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Gambling

Should gambling be legal?


  • Total voters
    38
It sure hurts to see your friends from childhood grow up to be gambling addicts. Or drunks. It happens to good people.

But you can't outlaw everything like that because most people are able to enjoy in moderation.
 
YES!

I love to gamble. Makes me mad too that it's illegal in Nebraska, especially when it's legal in Iowa and takes me under 10 minutes to go there and have some fun while funding their programs.


Obvious Child said:
Want to throw your life away? Sure.

I'll bet you twenty dollars I can gamble to my hearts content and not throw my life away. Everything in moderation. ;)
 
Of course it should be legal, in moderation, there's nothing wrong with it. I do disagree with RightofCenter though, the Indians can do a lot to better their situation, the biggest of which is getting the hell off the damn reservation.
 
Gambling is just one of the legal, but stupid past times of the weak minded.
As long as we can't make it go away, we should tax it to extremes to cover the damages to society.
My brother is too close to a casino, and gambles. He makes more in retirement than I do, but recently asked to borrow money from me. I said no....I will not support his stupidity...I can barely afford my own.;)
 
Gambling is already legal if the state gets all the profits. The Lottery is the biggest numbers racket ever created and the odds of winning seriously suck balls, but they don't mind that kind of bull**** so long as they get all the profits.

Whereas, when I play poker I consistently MAKE money, not throw it away chasing pipe dreams. Hell, I made a little over a grand this weekend and I was only playing low stakes $2/$4 blinds, No-limit Hold 'em/Omaha with average pots around $30-$40 (I prefer playing the lower stakes).

This ain't **** as far as poker games go, and most of the big losers in these games only walk away down a max of $300 (In our game, we regulate ourselves to keep anyone from dropping more than $300 on a given night). Yet they'll have spent hours playing the game and enjoying themselves while doing it.

Compare that to buying $300 on powerball tickets and spending about 5 minutes cursing their stupidity for even buying the worthless things when they discover that they are all losers.

So, me making $1000 through my own effort and skill is illegal, but me wasting $300 on ****ty lotto tickets isn't.

This doesn't make any sense because I can control my own destiny in poker. I know before I even sit down that 4/5 nights I play I'm walking away with some sort of profit or at worst breaking even. I also know that 1/5 nights I'm gonna drop as much as $300 (usually less on the nights I lose)

But lets say for the sake of argument that on those 4 nights I win or break even, I walk away up an average of only $100, and on the night I lose I drop the full $300. Then I still have made a profit of $100 in total. And those numbers aren't even close to accurate to what I really do walk away with on a given night.

On average, I'll walk away up somewhere between $200-$300 on a given night that I win, and on the nights I lose, I'll walk away down about $100-$200. So on average, over a 5 game span, I go up anywhere from $600-$1000.

Over the past three years that I've been playing regularly, this nets me around $8,000 or so annually as a supplemental income. Nothing like a pro or anything like that, but consistent enough for me to realize that I'm not really gambling.

Let's say that instead of sitting down at the poker table each week, I had spent that $100 I use to buy-in each week on lotto tickets instead. Then those profits would have become losses to the tune of $5,200 per year.
 
Not when I have to pay increased taxes to deal with the spikes in crime, pollution, welfare, child neglect and a whole other host of social ills that inevitably follow legalized gambling.

Want to throw your life away? Sure.

Want to throw your life away and make everyone else pay for the damage? Hell No.

Prove that gambling leads to those things.
 
I use to work in a casino here in Idaho. I've seen lots of lives ruined. Even seen this one lady that when on her way to the casino via bus was told that her husband had died. She was offered transportation back free of charge....She continued to the casino and stayed there a couple of days. Sick imo.

BUT be that as it may it shouldn't be illegal. Yes it affects people other than the gambler in question. But then those people also have the choice to say "no more" and no longer associate with those people. And kids can be taken away and put into better homes. Not desirable I know. But just because a person can't gamble doesn't mean that the parent in question still can't be a bad parent.

To quote from a movie:

You see, according to Cocteau's plan I'm the enemy, 'cause I like to think; I like to read. I'm into freedom of speech and freedom of choice. I'm the kind of guy likes to sit in a greasy spoon and wonder - "Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecued ribs with the side order of gravy fries?" I WANT high cholesterol. I wanna eat bacon and butter and BUCKETS of cheese, okay? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section. I want to run through the streets naked with green Jell-o all over my body reading Playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly might feel the need to, okay, pal? I've SEEN the future. Do you know what it is? It's a 47-year-old virgin sitting around in his beige pajamas, drinking a banana-broccoli shake, singing "I'm an Oscar Meyer Wiener".

