). If people want to decrease their deficit, they require global economic improvement, which signifies that people require purchasing goods and services. However, this case is not likely to happen when people are busy dumping their wealth into online gambling activities.
When individuals purchase more durable high-quality items, there is a generated economic multiplier impact of nearly a factor of three. On the other hand, online gambling shrivels the global economy at the rate of $5 for each dollar in gains of tax returns. As people purchase user goods like refrigerators, automobiles, and computers, the global economy grows, which interprets into new employment opportunities (Bana, 2011). Legalization of online gambling will, in fact, be similar to reverse driving the economy for it gets funds out of the hold of consumers without benefiting them.
Social-cultural effect
Some individuals warn that even though the tax collected from online gambling might be desirable to governments, the ultimate social-cultural cost of the action may not counterbalance the monetary benefits. The social effects of legalizing online gambling comprise an augment in individual and professional insolvency from eighteen to forty-two percent, in addition to an augment in crime by no less than ten percent. Every one of these social effects generates enormous demands on states.
Legalizing online gambling would fundamentally create enormous social setbacks, which never prevailed before (Porter, 2001). Social services along with law enforcement would particularly suffer greatly. Following Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and its implementation, there was increased social control means against prohibited online gambling and thus permitting the Justice Department of the United States together with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to aim at organizations established outside the United States who apply offshore servers in propagating online gambling sites.
Nevertheless, any fresh legislation to decriminalize online gambling might potentially revolve each computer that gets an Internet connection, be it in a residence, place of work, or school, into a literal casino (Yani-de-Soriano, Javed, & Yousafzai, 2012).
In addition, with the figure of Internet-permitted smart mobile phones ever-escalating in the market ever since the year 2006, legalizing of online gambling also has the prospective to make all Internet-enabled phones portable casinos. This would play a key role in disrupting good relationships at homes, in schools, and in places of work as the addicts of online gambling will be more likely to withdraw in an attempt to create time for mobile gambling and thus fail to do their duties.
Legal effect
The fanatics of online gambling argue that millions of people in the US take pleasure in gambling and do it responsibly. They state that keeping online gambling illegal for the reason that a small minority cannot control their addiction is like banning tobacco, alcohol, and junk food for the same reason (Porter, 2001). However, because online gambling is linked to unlawful effects on individuals and is controlled by an industry that several consider voracious since it promotes and earns revenue from the susceptibilities and weak points of its clients, the subject is somewhat insidious.
Conventionally, people do not steal from their employers, take their own life, or kill owing to a lost game (like tennis), but they do so owing to their gambling losses. Following three years of research, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC) suggested a cessation on the existence of gambling in the US. The NGISC felt that legal measures should be put in place and extra study to teach the nation concerning consequences of gambling should be carried out prior to allowing increased gambling (Haefeli, Lischer, & Schwarz, 2011).
The unlawful impacts of online gambling include suicides, actual crimes, and frauds on organizations and individuals. It is evident that the legal, social, economic, and technological merits of online gambling overshadow its demerits. In short, what has already been witnessed has put more weight on the unconstructive side of online gambling without putting any weight on the positive side. In this regard, Congress should not currently, and possibly not ever, decriminalize online gambling and should work towards maintaining the outlaw in place (Haefeli, Lischer, & Schwarz, 2011). The legal effects of Internet gambling far surpass the alleged benefits.
To add more weight to the negative effects, online gambling is extremely addictive and is rampant with corruption that is not managed or regulated. In reality, it is in the concerns of online casinos to conceal the degree of corruption since fewer individuals would engage in it, if they recognized the true level in which countless online criminals propagate their devious actions through online gambling. Additionally, the casinos are offshore with their software being so intricate that even if the United States were to legalize it, it is very improbable that they would be wise enough to justify the move.
Those who support online gambling are stars alongside with winners who are about one out of every one thousand people in the US (Yani-de-Soriano, Javed, & Yousafzai, 2012). An online gambler, Doyle Brunson, in some of his publications stated that every one of the professional gamblers becomes bankrupt numerous times, in his or her gambling regardless of what degree of achievement s/he enjoys.
Therefore, if every one of the online gambling players goes broke numerous times, if more people engage in gambling, the real legal effect at some point is inevitable. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has charged leaders of online gambling on accusations of money hoaxing and bank laundering. A number of the leading names in online gambling stand charged of running a complicated illegal network. Thus, this indecent conduct ought to receive no reward. The irregularity of online gambling is not stopping at that point, as any attempted legalization might reveal an enormous underground trade into view.
Technological effects
It is not shocking to note that the advantage of Internet gambling is merely the benefit of having an extra type of electronic amusement accessible amongst the already available numerous amusements (Griffiths, 2003). With regard to brain functioning, online gambling, and the actuality of pathological influences, electronic devices are the very hazardous and harmful type of gambling. With the growth of the Internet, gambling has appeared as an admired type of activity and has observed an enormous growth rate throughout the past decade.
From the year 2009, the number of online gambling sites internationally has risen tremendously because of technological advancements. On the other hand, this online gambling action might set a rising alarm for the noteworthy potential of destruction to some persons and organizations. Existing legislation might be inadequate or futile in defending gamblers and other individuals that may be vulnerable, for instance, children, teenagers, and young adults.
Consequently, owing to its technological effects, a number of scholars have demanded a complete prohibition of the application of online gambling sites, whereas others believe that online gambling ought to be put through more regulation (Porter, 2001). Nevertheless, others declare that outlawing online gambling might be unproductive taking into consideration previous endeavors carried out in the United States and China. As an alternative, they believe that online gambling must be regulated to give a safer setting and guard users against devious operators, which sequentially will proffer tax income.
Undoubtedly, the measures to illegalize online gambling recognized the technological effect of online gambling and desired to guard public concern. Internet gambling is not merely uproar; thus, given the significance of the technological effects it causes, existing directives must be improved and cessation on further growth advocated, permitting initiation of effect minimization policies. Even if the online gambling sector presents an advanced online-based consumer service with promotional actions, an array of games, and excellent interfaces, people generally perceive the sector as an international problem and a moral risk.
Alarms concerning online gambling include home-grown gambling (for instance, through the Internet, cell phones, or television) and have turned out to be progressively accepted, stimulated by emerging technologies, for example, tablets, and laptops (Griffiths, 2003). An unconstructive characteristic of online gambling is that it permits players to take part under the influence of drugs and young people that cannot be permitted in a public setting.
