hotel room with more
money than when you started. Still, no one would
invest in a stock if they were guaranteed it would
lose money in the long run. We would say such an
investor was irresponsible. In fact, we’d say
he was a jerk. So why do casino industry people
promote the idea that there is such a thing as responsible
gambling when they know (or should know) that any
gambling against a house edge is irresponsible?
A few reasons:
The anti-gambling forces
are always phrasing their arguments in moral terms
as they cite this or that statistic showing that
this or that percentage of casino gamblers are “problem
gamblers.” The industry then reacts by attempting
to defend the morality of their enterprise by citing
job growth and economic development as a boon to
the communities where casinos are located.
The anti-gambling forces blame the casinos for encouraging
problem gambling by not discouraging it as though
it is the responsibility of the industry to police
the personalities of their patrons and exorcise
whatever demons those patrons might have. The industry
then tries to show that it is trying to help problem
gamblers by pushing the oxymoron of responsible
gambling, or, at the very least, having the 800
number for Gamblers Anonymous in their advertisements.
By falling for the
moral trap that was laid by the self-righteous foes
of casino gambling, the casino industry is often
“hoist with its own petard” and made to
look foolish and hypocritical. After all, if Big
Timmy just blew his weekly salary at the craps table,
that’s Big Timmy’s problem, not the casino’s
problem. But if the casinos are caught up in this
“responsible gambling” chimera, then it
becomes their problem (by extension) because they
aren’t helping Big Timmy when he’s playing.
If no casino gambling is responsible behavior, as
I contend, then Big Timmy is just more irresponsible
than the hordes of other irresponsible players who
aren’t blowing their salaries, but just a portion
of their net worth, on frivolous casino games. You
can’t morally blame the mountain and the snow
when a skier takes a tumble, breaks his leg or wraps
himself around a tree, can you? The skier bought
those skies, put them on, paid for his lift to the
top of the mountain, and deliberately pushed off
and let gravity do its thing to him – the way
the house edge does its thing to casino gamblers.
There’s no such thing as responsible skiing,
just degrees of irresponsibility. It is my belief
that the casino industry should never be on the
defensive when it comes to the moral questions that
surround gambling. The morality is irrelevant. The
morality should be ignored. In fact, I know very
few players who agonize over questions of morality
when it comes to their gambling. They just want
to play! If the self-righteous don’t like the
casinos, they don’t have to go to the casinos.
The self-righteous can content themselves with feeding
the hungry, clothing the naked, and feeling superior
to the rest of us schnooks who like a little irresponsibility
now and again. An essentially amoral (not immoral!)
industry can only lose when it attempts to be on
the side of the Almighty Divine when, in fact, we
all know it is clearly on the side of the almighty
dollar. Strangely enough, the only “responsible
gambling” by certain patrons isn’t gambling
at all – it’s advantage play. Here certain
players have attained a slight edge over the casinos
by their expert play at certain games such as blackjack,
video poker and craps. These players are therefore
highly responsible individuals because they stand
to make money in the long run, just like a good
investor. Yet, you don’t see advertisements
by casinos that read: “Make sure you learn
how to count cards so that you have the edge over
us! That’s responsible gambling!” Aside
from being suicidal, it would be stupid. Yet, it
is just as stupid to pretend that folks who are
the antithesis of advantage players can somehow
be acting responsibly when they essentially give
their money away, albeit in exchange for tremendous
thrills and fabulous fun. Just as movies, skiing,
or eating at fine restaurants are frivolous behaviors
– after all, you are throwing your money away
on something that really doesn’t last very
long – so too is casino gambling. The fact
is casinos should take a leaf from the players’
manual when confronted by questions of morality
or when asked to justify their existence –
don’t even bother to think about it!
Visit Websites Of The Scoblete Network
www.goldentouchpoker.com
www.goldentouchcraps.com
www.goldentouchblackjack.com
www.scoblete.com
www.gscobe.blogspot.com
More
Columns By Franki Scoblete
Good
Casinos Home
