CBS columnist bashes gambling, WSOP

[tourney guy]

Gregg might want to consider:

1) HIs website SELLS fantasy football contests and actually does the stats for an additional fee. I submit FF betting is much worse than WSOP for total action.

2) His website's 'Daily Line' offers odds for anyone to wants to bet.

3) His website allows as advertising for the $300,000 first prize World Championship of Fantasy Football. No problem with gambling from his ADVERTISERS, which WSOP is not one.

In reading his article, it reminded me why sports journalists are the biggest jokers around.

If he is so high on the woes of gambling, hje can start by exposing his employer........fat chance of that!!!!!

What proof is there are 'POKER IS PREYING ON THE IMPOVERISHED'????????

What a abortion the world is becoming.

[gusmahler]

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Gambling, Poker, Drinking, Pot, Women, Cars, can ruin lives and so can many other things that most people enjoy reasonably. To say that you are a favorite to become a degenerate with any of those things is a flat out lie.
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Whether or not you disagree with the author of the article, the vices you listed aren't similar in nature. You can blow through your paycheck in a gambling binge much faster than you can an alcoholic or other drug binge.

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Why pick on just things that some consider "vices". A lot of hobbies are expensive. You can easily go through $20k on camera equipment, or home theater equipment, or model trains, or dance lessons also.

[Maulik]

To the gentleman who says, "I know I can't drink $2,000 worth of whiskey in a night or smoke $2,000 worth of $20 crack rocks in a night, but I can very easily blow that much gambling in a night."

Can you kill someone from the intoxication that alcohol causes when you're violent or decide you're okay to drive?

[Analyst]

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link

Thought you guys would enjoy tearing this one to shreds. I found a bunch of stuff that was unfair/inaccurate. Perhaps he's a moralist, or he's just a loser at poker. Or both.

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I think one of his biggest flaws is that he is guilty of exactly what he rails about. His main thrust (and an accurate one) is that there are many more gambling addicts - almost certain to be losers - than there are big winners, and this gets hidden away by those whose agenda is to promote gambling.

What he fails to comment upon is that there are many, many, many more recreational gamblers than there are addicts, people with balanced, normal lives who like to spend a bit of time playing cards. The money they lose (and most do lose) is under their control, does not impact their life and is fair value for the entertainment derived. The author fails to mention this largest group, hidden to further his own agenda, that gambling is bad.

The reasonable conclusion should be to not minimize the problem with addiction, but to provide help for those addicted while allowing the much larger number of recreational gamblers the choice of how to spend their entertainment dollars.

[Biggle10]

Isn't poker illegal in Indiana where all his example addicts are from?

[doublejoker]

Where are you getting these statistics

[jacksquat]

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Isn't poker illegal in Indiana where all his example addicts are from?

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poker is quite legal in indiana....4 or 5 card rooms at least...that i know of.

sports bettors are 100x worse than poker players, imho. my brother, best friend in h.s., and several other good friends and aquaintances have ruined their lives betting sports and horse racing.

[SmileyEH]

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He has a point.

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No, he doesn't. Adults can do with their money what they like. If they're not able to play responsibly, it's no one's fault but their own. I was a pretty bad drug addict from like 18-21 and had to go to rehab and then started attending 12-step meeting to clean my life up. You know who's fault it was that I got hooked on drugs so bad? Not my family, or my friends, or the government for letting drugs into the country, or all the beer adds, etc. It was my fault. When I took responsibility for my life, then I was able to clean my act up and stop acting like a worthless [censored]. Drugs aren't inherently bad, I just can't use them. It's not them, it's me. We should be free in this country, and that includes the freedom to be a degenerate if you so choose. There are resources available for people with addiction problem, including gambling, so I don't wanna hear any [censored] about them not being able to help it. There's help available, they choose not to use it. I don't know why anyone should feel guilty about that. Is it sad? Sure. However, it's a big bad world out there, and people have to grow up and take responsibility for their actions.

/rant off

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[grapabo]

[ QUOTE ]
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Gambling, Poker, Drinking, Pot, Women, Cars, can ruin lives and so can many other things that most people enjoy reasonably. To say that you are a favorite to become a degenerate with any of those things is a flat out lie.
Next

[/ QUOTE ]

Whether or not you disagree with the author of the article, the vices you listed aren't similar in nature. You can blow through your paycheck in a gambling binge much faster than you can an alcoholic or other drug binge.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why pick on just things that some consider "vices". A lot of hobbies are expensive. You can easily go through $20k on camera equipment, or home theater equipment, or model trains, or dance lessons also.

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In addition to the points I made earlier, with vices such as drugs or alcohol, or hobbies(?!), there's no pretension that spending money on these things is going to result in you getting more money back. This incentive, unique to gambling, acts as an accelerant in the race to blow your paycheck.

[Howard Treesong]

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He has a point.

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No, he doesn't. Adults can do with their money what they like. If they're not able to play responsibly, it's no one's fault but their own. I was a pretty bad drug addict from like 18-21 and had to go to rehab and then started attending 12-step meeting to clean my life up. You know who's fault it was that I got hooked on drugs so bad? Not my family, or my friends, or the government for letting drugs into the country, or all the beer adds, etc. It was my fault. When I took responsibility for my life, then I was able to clean my act up and stop acting like a worthless [censored]. Drugs aren't inherently bad, I just can't use them. It's not them, it's me. We should be free in this country, and that includes the freedom to be a degenerate if you so choose. There are resources available for people with addiction problem, including gambling, so I don't wanna hear any [censored] about them not being able to help it. There's help available, they choose not to use it. I don't know why anyone should feel guilty about that. Is it sad? Sure. However, it's a big bad world out there, and people have to grow up and take responsibility for their actions.

/rant off

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QFT, baby.