Gambling is America's favorite pastime

Jace

Jace

Well-known Member
Attesting to human passion for game of chance, revenue šŸ’²investment is in the billions,
two times greater than money spent on fast food, movies and musical recordings.

Have ever been to a casino? Where ?
How did it go?....win some? Lose some?šŸ¤—
 

Jace said:
Gambling is America's favorite pastime.

Attesting to human passion for game of chance, revenue šŸ’²investment is in the billions,
two times greater than money spent on fast food, movies and musical recordings.

Have ever been to a casino? Where ?
How did it go?....win some? Lose some?šŸ¤—
Click to expand...
I have been to several casinos both in London and other UK counties. I find them fascinating places and I can't remember losing, we generally broke even or had a win. Mind you, neither of us were big gamblers so we generally had no problem walking away if our luck looked like running out.
 
I have been to casinos in Las Vegas, Hobart, Brisbane and Sydney.
I did not to gamble at any of them. I just looked around and shook my head at the folly.

NSW is a gambling state with poker machines in every registered club and hotel.
Casinos are the worst of the lot and are rife with criminals using them to launder money.
 

Same as Warrigal. I've been in Casinos in the UK, and in many countries in Europe, never spent a dime gambling... just watched on as others did, and enjoyed the restaurant and atmosphere

My first husband was a chronic Gambler, it destroyed our marriage..

I wouldn't even spend money on a lottery ticket..I hate gambling
 
We've been casino fans for many years. Until this Covid hit, we used to go every 3 or 4 weeks, but in the past couple of years, we go perhaps every 2 months. We set a limit, and if we lose that amount, we go home. Over the years, we probably blow less in a year than a 3 day cruise would cost, and there have been a few years when we actually broke even or made some money. On balance, these short 1 or 2 day trips give us a nice break from the routine, and being sensible with our money winds up giving us several nice "vacation" days. We've been going to the casinos for so long that our rooms and meals are always complementary.
 
MountainRa said:
i Have no interest in gambling but have tried attending casinos because thatā€™s what the people I was with wanted to do. All the lights, noise, colors, people, etc. was way to overwhelming for me. Just left me exhausted and addlepated.
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Addlepated! what a wonderful word! I have never heard it before and had to look it up:

Definition of addlepated
1 : being mixed up : confused. 2 : eccentric.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/addlepated#:~:text=Definition of addlepated,2 : eccentric
 
there are many in the area ... have not visited many but on one rare occasion did had $10 to play with went down and up left with $7 but i did not see the appeal.

some people sit there all day often in artificial light so you do not see the whole day go by just feeding the machines....
Some find in entertaining but IMO ... MOST do not know their limit and will waste money chasing a maybe the next one they will win big... seen some get in way over their heads.
 
helenbacque said:
And for those who are too poor to travel to casinos, there are the lotteries where many buy tickets instead of feeding their children.
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I don't know how lottery tickets and scratch cards are sold in the USA but here in the UK, they're sold at the customer service/tobacco counter in the supermarket ... and my heart sinks sometimes if I have to go to Customer services and there's massive queue of gamblers .. standing there waiting to cash in lottery tickets, and scratch cards and buy more..

You know it's an illness, when they buy the scratch cards and get no further than the door before they're scratching them off..

In Spain Lottery tickets et al can only be bought from dedicated lottery booths dotted every few hundred feet along the roads
 
Jace said:
Gambling is America's favorite pastime.

Attesting to human passion for game of chance, revenue šŸ’²investment is in the billions,
two times greater than money spent on fast food, movies and musical recordings.

Have ever been to a casino? Where ?
How did it go?....win some? Lose some?šŸ¤—
Click to expand...
I'll bet on sports but I hate casino-type gambling. I lived in Las Vegas for a couple years and I know the games are rigged in the "houses" favor by design.

I used to buy lottery tickets. Overall, I guess I about broke even.
 
hollydolly said:
.