Therefore, there has been rising anxiety that technological advancements in online gambling might enhance the problem of gambling and that people with a prevailing gambling problem might be mainly drawn to this type of gambling. Legalizing online gambling would cause a potential to augment in the proportion of problem gamblers and addicts as the technology presents itself to extreme gambling, because of its convenience and the rate of play.
Threats
Some of the threats associated with casino businesses include the following.
The opportunity window will not prevail for long
Antitrust concerns
Global economic catastrophe
Because of global economic calamity, the user self-belief in the US has decreased. Decreased public wealth might give rise to gamblers becoming reluctant or not capable of spending on online gambling (McCormack & Griffiths, 2012).
Increase of well-informed competitors in the US. The market for casinos is rising fast with the growing attractiveness and access to the Internet. The attractiveness of online gaming to casinos is a noteworthy threat to the casino businesses going forward because of unhealthy competition.
Strict regulatory setting. Online gaming industry exists under strict regulations. The present regulations might confirm to be adverse to the gambling companies as they may limit the functions of Casinos in particular regions and might considerably increase the cost of operation.
Opportunities
Some of the opportunities associated with casino businesses include the following.
Huge user base
Large rapidly rising market
Growing public reception of online gaming
Legalization
Recently, different US states are discovering alternatives to legalize online gambling. The magnitude of the United States market and the possibility of encouraging regulatory transformation in the future might allow casinos to earn handsomely from the United States market as a target for other market opportunities (McCormack & Griffiths, 2012).
Strategies to put in place
The Internet creates a possibility for individuals to participate in online gambling everywhere and each time they want. Nevertheless, the rising opportunities for casinos do not essentially give rise to increased problem gamblers. If strategies were put in place, online gambling would present excellent opportunities for checking of personal gambling conduct and timely discovery of problem (Haefeli, Lischer, & Schwarz, 2011).
Online gamblers fundamentally require persuading the traditional gamblers operating at casinos to convert their operations to online as a replacement for their offline environment. Shifting to online operations will give gambling authorities in the US a simpler job discovering problem gamblers.
The casinos should then implement policies to persuade each state in the US to establish licensing models that create a chance for gambling businesses meeting the provisions enforced by the state authority to obtain a license. In this manner, the market will turn out to be extra-transparent making it possible for users to differentiate licensed casinos from blacklisted ones.
Casinos work towards making online gambling enjoyable and most of them are dedicated to offering a safe and pleasant online activity for their customers. Nevertheless, a few players can form harmful gambling practices and lose view of the reality that online gambling ought to be for enjoyment only. Even as problematic gambling is hard to detect, casinos must put a number of strategies in a position to assist in addressing the setback and make sure that online gambling becomes responsible gaming (Haefeli, Lischer, & Schwarz, 2011).
One of the strategies includes taking a strong standpoint against the participation of children by not permitting individuals less than eighteen years of age to play for actual money. Additionally, casinos should have thorough training programs to assist staff discover indications of uncontrollable gambling and educate the victims on ways to take suitable actions. Casinos must as well have a strategy to disallow players that distinguish themselves to be problematic gamblers by barring their continued participation through deactivating their accounts and removing their passwords.
Conclusion
Currently, people are playing online gambling for money. Upon inquiry, the CEO of Sams Casino affirmed that the decriminalization of online gambling could have no impact on their trade. However, as discussed in this paper, this legalization would be terrible for Sams Casino, the US, and the entire world at large.
Decriminalization of online gambling poses a threat to kids, families, and nations as it sabotages the existing rule of law and negatively affects the global economy. There exist global economics, legal, socio-cultural, and technological impacts of the legislation on online gambling. With effective strategies, nevertheless, casinos can counteract the threats involved in online gambling and take up the opportunities.
References
Bana, A. (2011). No more rambling in world of online gambling. Travel Law Quarterly, 3(1), 70-75.
Griffiths, M. D. (2003). Internet gambling: Issues, concerns and recommendations. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 6(6), 557568.
Haefeli, J., Lischer, S., & Schwarz, J. (2011). Early detection items and responsible gambling features for online gambling. International Gambling Studies, 11(3), 273-288.
McCormack, A., & Griffiths, M. (2012). Motivating and Inhibiting Factors in Online Gambling Behavior: A Grounded Theory Study. International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction, 10(1), 39-53.
Porter, M. E. (2001). Strategy and the Internet. Harvard business review, 79(3), 62-78.
Yani-de-Soriano, M., Javed, U., & Yousafzai, S. (2012). Can an Industry Be Socially Responsible If Its Products Harm Consumers? The Case of Online Gambling. Journal of Business Ethics, 110(4), 481-497.
In spite of the fact that gambling has always been considered a vicious way of sparing ones time that cannot exist in the society of religious and fair people, the notorious game has taken its toll on the casinos and the people who would like to have some air of adventures and risks in their life without resorting to extreme sports. The question is whether gambling should be legalized as one of the sources of the states incomes or banned for good as the pastime that cannot be accepted in Kentucky.
Taking a deep look into the history of the state, one can see absolutely clearly that gambling has always been one of the ventures that bring huge sums of money into the states treasury. However blasphemous that might sound, gambling is something that the state has been surviving on throughout its long history.
Beginning with the very history of the state, one should presume that it is a well-known fact that gambling has been widely established in Kentucky.
It was not the main source of the state income, though. The industries that added to the well-being of the state and its GNP since the day the state was founded and throughout the past century was the coal mining, which contributed to the states income to the utmost. However, as the Word War II burst out, mining became extinguished and the mines were left. As the war ended, the abandoned territory of production was rather uneasy to raise.
Meanwhile, ambling, which did not need any additional help from the government and investors, was flourishing in the state. Even after the Ohio River flood which happened in 1937 and caused almost the same harm than the war that followed it did not prevent the risky venture to develop further. The business of the gamblers not only flourished, but helped the state to get enriched with the new funds that could provide the necessary helping restoring what had been damaged by the war and the cataclysms.
It must be admitted that the unlawful way of earning money has been banned not once in Kentucky, and that most strict measures were applied to those who have been caught gambling. While people tried to earn some money with help of a deck of cards, the numerous raids that challenged the gamblers in 1951 cooled the adventurers enthusiasm down. Taking into account that the government connected gambling to drinking alcoholic beverages in public places, the situation was more than threatening to the gamblers in 1950ies:
Fourth, I recommend that you enact into law an act providing for the mandatory suspension or revocation of the license to sell alcoholic beverages, upon conviction of the license of this agent of gambling on the premises. (Wetherby 29)
This was something to ponder over, and gambling was forsaken for a while.
