The gamblor has ensared us all

As I previously stated in an earlier blog, gambling is just another form of entertainment. When you put aside the argument of addiction and money that follows a conversation about gambling, there is one factor in that conversation that is often overlooked and that is the entertainment factor. Millions of people flock to Las Vegas every year and they do so looking for entertainment. Entertainment that Las Vegas is willing to provide by the barrel full.

Aside from the many many casinos, slots, table games, and sports books that Vegas has to offer; it also has roller coasters, live theatre, concerts, bars, and strip clubs to help pass the time with something other than gambling. When Vegas was first conceptualized by mobsters, it was seen and promoted as the land that law forgot. The very essence of Vegas was to fulfill a man’s every desire. It was almost seen as the last bastion of the old west. The actors known as the “rat pack” were known for frequenting Vegas and quite possibly for making it a tourist destination.

In the 90’s, when the image of the out of date and in some cases dilapidated old casino buildings were losing money, the casinos made a choice to go more child friendly. They built new casino buildings and with the new buildings came new attractions, such as bowling alleys, arcades, and roller coasters. These new attractions would entice all ages to come to Vegas and helped to start a new direction for Vegas. This new direction didn’t last long. The Vegas of old would soon come roaring back, bringing with it the slogan of what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. The casino owners witnessed the follies of their ways, in promoting a more child friendly environment they lost out on the business of pleasure that they once thrived on.

The purpose for gambling is to be entertained and if an individual takes it further than that purpose it is on the individual. Everyone gambles; from the elderly seniors who choose to spend a portion of their retirement on the penny slot machines to the children make a bet with another child that they could do something that the other couldn’t. Gambling involves risk and with that risk comes a choice to either gain or lose a fixed price. The fixed price could be anything ranging from money or to a friend helping you move. My point is that the individuals involved choose what is worth losing to them and measure it against what they would be gaining. Some are willing to lose everything but when measured against the entire population it is a small percentage.

Slot machines are the most entertaining thing within the gambling world. There is a slot machine for whatever floats your boat. There is a slot machine for animal lovers, fantasy lovers, and king of pop lovers. I have played the Micheal Jackson slot machine (the one pictured above) and from the first I placed $20 through the machine I was hooked. I wasn’t hooked by the lights or chimes that are designed to hook a person, but by the song that greets when you start to play. The songs are different for different machines but on the one I sat at started by playing the song you wanna be starting something. Every time you placed a new bet, the machine would give one of Micheal’s crowd pleasing yells. This is what people go to Vegas for.

The thousands of slot machines that flood Vegas casinos and even the surrounding stores tell a different story. According to Paul Davies of the Gainesville Sun “cities only flood every aspect of business’s outside of a casino with slot machines when the casinos are losing money. The slot machines are a last ditch effort by casinos to regain lost revenue. This makes sense because the government taxes the revenue earned by slot machines at a rate of 55 percent. If over half the revenue being taken in is going to taxes, the casinos and companies that put out the slot machines need to make them more entertaining to keep people playing.

Gambling can be a source of great pleasure or great pain. It all depends on the choices the individual who is gambling makes. While gambling can cause problems, the vast majority of gamblers have the self control and know how to know when enough is enough. The state of gambling is only going to get more complicated with internet gambling, a new form of gambling that like the internet will have only half assed regulations to keep out people who aren’t of legal age to gamble.