Republicans Want to Ban Online Gambling

[SwimExpert]

NOW you see why we've been calling them RINOS.

Oh, the Tea Party is the Rinos now?

You just open your mouth and flop around on the floor, don't you? No aim or intention to organize whatever comes out of your mouth, eh?

 

[SwimExpert]

I just don't get why gambling is so attractive to some people.

Short answer: Some people are just hustlers, always looking for the get-rich-quick scheme.

Long answer: You must first distinguish between the recreational gamer who plays games of chance, and the habitual gambler who is looking for a pay out. There are marked differences. I am an avid poker player. I love getting together with a group of friends for an evening of playing cards, cracking jokes, all lubricated with our favorite drinks. I once had a job where it was just what we did. At least twice a week, there were get-togethers after work to play cards. It was a medium for socializing and was something to do. Some friends spend $30 a person to grab dinner and a movie for 2 1/2 hours of entertainment. My friends and I would spend $30 a person to grab some drinks and play cards for 5-6 hours of entertainment. If you came out of it with more money than you started with, that was a bonus. My co-workers of the time were recreational gamers, and poker just happened to be our favorite game.

As for the habitual gambler, there are legitimate psychological elements that create the "draw" for gambling. Basically, it comes down to the emotional experience of the event, which can become addictive. In many ways, gambling is an equivalent emotional experience to watching a great movie. The tension and longing of waiting to see if you've won the jackpot is really no different than the anticipation to see if Apollo 13's heat shield survived reentry. The excitement of getting a win is the same thrill you get from hearing Tom Hanks' voice say "Hello, Houston? This is Oddyssey." In both cases, a build up of adrenaline and release of endorphins creates a pleasurable emotional experience. It's an experience we often seek to recreate, whether by going to see a new movie that looks to be promising, or re-watching Apollo 13 for the 100th time, or simply going to Youtube to watch the final clip because it gets you every single time. In the case of a habitual gambler, they are trying to recreate the same thing. But in their case, they have a further rationalization to pursue it to a much greater degree. When you re-watch Apollo 13 you enjoy the experience, but there is no extrinsic value of the act to the rest of your life. On the other hand, when a habitual gambler attempts to recreate the emotional experience of a big win, there is a [theoretical] extrinsic value to his overall life, i.e. the monetary payout. Thus, the act of gambling roots into the person's emotional core as well as their survival drive.

Of course, there is a third category which is where I actually fall: Amateur and Professional sport gamblers. We play for enjoyment of the game, but we also play to win and take home some bacon. The main thing that distinguishes us from a habitual gambler is that we're not really gambling per se. We take an approach to the game that generates profit. The "gambling" is merely a means to an end. We're not in it for the rush of gambling, typically. It's much more a risk/reward assessment, more typically in line with a decision made on Wall Street, where skill and knowledge are exercised and dumb luck minimized. One of the primary skills that sets us apart is our skills of managing our own emotions. By maintaining as great of an emotional detachment as possible, and then managing the emotions we do experience during game play. We don't look to get lucky, we look to exercise superior skills. Luck is just an unforeseeable challenge that occasionally befalls us all.

 

[jknowgood]

NOW you see why we've been calling them RINOS.

Republican in name only. Democrat lite dressed in wolves clothing.

I've went Independent. I want no part of either of them. I wish a couple of them would break off and start another party.

I know Lindsey Graham? Lol he has just about voted for everything Obama has wanted.

 

[g5000]

I just don't get why gambling is so attractive to some people.

Short answer: Some people are just hustlers, always looking for the get-rich-quick scheme.

Long answer: You must first distinguish between the recreational gamer who plays games of chance, and the habitual gambler who is looking for a pay out. There are marked differences. I am an avid poker player. I love getting together with a group of friends for an evening of playing cards, cracking jokes, all lubricated with our favorite drinks.

I'm retired military. I used to frequently play nickel, dime, quarter poker.

But almost every time we played, toward the wee hours the bets would start getting bigger and bigger until some idiots were literally betting their next paycheck on the turn of a card. I always walked away long before that point.

Never gamble more than you can afford to lose.

In fact, when I took a loved one into a casino many years ago, I took out a wad of money and said, "When this is gone, so are we."

Those big casinos didn't get built by people winning. I managed to make the money last for hours at the blackjack table, but when I got up to take a leak, my loved one lost it all in the time it took me to take a piss!

She's got the bug.

I looked at the loss as a pretty cheap night out.

 

[g5000]

I can kind of buy the argument that dropping a few bucks in a casino is a fun night of entertainment.

I do not buy that argument for someone hunched over a computer. It's kind of sad, really.

 

[Avatar4321]

If people are stupid enough to throw away their money they will find a way to no matter what is legal.

Sounds like this just benefits actual casinos. Trying to get on trumps good side?

 

[g5000]

If people are stupid enough to throw away their money they will find a way to no matter what is legal.

Sounds like this just benefits actual casinos. Trying to get on trumps good side?

With online gambling, you don't have to shit, shower, shave and get dressed. You don't have to travel. It is more convenient.

This will have two effects.

Convenience increases demand. More people will gamble. People will gamble more. More tragedies will follow.

Online convenience has cut the jugular of big box stores, and will do the same to brick and mortar casinos.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

If people are stupid enough to throw away their money they will find a way to no matter what is legal.

Sounds like this just benefits actual casinos. Trying to get on trumps good side?

Still kinda stunned seeing Indian rez casino comercials here coming from California.

Brother and sister-in-law are into it but I've never been. Guess when you look into the maths you loose interest fairly quickly.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Wait...we went from (ALL) REPUBLICANS

Did we? I must have missed that, which is weird, since I'm the OP.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

NOW you see why we've been calling them RINOS.

Oh, the Tea Party is the Rinos now?

You just open your mouth and flop around on the floor, don't you? No aim or intention to organize whatever comes out of your mouth, eh?

I've come to the conclusion based on the comments of conservative posters here that 90% of the Republican Party are apparently RINOs now.

 

[easyt65]

Wait...we went from (ALL) REPUBLICANS

Did we? I must have missed that, which is weird, since I'm the OP.

You're the one that posted 'REPUBLICANS'... In English, words mean something. Without specifying which Republicans the statement suggests ALL Republicans, which is a little mis-leading....but you corrected that in your initial post. My comment was also said in JEST, as in kind of a JOKE. Don't get so uptight.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

I stay far away from those gambling sites,they are so addicting and I would lose my shirt.

Of my many weaknesses, gambling is not one of them, thank God. I just don't get why gambling is so attractive to some people.

I like to buy the occasional lottery ticket, but I never get that rush gamblers get.

I had a roommate in the military who literally did lose his shirt to gambling. And everything else. Some casinos opened up nearby, and within six months he declared bankruptcy. It was amazing how quickly that shit took him down.

I've seen it actually kill people (suicide).... I can't stand casinos.. that ding.. ding... ding.. coming from the slots makes me batty... even more so than usual. Not to mention everyone in there looks like they have no business throwing money around in a casino.