Re: Poker is Good for You
You wrote: "the fact remains that poker is gambling, and that lone undeniable fact will make all the positive things about the game discussed in the article, moot to many who read it."
You are correct that it will be moot to many, but it will influence SOME. How many? I don't know, but every bit helps. Most elections are won by fairly small margins. If we convert a small percentage of "undecided" and "neutral" to "pro," or a small percentage of "negative" to "neutral," it can have a HUGE impact. Please note that we don't expect to convert "negative" to "positive." We aimed at the middle because that is where elections are won. And elections determine which laws that are passed and the ways that they are interpreted and enforced.
You wrote:"upwards of 30% [of players] are living sad gambling-addicted lives of misery in casinos." Where did you get that number? Even the most severe critics of gambling claim the percentage of gamblers who are addicted ranges from 1.5 to 6.5. See, for example, Robert Goodman, "The Luck Business," P. 42. I must add that Goodman was the director of The United States Gambling Study (see page vii of that book), and the book is extremely anti-gambling.
Since your number is ridiculous, your claim that the general public thinks that way is absurd.
Al
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