In Spain Lottery tickets et al can only be bought from dedicated lottery booths dotted every few hundred feet along the roads
Click to expand...
When you walk into a coin-op laundry in Vegas, you see a row of washers on one side, and a row of slot machines on the other. You can even play the slots while you're gassing up your car at a station. I was surprised their wasn't a few of them at the elementary schools.
 
hollydolly said:
I don't know how lottery tickets and scratch cards are sold in the USA but here in the UK, they're sold at the customer service/tobacco counter in the supermarket ... and my heart sinks sometimes if I have to go to Customer services and there's massive queue of gamblers .. standing there waiting to cash in lottery tickets, and scratch cards and buy more..

You know it's an illness, when they buy the scratch cards and get no further than the door before they're scratching them off..

In Spain Lottery tickets et al can only be bought from dedicated lottery booths dotted every few hundred feet along the roads
Click to expand...
in my state there are kiosk type machines to buy scratch tickets and lottery...... often in grocery stores but also in Malls etc.....
no way to verify ... other then pushing a button to make sure those buying are of legal age for gambling.... lol
the money raised for state/ government is all that matters to some .....
i knew a few people who spent a set amount per week ( $50) .... hoping to win but in reality if same folks had saved that each week they would have been better off ......
some scratch tickets sold here are $20 per ticket ..... imagine in just a few seconds you find you blew $20
 
Murrmurr said:
When you walk into a coin-op laundry in Vegas, you see a row of washers on one side, and a row of slot machines on the other. You can even play the slots while you're gassing up your car at a station. I was surprised their wasn't a few of them at the elementary schools.
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OMG how many lives/families does that destroy ?

This was the problem with my ex husband.. he would play slot machines and lose everything he had before he even brought his wages home, but at least he played in the pub or the social club.. slot machines everywhere means someone whose gambling is out of control is never going to get well.. and tempting for even the young to start..

In the Uk slot machines are only permitted in places where the permitted age to enter is 18 years old . ( .. so pubs, clubs etc ). never anywhere like a laundrette...

I remember when Gambling became available online and on TV.. a few years after my ex and I divorced.. my heart sank completely...
 
It has been about 38 years, took a trip to Lake Tahoe, winter skiing. My husband could ski from the time he was a child. I took lessons, could not do it. Husband would take the shuttle to the slopes, they would drop me, with my roll of nickels at the casino. It was a fun way to spend the day while he was skiing. Most of it was just people watching and atmosphere, was not about gambling for me.
 
hollydolly said:
OMG how many lives/families does that destroy ?

This was the problem with my ex husband.. he would play slot machines and lose everything he had before he even brought his wages home, but at least he played in the pub or the social club.. slot machines everywhere means someone whose gambling is out of control is never going to get well.. and tempting for even the young to start..

In the Uk slot machines are only permitted in places where the permitted age to enter is 18 years old . ( .. so pubs, clubs etc ). never anywhere like a laundrette...

I remember when Gambling became available online and on TV.. a few years after my ex and I divorced.. my heart sank completely...
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This is a good example that some can LEARN from others misfortune................. and some will not see a problem until it hits HOME for them.
More and more people simply do not care about things until it effects THEM.

Yes..... lives can be destroyed and finances ruined.
Most casinos also have several ATMs ........or you can get a draw off a credit card many places. If you are in the hole they will hand you a shovel to dig deeper.

Some may be able to spend a small amount as entertainment and NEVER have a problem but others it becomes an obsession to win back lost wages etc.....
i felt better about it when tickets were sold by a customer service booth or cashier to make sure legal age but now it is a subtle way of just ignoring underage purchases etc.... no one can tell who will develop a problem....

Funny thing is we did away with cigarette machines because they figured out anyone could use them but we fully embraced lotto machines often not even in view of store personnel to see if a 12 yr old is buying.....
same thing goes for buying anything on the internet.........
" click here to say you are old enough to make this purchase " .....
the line is hysterical that some THINK that is same as a person checking ID.
 