Although the present economical state of Kentucky ahs sufficiently improved since 1950ies, there is still a great concern about gambling and its legalization. The reasons for the gambling industry to develop in the state must be taken into consideration together with the ones that speak in favor of its prohibition, which will be a democratic decision to make.
Then, the multiple economical reasons must be viewed to understand whether can really provide Kentucky with the money that the state needs nowadays. The income that might overlap everything that has been achieved before is definitely the reason for the further suggestions not to be refused from considering.
The specific national character must also be well understood, since the state is breathing with what can be called the spirit of risks.
The most popular argument that is driven against gambling as the resource of the state income is that it holds no water as a serious business entrepreneurship to undertake. Its unpredictability makes gambling one of the most unpredictable ways of enriching the states treasury.
As Nelson (134) put it, there were several reasons for the gambling proposals to fail in early 1990ies as well; according to the scientist, the most important and profound one was the diffusion of the lotteries that added to the unpopularity of gambling, defined as the gambling political decline.
Spread all around the country, they soon became the tricks that only children could fall for. Then, the internal characteristics must be kept in mind. According to the latter, gambling has become so popular that it started to threaten peoples lives, which finally drew to its prohibition.
The hangover from Rocky Top created a seedy image of gambling in the body politic, which was reflected in the legislative view of such things, says the veteran legislative correspondent Tom Humphrey. The scandal touched many legislations personally when friends and associates were indicted, or, in two cases, took their own lives. In the same vein, McWherter says that the pinball and bingo controversies created a problem about any kind of gambling, including a lottery (134)
With such reasons for gambling to stop its destructive influence on peoples lives, it was impossible to drive any possible reasons in favor of gambling and its legalization. The conflict seemed to come into a dead end.
However, there were also the activists that preferred talking aloud about the advantages of gambling legalized to keeping silence and doing nothing. They emphasized that, first, gambling might give sufficient amount of money to the state permanently, and, second, it was in the character of the people living in the South to gamble, which was the way they expressed their need to take risks.
Gambling should be legalized in Kentucky according to a number of reasons, the economical ones the first to consider. Mainly, these are the employment and the money lost due to the riverbank casinos that speak in favor of allowing gambling, but these reasons are sufficient enough.
Of course, the economical reasons are the first to take into consideration.
With all respect to the morals and the image of a true Christian, one cannot admit that the money that the government receives to sustain the decent level of the nations life as gambling is allowed will be tremendous.
One of the most often driven arguments of the supporters of gambling legalization argues that a grown-up person can decide on his or her own which way he or she is going to spend the money:
Supporters of legalized gambling often argue that adults should be given the freedom to spend their money on gambling and should not be presumed incompetent to make those choices. (Evans 127)
Indeed, since this is the right of an adult man to make the steps that he or she considers the most necessary at the moment, no one has the right to prevent the people from making these steps. Whatever could be said about the gambling being against morals, the things that go against the Constitution are counted for a more serious mischief.
Thus, the rules and laws that restrict gambling in the territory of Kentucky must be reconsidered and cancelled. The question of the rights and freedoms of people is something that cannot be argued, and the government has to count for that.
Moreover, the idea of gambling as one of the additional resources for the state treasury enriching sounds rather reasonable. A single idea of what these additional funds could be involved into to make the state develop further and become more advanced is already convincing enough for the governmental bodies to start acting in favor of gambling allowance.
Thompson (210) claims that Kentucky could survive on the racing bets only; such big is the input that the bets make into the well-being of the state:
Kentucky is the home of horse racing. More race-horses are born and bred in Kentucky than in any other state. The Kentucky Derby is the most famous horse race in The United States.
In addition, horse industry will allow creating the working places for the people that are unemployed now, and thus decrease the index of unemployment in the state. This might help to cope with the problems that the state is facing now.
In spite of the fact that the religious opponents are straight against gambling and its variations, they encourage the game called bingo, which is a form of gambling as well. If such game as bingo is allowed, why not letting people play the rest of the gambling games?
Thompson also claims that people were inclined to support the idea of making bets and having lotteries that were of a great entertaining element for the people who attended horse races and decent money for the governmental treasury to fill with. The money that could be won with such ease and used to improve the state of affairs in Kentucky was the manna that people were waiting for.
In 1988, 61 percent of the Kentucky voters said they wanted a lottery, and the next year one was established that offers instant games, lotto games, and number games as well as Powerball interstate lottery tickets. Charitable games also permitted. (Thompson 210)
Moreover, it should be born in minds that, due to the riverboat casinos in Indiana, people in Kentucky lose a great deal of money, which has to be stopped: Indiana is the sixth riverboat gambling state and also the first state to permit gambling on the Great Lakes. The intent of the Indiana Riverboat Gambling Act also was to promote tourism and assist economic development (Hsu 79). So the question is why doesnt Kentucky follow this convincing example?
Taking everything that has been mentioned into account, it is needless to say that the gambling games are a source of income for Kentucky that should not be rejected. With all the drawbacks and challenging to the moral prejudice of the people, gambling is still a reliable source of money and a valuable venture that the state should take courage to undertake. In spite of the numerous cons , gambling is the integral part of the people of Kentucky. It is in their blood, as well as the urge to have some risks in their everyday life.
The legal gambling has some prospects to survive, though. The following prospects have been stated recently:
In near future, debate will focus on whether to expand existing forms of gambling and whether to legalize new ones (Ruschmann 120).However, the government is still uncertain of the steps that they are going to take to solve this problem.
Thus, whenever the government and the moralizing people think that gambling should be banned fro good, it is necessary to say that the government must think of the well-being of the state first and provide it with the basis for their wealth, Since gambling is one of the most useful means that the state can resort to, it must be allowed in Kentucky. And this will become the choice of a man whether to gamble or not. This is, to paraphrase a famous writer, the road that we choose.
Works Cited
Evans, Rod L., and Mark Hance. Legalized Gambling: For and Against. La Salle, IL: Open Court Publishing, 1998. Print.
Hsu, Cathy H. S. Legalized Casino Gaming in the United States: The Economic and Social Impact. New York, NY: Routledge, 1999. Peint.
