In your example, Bob would also be spending money on food and drinks, transportation and maybe some comfortable gambling clothes....so that would be of some benefit to the economy in his area.

But if he somehow could just sit at home and gamble that money....then yes, gambling hurts the economy.

When you go out and shop or eat you are spending money and thus supporting other peoples jobs and companies. when you sit and gamble, you are throwing your money into a pit that eats your money and funnels it into an offshore account and skips your local economy almost entirely.

Any economc benefit from gambling doesn't come from the gambling itself, it comes from the attempts by the gambling establishments owners to get you to gamble with them instead of someone else. Thus the fancy buildings, sexy cocktail women, floor shows, restaurants, and all the other junk.

You need employees to run a casino? No shit?

You insinuated that all the gambling money goes to employees of the casinos. It is a matter of fact that a sizeable portion goes into the public coffers in Nevada. Your deliberate attempt to gloss over this fact is noted.

 

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This is 100% the way I feel about the poor saps I saw backed up on I-4 during that stupid Daytona 500 last week. Only those poor saps had absolutely no chance of actually winning anything.

 

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glad I havent missed anything by not gambling. But when I was in the military the guys in my shop would always come back with 2-5 grand. I have no freakin clue how but they would always win. I think only 1 out of 10 times did they loose money. My luck Id leave owing money.

 

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That's why if you are a disciplined gambler who treats it as a 'supplement' to your other entertainment, you'll usually do A-OK.

I am one of those. So is a friend from Cali I've known for years. He and I sometimes meet with the wives/girlfriends (over the years) in Vegas, or sometimes go solo. Typical # of trips per year for each of us is 2, but sometimes 3.

I sat down last year and calc'd out my last decade of wins/losses.

The most I've ever lost in a visit (I have only ever had 3 losing visits out of 24) is 1/5th of one percent of my annual salary.

Including my losses, I have overall paid for every single trip I've ever taken, with a $1200 profit. That includes comp'd / free / full price hotel rooms, plane tickets, and any rental car fare. (I do not include food or shows, as that is what I would have done had I stayed home on the weekend anyway).

That's on blackjack. My friend who plays craps has done better by about $6000 to the upside.

Your mileage will vary WIDELY. However, it isn't all that hard if you pick a game and stick with a stake strategy, and quit when it is time to quit. Ahead or behind.

 

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Pretty much. Gambling, overall, might not hurt the economy but it doesn't help the economy nearly as much as spending money on other things would, and, of course, when it comes to folks with gambling problems, casinos privatize the profits and socialize the losses. If a guy's family gets thrown out in the street because he gambled away the rent money, it's society that has to help that family out, not the casino. If he ends up in the court system for failing to pay his bills, that's more expense to society.

Having said that, I have no problem with gambling being legal. I do have a problem with states running lotteries, though.

 

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I heard a guy on a documentary about Vegas say: "It is really easy to win money in a casino. It is very difficult to leave with it."

The problem for most people isn't that they can't win, it's that they don't know when to quit.

 

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Yes. This again.

It's what I said in the last couple sentences of my previous post. You just need to have a proper stake strategy to cover the 'swings' and walk when it is time to walk according to the limits of that pre-set stake... win or lose.

It's really not that hard... UNLESS you are a 'gambler' instead of a 'gamer.'

'Gamblers' will get eaten alive consistently. Gamers won't.

 

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I think an economy based on gambling is flawed and ultimately not good. I can understand however how some areas won't have much else they can offer.

Agreed, especially the latter.