I don’t do it because it feels like I’m throwing my money away.

Gambling destroys lives. Making gambling illegal may be controversial, but I can’t see any reason to allow gambling ads.

If you want to gamble, then it’s your own life to ruin. If you advertise gambling, then you are ruining other people’s lives.

Ban gambling ads.

Just remember that it doesn’t matter if you have an addiction or not, the reason gambling establishments are as affordable or attractive as they are is because there are people feeding their entire life savings/retirement into them right now destroying their lives. They can afford for you to get that fun occasional win as long as the addicted keep them propped up.

Like all things, fine in moderation. Nothing wrong with friendly wagers among friends or spending some money playing casino games. The gambling industry doesn’t exist off the back of these players though and that’s the problem with it

Personally, I think it’s a total waste of money and addicting for some people. I don’t think it should be illegal, but I do think that corpo gambling should be. Sportsbooks and their ilk are cancer, and gambling should not be something you can easily blow all of your money on from the comfort of your toilet.

John Ralston Saul’s The Doubter’s Companion - The Dictionary Of Aggressive Common Sense sums it up pretty well:

GAMBLING, STATE - RUN When governments raise money by acting as croupiers, the systems they manage are degenerate and are closer to their end than to their beginning.

The Burmese, for example, could always tell when a dynasty was close to falling; it would set up a state lottery. Early in the 1970s, Western governments turned to licensed gambling to provide the funds which TAXATION no longer seemed able to raise. This initiative has been blamed on many specifics: the financial crisis, tax reform which drastically reduced the contribution of the large corporations, the cost of social programs. The combined result was a lack of money which turned into DEBT and that debt into chronic restraint.

From the moment a government encourages its citizenry to finance the state by gambling — which means by idle dreaming — instead of through creativity, work and productivity, that state is in an unacknowledged crisis.

The only nation to have prospered via gambling is Monaco, which is not a nation. It is a corporation specializing in tax avoidance presided over by a croupier prince.

Personally, I think it’s a mug’s game.

My friends and I occasionally have poker nights, and its a lot of fun. Its funny how stakes of $5 or $20 - just a few dollars or cents at most for most hands - make a game much more exciting.

The problem is the casinos and sports betting apps…

Gambling is (mostly) a poison. I don’t condone sports gambling, I don’t go to casinos. I do like to play some poker and fantasy football, but there’s a large element of skill to those. It’s not as bad as playing slots or betting on the ponies IMO.

I worked in a casino in the late 90’s. I dealt with supplying the coins and payouts for all the slot machines. When a machine would have a jackpot I could have the payout and paperwork printed and waiting before the techs could get to the machine. Everything would show up on my computer screen, including when there was a machine fill done.

Now ask yourself what prevents the machines from being “tighter” or “looser” at the push of a button or click of a mouse.

Every single game is designed to make the house a profit. The only way to truly win at gambling is to own the casino or not play.

There was a time that I actually had a bit of a gambling problem. Came into some money and decided to just not work for a couple years and live like Caligula. Casinos took care of a good bit of that money before I managed to stop.

And to me that’s the real issue. If you’ve got cash, don’t mind/care if you lose it playing some games, and can walk away without feeling any need to go back, hey, have at it. But if you’re like me and easily get hooked on shit and it makes you irresponsible, well, the casinos and the gambling apps will be just as happy to take your money anyhow, and pretend that showing you an 800 number to call about it is being responsible.

Gambling with your friends is ok, BUT it can create resentment if the stakes are more than a nominal amount. Even as little as $100 can mean a lot to some people and can create problems when someone thinks they can afford it, but they actually can’t.

Gambling using a third party is throwing your money away UNLESS you have insider knowledge. It’s a fact that the majority of people lose money on these, and a very small percentage of people make A LOT of money by “gambling” on events they can influence the outcome of, or have prior actual insider information on.

Essentially unless you’re defrauding people, you are very likely getting defrauded yourself.

Gambling just isn’t worth it in any context.

if you’re not first… you’re last

It’s not my thing, I do have a small basket of stocks I call gambling (they break even) and husband spends $2 a week on a lottery ticket.

Other than those I abstain, it’s not really fun to me.

Very indefererent. I’ll buy a $10 or $20 scratch off once a month or a powerball when the jackpot gets high. I’ll play keno occasionally at a bar for a few dollars.

I’ve only been to small casinos about 5 times in my life but I rarely spend over $50. I would like sports betting to be allowed on phones where I live just to bet on a few games here and there.

These new bet on anything sites I can’t stand and I think will ruin society more than the internet

Gambling is paying the idiot tax. Every game is rigged in favor of the casino (or whatever). On the long run, you lose and they win.