Nelson, Michael, John Lyman Mason. How the South Joined the Gambling Nation: The Politics of State Policy Innovation. Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press, 2007. Print.
Ruschmann, Paul. Legalized Gambling. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing, 2008. Print.
Thompson, William T. Gambling in America: An Encyclopedia of History, Issues and Society. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO, 2001. Print.
Wetherby, Lawrence W., and John E. Kleber. The Public Papers of Governor Lawrence W. Wetherby, 1950-1955. Frankfort: KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1983. Print.
Gambling has for a long time been regarded to as a social vice (Eagley and Chaiken, 1993). The act of gambling is normally regarded to as immoral. This is because it is addictive and in most cases people tend to lose their money or any other valuable item that was used as stake.
However, the more an individual loses, the more he/she feels like playing in order to recover his loss and make a quick profit. In most situations, such individuals tend to end up in even more losses. It is due to this fact that the society has a negative attitude towards gambling. However, in the US, gambling alone bring in more revenue than the sale of movie tickets, theme parks, music concerts and sports events combined (Bernhard and Frey, 2006).
Furthermore, 50 states in the United States have legalized several forms of gambling. This therefore shows that gambling is a part and parcel of our society. The act of gambling has been there in since time immemorial, is with us today and will continue until perpetuity. It is therefore essential for sociologist to understand the positive aspects of gambling and the impact that it has on our lives.
To support these arguments, several theories have been presented that try to explain the social aspect of gambling. During the renaissance era, the Catholics used gambling as one of the weaknesses against the Protestants who advocated for it (Greenwald et al, 2002). The catholic stated that it is wrong and evil to get something without working for it.
This act was compared to the acts and promises that were made by Satan. In the early 20th century, Devereux explained the gambling theory with the use of the institutional theory. He suggested that gambling had more impact on the society that its individualistic and pathological effects that were well known.
At the present moment, sociologists have shifted their views and regard gambling as a form of play (Boyer, 2003). Many countries have lotteries and have legalised gambling which, in many circumstances is controlled by the betting and licensing board. They also state that gambling, as an act is a good leisure activity just like any other form of entertainment.
Critique of the arguments presented
As stated in the article, gambling is an act that can be used for leisure. The act has been a part of the human culture for many generations now. Due to this fact, it is essential to fully understand it and utilize its benefits to improve the status of individuals and the society (Allport, 2005).
As stated in the article, gambling has high economic return. This money can be used to fund other projects hence improve the development of the economy. In addition, the act of gambling keeps people occupied. This therefore prevents them from committing social ills. However, it is essential to control the level of gambling. However, for gambling to be socially viable, it should be controlled. This is because the act of gambling is addictive and may lead to adverse conditions on individuals and the society.
Application of the arguments
Occasional gambling is one of my pass time activities. I have been participating in lotteries and charities ever since I was 12 years old. I do this not only to win but for the fun of it. If properly controlled, participating in charities and lotteries can be fun. From the experience that I have, I think that I believe that gambling can be used to improve the status of the society.
References
Allport, G.W. (2005). Attitudes. In C.M. Murchison. Handbook of social psychology Winchester, MA: Clark University Press.
Bernhar, B and Frey, J. (2006). The Sociology of Gambling. Brayant, 1(1), 399-404.
Boyer, M. (2003). Attentional bias and addictive behaviour: Automaticity in a gambling-specific modified Stroop task. Addiction, 98, 61–70.
Eagley, A., and Chaiken, S. (1993). The psychology of attitudes. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.
Greenwald, A.G., Banaji, M.R., Rudman, L.A., Farnham, S.D., Nosek, B.A., & Mellot, D.S. (2002). A unified theory of implicit attitudes, stereotypes, self-esteem, and self-concept. Psychological Review, 109, 3–25.
The sociology of any institution always embraces a definite pattern of behavior between and amongst individuals. There are roles; positions; interactions; structures and more importantly interrelationships. These are the paradigms through which social scientist tend to establish a perception that distinguishes practices within an institution from merely relationships among group members.
As such, in modern societies there are traditional as well and modern institutions. Sociologists and anthropologists alike when researching people and how they operate within groups sometimes find it difficult to differentiate among established institutions and emerging ones. It is true that in the final analysis institutions determine the way their interaction would be perceived based on how structures are established to achieve collective goals.
Therefore, the argument is that every institution functions to achieve goals of interest groups. On many occasions validation of society is not necessary. Actually, the power foundation on which some are constructed forges societal acceptance since insidious values sustain their existence. In essence, then, it takes risk and boldness to relate group interactions; roles; positions; structures and interrelationships as being institutions.
Ultimately, the sociology of gambling can be conceptualized as an institution of risk taking which very extensively has become interwoven into American Financial culture. Obvious questions are then asked, non- judgmentally, but precisely, how does this institutional culture impact activities on Wall Street; an artificial financial crisis; and the international perception of forced and voluntary gambling.
The mere fact that there are no laws in America prohibiting institutionalized gambling on Wall Street is indicative of its nature to support traditional economic institutions. Its power base foundation has forced the International Monetary Fund as well as world banking institutions to recognize the impact it has in shaping a new world economic order. This is achieved by merely by taking risks every day in casino interactions; stocks trading and horse racing.
Even though the history of Wall Street actually began as a risking taking venture in trading of stocks it has escalated into a culture which determines a value of the US dollar on a daily basis. Presently, traditional institutions struggle to compete as these practices are exclusive to the interest groups’ values and goals which nourish this institution.
Consequently, Wall Street has the ability to create a financial crisis in America as well as prosperity within its gates. Investing in stocks entails the same amount of risks as playing a casino game or even the lotto. These elements are interwoven into the American financial culture with such sacredness that Wall Street has financial power to decide who remains in the White House swinging the economy in a disastrous personal interest direction.
According to Jim Cosgrave‘s perspective reflecting on Goffrman’s theory of ‘Where the action is’ an interpretation into the social organization of risk taking is attempted as he points out that this social phenomenon impinges on two elements within the risk taking relationship, action and ‘character. (Cosgrave 80-96)
Importantly, they build on each other to demonstrate power in taking risk action and actually how legalizations of the practice can influence character integrity. Money and financial interrelations between and among an interest groups help shape character of both the person and the risk/ gambling institution.
The conclusive speculation is whether there is a changing definition of risk and gambling applicable to contemporary societies. Also how does exposure to and perception of global, involuntary risks impact on a personal willingness to be enticed.
