mattskramer
Senior Member
Originally posted by Hobbit
The fact of the matter is that casino gambling is designed around causing those who participate to lose. That's how they make money. Sure, everything commerce attracts thieves, but this type of gambling attracts, say it with me now, organized crime, and on a much larger scale than poachers stealing crops. You wanna know what kind of stuff happened when there were casinos in Arkansas? People would be foolish and gamble away their savings in the casinos, then they'd take out loans from loan sharks, sure that they were just about to "win it big." Then they'd lose it all and end up working as a money-launderer or hitman for the mob in order to pay off the debt. As soon as the casinos disappeared, the mob left and the crime rate plummetted, mainly in the violent crime area. That's why the a bill a few years ago that would have brought casinos back to Arkansas got smacked into the ground when it went to the public vote. There, I have relevant, imperical data that shows a trend between the presence of the casinos and the presence of organized crime, and since the mob left shortly after the casinos did, I've got pretty strong evidence concerning what caused what.
I live a few driving hours from Shreveport where I go to gamble from time to time. I find it entertaining. I have yet to gamble away my savings. In fact, last year I won and my winnings tripled the personal "allowance" (the limit I set for myself to spend) . I drove home with 3 times the amount of money I came with. On some trips, I quickly lost money but I never allowed myself to spend more than I limited for myself. I will never go into debt due to gambling. The one who chooses to "throws away" his life savings is being foolish. If he then engages in illegal activity, he becomes a criminal.
When I was very young, I wanted to swim to China from the USA. I didn't have a boat so I thought that I could jump into the Pacific ocean and swim to China. I even started to walk into the water. Thankfully, my father was there to stop be from making such a poor and potentially unhealthy decision. As children, we are often prevented from making choices because we are not considered to be educated enough on the issue or mature enough to handle the consequences. Yet, as adults we are expected to be mature enough to handle the additional freedoms and opportunities that we are given. It should not be the role of government to baby sit adults and to prevent them from making foolish choices.
So some fools can't handle gambling. Gee. Some people can't control themselves when the look at pornographic magazines. That does not mean that gambling and porn should be denied to everyone else. The same goes for drugs and just about anything else.