Anyone able to guess which movie thats from? ;) And yes I couldn't remember the exact words...I'm not that much of a movie nut..so here's the link...

Be honest and try to guess the movie BEFORE you open this link please. ;)
 
There's no logical reason for gambling to be illegal.

And why hell don't people seem to think the lottery is gambling?

He's saying that it's the liars who win.

I don't have to lie to win on the slots! BOOYA!

Last trip to Vegas, I lost money. Trip prior to that, I broke even. Trip prior to that, I came out ahead. I loves me some slots. :mrgreen:


No. The social costs are exorbitant and it's effectively a tax on the dreams of the poor.

Plus Utah is kicking *** without it. :2wave:
Yeah... EVERYONE wants to live there. :lol:

But... does Utah allow people to gamble their money on the stock market?

Hmm...
 
I don't have to lie to win on the slots! BOOYA!

Last trip to Vegas, I lost money. Trip prior to that, I broke even. Trip prior to that, I came out ahead. I loves me some slots. :mrgreen:

Over the long haul, slots are always a losing venture. They are the biggest sucker bet out there.

P.S. Although I must admit that I love me some slots too, just not the same ones. ;)
 
Over the long haul, slots are always a losing venture. They are the biggest sucker bet out there.

P.S. Although I must admit that I love me some slots too, just not the same ones. ;)

Tell that to my mother. She has been a slot player over the last 6 years and has come out roughly $4000 ahead. She has only gone to Vegas and lost twice. I, however, have only been gambling once and I lost $200 in 5 minutes. Go figure.
 
It should be illegal because.....

......I suck at it. Pick a game, and I have lost money at it.(it all started by taking the Buffalo Bills in the Superbowl, pick one, and got worse).

Other than that, gambling is fine and should be legal.
 
I live in Oregon, and now and then I go to an Indian Casino. they are all over Oregon.

I can legally gamble at the Dog track and Horse track already.

I was not aware that Gambling was illegal.

It depends what you're betting on. Betting on sporting events is illegal, except in Nevada and Atlantic City. Most games are illegal except in Nevada and Atlantic City. Indian Casinos are allowed to operate since reservations are technically foreign countries.
 
Yup, it should be legal.
We must allow adults to make their own decisions (we learn by our successes and mistakes). If we are not allowed this learning process when we will forever be handicapped when we are faced with decisions (we’ll be like children).
 
Over the long haul, slots are always a losing venture. They are the biggest sucker bet out there.

P.S. Although I must admit that I love me some slots too, just not the same ones. ;)

Well, it's either slots or table games, and I don't like table games. So, slots it is. :) I can do them by myself. All the other games require I interact with other people, and I try to avoid that unless I'm getting paid to do it.
 
Well, it's either slots or table games, and I don't like table games. So, slots it is. :) I can do them by myself. All the other games require I interact with other people, and I try to avoid that unless I'm getting paid to do it.

At least play video poker! :mrgreen:
 
Gambling is already legal. There are State Lotteries... Horseracing... Indian Casinos... Vegas...
 
Gambling is already legal. There are State Lotteries... Horseracing... Indian Casinos... Vegas...

Why do people feel the need to spout crap thats already known when they know full well that the subject is about the gambling that IS ILLEGAL? Don't they know that they first have to actually be smart before they can be a smartA**?
 
Why do people feel the need to spout crap thats already known when they know full well that the subject is about the gambling that IS ILLEGAL? Don't they know that they first have to actually be smart before they can be a smartA**?


*sigh*

You are boring and quite possibly an idiot,
but I will post this for you just in case you are simply confused.

View Poll Results: Should gambling be legal?

I answered this question and nothing else.
You know, the POLL QUESTION... :lol:

So genius... perhaps you can show me, in that poll question,
where it talks about this being a subject that discusses ONLY
gambling that IS ILLEGAL then?

So it seems that I was simply talking whereas you are the one is trying
to be a smartass when he isn't even smart to begin with.
Better have something really witty to come back with our
else you just lost your moment in the sun with Bodi. ;)
 
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