With reference to Cosgrave’s reflection on Goffrman’s theory of ‘where the action is.” It depends on where the action is pertaining to personal and societal values. If it is legalized it is a personal choice. If it is not condemned by society and thereby becomes illegal. In essence the institution of gambling is essentially the same but systems are being revised to adapt to the financial climate.
A myriad of people all over the world enjoy indulging in gambling. Some may bet on a horse, others may play black jack with the winner taking a certain amount of money, and others even use the internet to play poker for money on the internet.
No matter what form gambling takes in any given case, it has a number of positive effects on the gambler as well as negative effects on the person who indulges in the activity, and the society at large. This is despite the negative image that has been historically associated with gambling. This paper is an in-depth analysis of the benefits of gambling, as well as the disadvantages associated with gambling.
Benefits of gambling
Although it may sound unreal to many people, gambling contributes a given percentage to the GDP of countries all over the world. The percentage is particularly significant in economies where the practice in predominant, like in the United States. With this discussion, it is apparent that gambling forms part of the economy and its contribution in the improvement of economic stability of countries cannot be ignored. Also in relation to this, the gambling industry offers employment to a myriad of people.
A lot of people have been able to become financially stable courtesy to the jobs they have in casinos. The jobs are mainly related to facilitating the gambling process. That is, in a single casino, there may be several gambling tables to be facilitated, and there will also be a myriad other services apart from gambling to be offered. This acts as a source of employment for the locals.
In the same way, gambling has opens an opportunity for business people because in order for people to engage in gambling, there must be facilities that facilitate the same. A huge number of business people have exploited these opportunities to become millionaires. The casinos may also act tourist attractions for people interested in gambling. This will, in turn, translate to big profits for local people.
The casinos also pay taxes to the local government which helps to boost the local economy. This is because lavish casinos normally get very many visitors coming from out of town who look forward to having a good time while gambling. This is thus a boost to the economy of the local people (“The Benefits of Gambling” 1).
To exemplify this, consider Las Vegas, Nevada, for example. The city boasts of being the biggest gambling destination in the world. In the town, 60% of the employed people work in casino-related jobs. This is a big number of people, especially considering the fact that the city has a population of about two million residents.
Another benefit of gambling is the fact that it is common among societal idlers. It therefore occupies these people, who may otherwise be engaged in criminal activities like assaults, burglary, robberies, drug peddling, and also immoral activities like drug abuse, prostitution etcetera. Gambling can therefore be credited for reducing crime rates in some areas to some extent.
This is despite the fact that the activity can potentially increase crime rates. The government and charity organizations have a tendency of using gambling in promoting charity events. For instance, gambling is used to raise money for charity events by holding large bingo games, or involving the public in lotteries (Tason 144). This is a good cause supported by gambling and thus it can be classified as a gambling benefit.
Gambling is also beneficial to career gamblers in that it is a source of income for them. There are people who can survive on gambling as their sole source of income. The gamblers also benefit from the gambling process in that the process will take much of their idle time, and thus the gambler will lack time for engagement in criminal and immoral activities. Above all, it is a good source of entertainment for the people who engage in it.
As absurd as it may sound, gambling has a number of health benefits. Research has shown that retirees who engage in gambling activities after their retirement do not have as many health problems as their counterparts who do not engage in gambling. Gambling has been identified as a means of avoiding a number of old-age problems like alcoholism, bankruptcy, depression, and other related problems.
Disadvantages of gambling
Gambling has a number of disadvantages. One of these disadvantages is the fact that gambling is very addictive. People who are addicted to gambling can bet until they deplete all their resources. These resources may include savings, personal belongings, and family assets. Worse still, it is common for people who are obsessed with gambling to borrow money for gambling after they lose everything they have to gambling. After they become bankrupt, people addicted to gambling may even turn to illegal activities in a bid to restore their lost wealth.
Those addicted to gambling also tend to be more violent to their family members than other people who do not engage in gambling activities. This leads to negative effect on the psychology of children and spouses (Tason 99). Many gambling addicts are male, so they may even be left by their wives due to bankruptcy brought about by gambling, and the violent behavior.
Another disadvantage is that relying on gambling for income is very uncertain, and thus it is very difficult for a gambler to achieve financial stability. This is a result of the speculative nature of gambling. If a person relies on gambling, it is very difficult for him/her to be away from the place where he/she gambles for long (Moss 1).
Of common knowledge is the fact that gambling is normally a haven for criminals and gangsters. It thus follows that some gambling sessions could be very unfair. The gambling equipment may be faulted to benefit one person, or a person may dictate a win by coercion. This may happen if the aforementioned is not willing to let anyone win, and if that happens, he is willing to follow the winner and rob the money. Some gambling sessions have even ended with killings.
Gambling has also been associated with a number of other criminal and immoral activities. Gambling has oftentimes been accompanied by prostitution because gamblers tend to be generous with their gambling income. Thus after gambling games, it is not unusual to see winners of the games taking off with girls in the casino.
It can thus be argued that gambling promotes immorality in the society. In addition to this, gambling is also accompanied by the sale of drugs, and the consumption of the drugs. Although licensed gambling sites are prohibited from carrying out such activities, it is difficult to monitor their activities, and thus such activities end up being carried out in gambling sites.
Works Cited
Moss, Gordon. “Disadvantages of online gambling for income”. 2008. Web.
The term gambling finds usage in many situations, which have an element of uncertainty. These vary from placing bets, participating in the lottery, stock market speculation, and even insurance and other forms of risk taking such as sky diving. In a strict sense for an event to qualify as gambling, the participants must have no further interest beyond the immediate financial reward based on the outcome of the event.
The reasons why people gamble vary from simple recreation to using it as a get rich quick strategy. In some cases such as in lotteries, the financial reward is incidental and secondary because the participants drive is to help raise funds for the course the lottery promotes. In some contexts, there is interchangeable use of the term gaming and gambling.
Gambling may be either legal or illegal. Legal gambling takes place under the watchful eyes of the authorities in places such as casinos. Other forms of legal gambling include lotteries and sports based bets where a bet is placed on such elements as which team stands the chance to win a particular match. In these situations, the government defines the rules within which gambling is legal and collects revenue from the activities. It is normal to have a body charged with overseeing the operation of gambling activities.
