Why is gambling considered "bad"?

[Taraz]

I would say gambling is generally considered "bad" for a few reasons:

- It's highly addictive.

- It has the potential to be very destructive. And the destruction isn't gaining a few pounds, it's losing all your material posessions.

- As ChrisV said, it's all about greed (a perceived sin)

- It's almost universally -EV for the player, so you will end up losing out in the long run. (Think smoking cigarettes or something where long term health is sacrificed for short term pleasure.)

- It's not socially accepted like alcohol, cigarettes, etc. I think this is as big of a factor as anything.

[mudbuddha]

doesnt contribute to society in anyway cept maybe happiness for the people playin

but.. poker is just investing law of large numbers [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Daisydog]

I think one of the reasons gambling is considered bad and investing is not, is that gambling is a zero sum game. There is nothing productive about gambling. It just amounts to people exchanging money among themselves. Contrast this with investing. This is also risky, but it can be very productive. Investing can help fund the creation of new ideas, processes, and efficiencies that can improve society and create new wealth.

[Tater10]

State Farm / Allstate business model: Let's take a little bit of money from a whole bunch of people. We will calculate the odds of certain events happening. If the odds 'go their way' (car wreck, get cancer, house burns down, etc), we will reward them. We'll skim some off the side for ourselves. It's a true -EV bet for these suckers, yet they will still want to play. Heck, maybe we can even get laws passed to mandate they play with us! muhahahahahahaha

[newb411breaker19]

i agree with daisydog and many of the opinions here. I guess one could argue that losing gamblers are contributing economically buy supporting an industry which employs many people.. however for someone who wins long term in something like sportsbetting, he really hasn't contributed to the industry because if everyone won like him the books would be out of business. But as to it being wrong.. i think gambling is still largely a social stigma because gambling generally wasn't done on friendly terms. In the Roman Empire people would bet on gladiator matches that were fought to the death. Out on the streets people who played dice were swindlers looking to cheat you. In the wild west gambling would often times lead to violence. The stigma of gambling will dissapate as it becomes more popular within a society. I don't live in Europe but it seems that gambling is tolerated much better there than in America, so it is largely cultural as well

[Daisydog]

[ QUOTE ]
State Farm / Allstate business model: Let's take a little bit of money from a whole bunch of people. We will calculate the odds of certain events happening. If the odds 'go their way' (car wreck, get cancer, house burns down, etc), we will reward them. We'll skim some off the side for ourselves. It's a true -EV bet for these suckers, yet they will still want to play. Heck, maybe we can even get laws passed to mandate they play with us! muhahahahahahaha

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess you could say insurance is -EV in that the premiums you pay are expected to be greater than the claim payments you will receive. You could also say iPods and haircuts are -EV because you pay more money for these things than you get back. The point is that with all these things you get something in return. With insurance you are getting risk pooling that would be difficult to do on your own. What about mutual funds? Are they -EV? They take a cut off the top but they provide diversification in return.

By the way, you could argue that you get something in return for the -EV associated with gambling, too (entertainment).

There are probably some bad insurance products out there, but, in general, I don't think people who buy insurance are suckers. There is probably a lot of economic activity that would not take place without the existence of insurance. For example, I would not have built my house if I could not have insured it. The bank would also not have loaned me money without it being insured. I'm willing to give up a little EV to the insurance company in exchange for protection from financial catastrophe.

In general, insurance is valuable to me, as are iPods, haircuts, mutual funds, and gambling. You could say they are all -EV, but you get something in return.

[miw210]

Gambling destroys lives. Rabbit hunting doesn't (except for Mr. Fudd).

[DougShrapnel]

Gambling is considered bad because most self desribed gamblers are cheaters. Those who cheat have bismirched the rest of the honest players, and destroyed the game in the process. If we can't stop the cheaters, we will never be able to get a positive consideration for gambling or by extension poker.

[livecards]

People make moral judgements about other's activities that have no bearing on their lives. It makes them feel better about their miserable, boring lives.

[DougShrapnel]

[ QUOTE ]
Gambling is considered bad because most self desribed gamblers are cheaters. Those who cheat have bismirched the rest of the honest players, and destroyed the game in the process. If we can't stop the cheaters, we will never be able to get a positive consideration for gambling or by extension poker.

[/ QUOTE ] Not most but a good percentage.