On the other hand illegal gambling takes place in secret. In actual practice, some illegal betting rings facilitate betting on a game or situation over which there is a legal gambling option. Illegal gambling stakes a lot more and promises better rewards for those involved- should they win.
Illegal gambling operations are the target of law enforcement agencies since they tend to promote other unacceptable situations such as match fixing, and whenever a participant does not meet their obligation due to the gamble, then they risk subjection to extralegal means such as extortion and gambling to compel them to pay up.
This happens because it is impossible to seek legal redress for a default arising out of an illegal activity. It is because of the negative possibilities that Grinols advices, “gambling must be closely watched and regulated by government if it is allowed” (19).
Gambling has both positive and negative consequences. In many countries, gambling provide valuable income for charities through lotteries. Some of the money collected pays off lucky bets but the bulk goes to predetermined charities, which would have no income otherwise. In most cases, the motive for the participants in such lotteries is not financial reward on offer. They have a desire to participate in raising funds for the charities, with the probability of a financial reward. They typically take longer and hence they cannot satiate compulsive gamblers.
In some cases, gambling is a pastime that offers participants with a means to relax and while away time. As a social activity, gambling may serve as a means of bonding for friends and families seeking some common recreational activity away from their daily lives. Observers may place innocent bets on who is likely to win a game such as chess.
Another positive outcome of gambling is the provision of revenue for governments, which then use the proceeds to provide public services. A good example in the Unites States is the city of Las Vegas, which has a worldwide reputation as a gambling centre. In such places, the local authorities raise billions of dollars from gambling operations, helping them to finance their budgets.
On the other side, there are some negative consequences of gambling to both individuals and society, be it legal or illegal gambling. These dangers include problem gambling, which some experts classify as an addiction, financial irresponsibility leading to bankruptcy, and breakdown in social cohesion occasioned by family breakups and escalation of crime for the purpose of raising gambling capital or settling gambling debts, or retaliation against defaulters. Problem gambling refers to a point in a gambler’s life where they become obsessed with gambling and cannot bring themselves to stop.
They spend inordinate amounts of time and financial resources on gambling always hoping to recover their losses. This happens at the risk of their jobs and responsibilities, and even close relationships. As the problem proceeds, they end up bankrupt and heavily indebted since they can no longer afford to gamble from earned income, which by now they do not have, and they keep digging themselves deeper into the hole by taking more debt to gamble.
Gambling related crimes come from either the compulsive gambler, who having lost his source of income, finds it necessary to steal to raise more money for their indulgence. They also need all the money they can get to offset their debts.
They do not consider the consequences of their crimes, so long as it provides them with more opportunities to gamble. In the end, society looses because the person is no longer productive but requires the society’s help for rehabilitation. In addition, the gamblers families suffer, easily ending up divorced and estranged from their children.
In conclusion, while gambling may bring some positive effects to the society, there must be a high level of individual responsibility exercised if the society will survive its very powerful negative effects.
Works Cited
Grinols, Earl L. Gambling in America: Cost and Benefits. New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Gambling involves three things the stakes, the prizes and the result. The stakes include things of value that are placed by the parties involved. The prize is the valuable thing that participants opt to win after betting. The result is the outcome of the event that determines who wins and who loses (Fabiansson, 2010).
Any activity involving the three aspects is gambling. Some examples of gambling events betting such as horse races or sporting events; playing casino games for money; buying lottery tickets; participation in prize-draws and newspaper competitions (Collins, 2003, p. 15).
How gambling has evolved
Over the past century and a half, gambling has evolved from being a furtive back-street activity to a multimillion-pound gambling industry (Parsons & Webster, 2000). Governments of many nations are using legalized gambling as a source of revenue, and the citizens have accepted it as a source of entertainment (Stitt, 2001).
Unlike in the olden days where a gambling event was organized once in a while, and people had to wait for the next events, today, the activity has been on for 24 hours with instant results and people do not have to wait for too long (Bourie & Curtis, 2006). Gambling is prominent in today’s society. It entertains, but can also have a disastrous effect on a person’s life (Thompson, 2001, p. 437).
Relevance of the topic
According to the BBC (2011, para 1), “the amount of betting has increased to levels last seen in the late 1990s”. Nowadays, there are many problem gamblers, and the British society is “in danger of being de-sensitised to the problems that gambling can bring” (BBC, 2011, para 16).
Experts at the National Centre drew a research by the British Gambling Prevalence Survey in 2007 for Social Research (NCSR). It was found that there was an increment in the number of people gambling within the UK.
The number of people betting for the last report increased from 63% to 73% between 2006 and 2007 respectively. In their comments to the survey authors, the majority claimed that they were gambling for fun. Others said that they were doing it to try out their chances of winning big money (Spapens, Littler & Fijnaut, 2008, p. 37).
It was noted that people in the UK were gambling in different ways. However, few of them engaged in online gaming. The majority, almost 60% of adults within the UK participated in the National lottery. Nevertheless, it was noted that football gambling reduced considerably. It reduced from 9 to 4 percent in the first decade of the second millennium (Fabiansson, 2010).
The reasoning behind the researchers’ decision to focus on the social and financial factors of gambling within the UK is because of the significant increase in gambling-related problems within Britain. In order to know whether gamblers had a problem, the statisticians used two different and complex measures to measure them. They surveyed for several behaviours of gamblers wanting to recover their stakes back (chasing losses). In many cases, the gamblers found themselves being exploited (Berleur, 2010, p. 19).
The casinos fall into the leisure activities and most casino venues are business oriented. The venues tend to provide restaurant services, great music, and classy bars. In contrast to being an entertaining game for many people, gambling has negative impacts to people especially on their finances. Some individuals suffer from a gambling addiction, which can ruin their financial and personal lives (Wardle, 2007, p. 17).
Negative impacts on today’s society (both psychological and financial)
Gambling is conducted in various places such as casinos, Internet and electronic machines among many other places. Since the time of its innovation, gambling has never had chances of being easily accessed and ever available (Rule & Sibanyoni, 2000, p. 21).
As has been noted, gambling can lead to a serious addiction problem. It can lead to financial instability of an individual. Once the problem gambling strikes into a person’s life, it takes control over his or her life. It affects their home life, work environment, performance and their parenthood (in this case, being good parents). People affected with problem gambling find themselves under pressure that may force them into sourcing money through illegal means (Volberg, 2001, p. 121).
Aims of the dissertation
The aim of the dissertation is to examine the premise of this theory on the youth generation using Leeds and its gambling market (casinos) as its focus.
Objectives
To describe and analyse the negative effects gambling has on individuals in Leeds.
To evaluate the importance of problem gambling and its different forms.
To analyse its impact on a sufferer’s social and personal life.
To establish the relationship between a gambler and his preferred casino, to determine what motivates them to go, what drives them to stay and gamble continuously?
Literature review
Notably, gambling may be described as “a conscious, deliberate effort to stake valuables, usually but not always currency, on how some event happens to turn out” (Jazaeri and Bin-Habil, 2012, para 4). Many people view gambling as a way of risking money in order to make money.
However, people who have won the valuable stakes do not stop playing, and those who have lost do not stop gambling. The youths in the society are also victims of gambling as they engage in gambling activities more than any other addictive activity such as smoking or alcohol drinking. This is a cause for concern keeping in mind that the youths are the future of the society (Allen, 2011and Wildman, 1997).
According to the research done by Derevensky in 2012, it was noted that there are various reasons as to why the youths engage themselves in gambling. The majority of them did it for enjoyment and others engaged in gambling to make money. Others indulged in gambling for excitement, relations and to hide from daily problems. Still, others engaged in gambling as a social activity and to have a feeling of being mature (Derevensky, 2012, p. 76).
Notably, many people do not want to be associated with gambling because they feel that it is associated with the loss of the trust, lying, and loss of money among other bad behaviours (Thompson, 2001). However, there are circumstances that force them into gambling. For example, gambling can occur on a continuum with many individuals not engaging in the act at all.
In additions, there are those individuals, who gamble once in a while, or those engaging in the activity many times and experiencing minimum negative financial or social consequences (Meyer, 2008).
Impact of problem gambling on social & personal life
Gamblers who gamble frequently with valuable stakes and cannot even stick to their pre-set limits of time and the stakes may find themselves with severe problems (Derevensky, 2012 p. 31-32).
The gambling related problems impact on individuals in different ways. Some of them may lose control once. This may spell their fate because of their episodic and short-lived control loss. To others, losing control may be a progressive disorder.
In this case, it becomes habitual or addictive in a way that no matter how hard the victims try to get themselves out of gambling activities. This becomes problematic, and the victims always go back to gamble. The gambling disorder has been given many names such as pathological gambling, problem gambling, compulsive gambling, or disordered gambling (Doweiko, 2009).
When individuals get addicted to gambling, they cause many problems to themselves including emotional, familial, psychological, interpersonal, financial and legal problems (Grant & Potenza, 2004, p. 4).
Since many people are exposed to gambling, knowing that it is about taking risks and controls, they get attracted into trying their luck. The losers tend to keep on trying while appreciating that the activity is a game (Cunningham, 2011). In the process, both winners and losers blindly find themselves so much into the game that it gets hard for them to quit. They become addicts of gambling (Bledsoe, 2004, p. 86).
In most cases, the youths are the most affected by the gambling activity (Fabiansson, 2010). According to research by Derevensky in 2012, it is evident that the adolescents get exposure to gambling early before they start experimenting with cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, drug use, or engaging in sexual activities.
A research by Griffiths and Sutherland in 1998 discovered that many youths between the age of 11 years and 16 years engaged themselves in gambling at least once a week; they often smoked cigarettes; got drunk with alcohol regularly and took illegal drugs. Through the psychological perspective, one can handle matters that are related to emotions (Orford, Sproston, Erens, White and Michtell, 2003). For example, in that situation, emotional control could be more important than financial gains in understanding gamblers (Beilstein, 1979, p. 305).
Gambling can be correlated with other addictive activities such as the use of tobacco, drug abuse, and taking alcohol (Sirgy, 2012, p. 38). People often assume the addictive behaviours and take them as prototypical moments of behaviours that are not truly self controlled and lacking self governance (Wengler, 2006, p. 127).
Pathological gamblers invest a lot into the gambling activity. In this case, they put their personal relationships, occupational status and financial stability at risk. Such people are difficult to handle. Regardless of the increase of family and financial distress, they continue to gamble.
Here, gambling controls them since it is difficult for them to control their urges to gamble (Fortune & Goodie, 2009). The pathological gamblers tend to gamble with valuable stakes or high amounts of money in order to satisfy their urges for entertainment and pleasure. Their tendency or behaviour of putting gambling in the forefront other than thinking of their personal, occupational, and financial well-being is what makes them great risk takers (Galski, 1987, p. 39).
Problem gambling affects or rather impacts the social life of people in a negative manner. The social impacts of problem gambling include the mental health problems, suicide, family or relationship problems, cases of divorce, and vulnerability of generations to come into excessive gambling (Ciarrocchi, 2001).
Research studies indicate that problem gambling is on the increase. This is due to the increasing number of people presenting themselves for treatment for problem gambling. It can also be attributed to many divorces that are associated with problem gambling. In addition, the youths are getting involved in gambling at an early age more than they get involved in other addictive activities (Galski, 1987).
There have numerous incidences where the youths have been reported to have committed suicide due to gambling. The suicidal cases occur as a result of losing huge amounts that are beyond the loose tolerance. When the loss is too much to bear, some problem gamblers who are most probably the youths, commit suicide since the world becomes useless to them after a great loss. That is why some of the youth problem gamblers developmental problems due to confusions that are instrumented by gambling (Nicholas, 1986).
Problem gambling makes people suffer because of the need to gamble and the obsessive behaviour. Firstly, such victims of gambling have difficulties in maintaining their personal health (Gerstein et al 1999). Another problem is related to career responsibility.
According to the research, many individuals may become jobless, and those who are fortunate to remain in the workplace perform poorly in production due to reporting to the workplace late than required. In this case, they fail to attend to jobs (absenteeism) and get preoccupied with gambling (Dickerson, 1984, p. 38; Ladouceur et al 1994).
Problem gambling is of importance when it comes to gauging reliability of things such as in predicting behaviours or population discrimination behaviours. However, it is in most cases associated with negative impacts. In gambling the terms problem gamblers, pathological, or compulsive gamblers are used interchangeably.
They are used to define a condition whose characteristics includes a loss of control over gambling, serious disruptions of families and jobs, theft cases and losses or attempts to win back stakes (money) that have been lost while in the gamble (Oei & Gordon 2008).
Prof Orford (BBC, 2012) noted that those addicted no longer regarded gambling in its sense of winning. He asserted “By the time people get compulsive about their gambling, they’re not enjoying it. They’re torn in two. They’re dependent on it and getting something psychological from it, but they know it’s ruining their life in certain ways” (BBC, 2012, para 17).
Psychological factors of gambling
The examples of the psychological factors of gambling include personality features such as dysfunctional and functional impulsivity; poor mechanisms to cope with stress; impaired processing of rewards and the mechanisms of defence such as feeling guilty and shameful, which drive the ongoing addiction.
Dysfunctional impulsivity is associated with a poor response to treatment and not treatment completion. It is most likely that individuals with dysfunctional impulsive will drop out of treatment and report back to problem gambling more than those individuals with functional impulsive. The factor of poor mechanism to deal with stress also affects or rather leads to gambling (Dickerson, 1984, p. 38).
Addiction to gambling is not necessarily caused by addiction of money. Most of them do it to escape from stress, painful pasts, seek arousal among other reasons.
They gamble to avoid painful emotions, for example; sadness, depression, guilt, shame, and humiliation among others (Ladouceur et al 1994). Therefore, in such a case, the problem gambler will be stressed. Thus, it is most likely that he or she will end up in gambling activities thinking that it is the best way to deal with the stress. This is due to a poor mechanism of dealing with the stress.
The factor of impaired processing of rewards and mechanisms of defence such as the guilt and shame that one feels makes a problem gambler to continue with their addiction (Ciarrocchi, 2001). This factor tries to explain that the problem gambler continues with the addictive thinking that it is the best solution. However, in the real sense, this is like burying himself deep to the extent that turning to normal life becomes impossible (Oei & Gordon 2008).
The theories of people’s emotions or feeling while gambling includes the sensational or arousal theory, the opponent-process theory, and the reversal theory. The sensational theory explains that the need for excitement is a trait that is biological, and this is different from one individual to another.
Since gambling is known to be an addictive behaviour, the gamblers will do their best in order to meet their needs (Chapman, 2007). This will be achieved after the reinforcement of their emotional relief. The theory of opponent process explains that arousal from opponent A is automatically counteracted by that of B or C. The theory further explains that, with repetition, the response of A will grow weaker in the process while that of B will be stronger and long-lasting.
This shows that high-stake gamblers are motivated by opponents, and that is why the pathological gamblers enjoy this theory. The reversal theory shows that different individuals need either to be stimulated or tranquillised, and these guys behave in ways that direct them to that state (Oei & Gordon 2008).
Casino gambling can be more fun and profitable as well to people or players’ mental and physical health. They are associated with dangers such as cheating among gamblers, machine malfunctions, and criminality among many others (Crowder, 2006). Cases of arrests due to cheating and other criminality are common in casinos.
For example, people get arrested because of manipulating EGMs. The cheating gamblers and the gambling operators take advantage of each other. In this case, as the gamblers try to cheat the operators, they in return can also try to scam the gamblers. These people may end up shooting each other. This is exactly what happens in most cases when they conflict with each other.
The casino environment is well planned to take people’s money. In this case, the casinos have no windows or clocks to distract the patrons from gambling. This makes the gamblers forget their schedules and continue playing till their pockets are empty. In addition, there are only pictures of winners and not losers, which adorn the atrium walls, there are scantily dressed cocktail waitresses, free alcoholic beverages among other attractions.
They operate on a 24-hour basis, which adds to the owners’ advantages.The environment is very attractive, and that is why people develop problem gambling at the shortest time possible (Crowder, 2006). There are flashing lights, whistles and bells. Their advertisements and slogans are set in a way that the gambler will not be much concerned about the amount they lose. In this case, they gamblers do not notice when their pockets are running out.
The Cognitive model of gambling asserts the activity emanates from illogical beliefs. Those addicted to gambling have illogical beliefs that they stand a high chance of winning. They do not value the amount they spend but instead overestimate the amount they will gain in the gamble (Georgakopoulos, 2005).
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Gambling is the practice of betting money or any other material value on an event with an outcome that is not certain and with the primary intention of winning either money or material goods. In most cases the outcome of the gambler is within a short period.
Although the exercise is not generally accepted by many authorities, it was been practiced on some set aside days by the Roman Catholics and the Jews. Although people practice gambling for recreation purposes, the practice affects the brain chemistry and could lead to psychological addiction.
Reinforcing such a behavior becomes a challenge even after the gamblers incur huge losses in the practice. As the gamblers attempt to try to get rich quickly, they sink in deeper and deeper problems making it more complicated to come out of the problem (Black &Shaw 18).
This problem in some cases needs to be rectified when it reaches extreme levels that could affect the psychological well being of the gambler. The problem of gambling may affect the gambler either biologically, mentally or offer behavioral challenges which all combine to bring about an effect in the health of an individual.
A gambler faces the challenge of imminent effect of addiction to the effects of gambling every time he continues with the exercise of gambling something that may take long to drop. Gambling affects the mind of the gambler and eventually reaches a point of requiring guidance and counseling in order to alleviate the problem. Psychologists suggest that neurological features that are shared may determine partially the pathological effect of gambling.
Ian has been a gambling victim who has lost all his property through gambling yet remains lost in the miasma of the habit with little success in doing away with the habit. He has decided to eventually visit practicing psychologists in an effort to help him recover from the problem that has even made him to be in bad books with the family members.
Behavioral psychologist, Mister Brown believes that Ian’s problem has been an accumulation weird behavior started when he was young and perpetuated in to adulthood. He therefore believes that rectifying this problem will involve retracting from the behavior by avoiding visiting the places where gambling is practiced. Mister Brown also suggests that Mister Ian reconciles with his family as the first step into forgiveness and subsequent reformation.
Biological psychologist Mister Dennis advised Mister Ian to distance himself from the company of gamblers who provoked his interest of going into gambling. By keeping off from the company of gamblers, he would minimize the chances of the habit increasing.
According to Black & Shaw (10) gamblers secret norepinephrine which is normally associated with stress, thrill or arousal all which need to be cured using proper medication. When this hormone is released, the patients may break up even when carrying out the gambling.
Cognitive psychologist Mister Hart suggested to Mister Ian to use medication to heal him from the adverse effects already caused by gambling in his mind. The medication was to cure the permanent effects created by gambling.
Works Cited
Black D & Shaw M “Psychiatric Comorbidity Associated With Pathological Gambling”. Psychiatric Times 25 (12) 2008