Slot machines and roulette are sucker's games. Craps and Black Jack at least give you a 50/50 chance of winning some serious money. Just have to know when to stop. I never learned to, so I no longer go into a casino.
 
Jeni said:
This is a good example that some can LEARN from others misfortune................. and some will not see a problem until it hits HOME for them.
More and more people simply do not care about things until it effects THEM.

Yes..... lives can be destroyed and finances ruined.
Most casinos also have several ATMs ........or you can get a draw off a credit card many places. If you are in the hole they will hand you a shovel to dig deeper.

Some may be able to spend a small amount as entertainment and NEVER have a problem but others it becomes an obsession to win back lost wages etc.....
i felt better about it when tickets were sold by a customer service booth or cashier to make sure legal age but now it is a subtle way of just ignoring underage purchases etc.... no one can tell who will develop a problem....

Funny thing is we did away with cigarette machines because they figured out anyone could use them but we fully embraced lotto machines often not even in view of store personnel to see if a 12 yr old is buying.....
same thing goes for buying anything on the internet.........
" click here to say you are old enough to make this purchase " .....
the line is hysterical that some THINK that is same as a person checking ID.
Click to expand...
100 % agree
 
I've been to many casinos, mostly to Las Vegas, we used to go with different groups of friends and had a good time, none of us were big gamblers, this was during my younger days. Later in life I would go with different lady friends, I knew that gambling was a losing deal, we went for the hotel, shows, shopping and good food. The last time out there we rented electric scooters.
 
My wife and I spent our honeymoon in Las Vegas, we were not quite 21, but we gambled anyway. In those days you could play Roulette using a minimum bet of 10 cents and play blackjack for 1 dollar (Downtown Las Vegas). I knew a little of blackjack, so I played that, and my wife played nickel slots and a little Roulette. We both took 20 dollars to gamble. The casino found out we were newlyweds, so they fed us lunch and dinner on the house and helped us learn the games better. At the end, we had enough leftover of our money to buy some souvenir from the casino which we still have a deck of cards and an ash tray from the Golden Nugget. We had a really fun time, learning that the games in Vegas are not to make money, but a form of entertainment.

Over the years we have gone back many times. We only play Blackjack and Craps. We have a budget for gambling and stick to it. If we get lucky and double our budget money, we quit gambling until our next trip. That has rarely happened, but it has happened!
 
My wife is the gambler in our family. She has won a few nice winnings, but has lost also. If I had to guess, I would say that she is at the very least, slightly behind. We have been to Vegas and Reno several times, mostly for the entertainment at the casino theaters. My biggest take-away was $8500 at the Black Jack table. I am probably a little ahead because I donā€™t gamble a lot if money. I had a really nice run at the roulette table in Caesarā€™s in Vegas. I put $50 on the ā€˜0ā€™ and $50 on the ā€˜00ā€™. ā€œ00ā€ came up. I think I walked away with about $1700. My other bragging point is when I played craps at the Venetian. I knew nothing, well, ver little about craps. The guy across the the table from me had a nice stack of chips, so I just rode along with him. I bet on the same blocks as whatever he did, but he was putting a lot more on the blocks. After just 4 rolls, I had $600 and decided to cash in and leave.

Now, for the bad news. We were at one of the old casinos. I canā€™t think of the name offhand, but it sits on LV Boulevard all the way at the far end. Now, believe it or not, they had a $1 black Jack table, so thatā€™s where my seat was. I was doing pretty good when my wife walked up and asked me how I was doing. I told her that there was one thing I always wanted to do. She asked what? I said watch and I slid my three stacks of chips onto the circle. The table allowed up to $500 per bet. I had $322 in chips and I played it all on one hand. I drew 2 Jacks, but had no money to split them and didnā€™t want to ask for credit, so I just played the two Jacks or 20. I couldnā€™t believe my luck and was ready to give a woo-who when the dealer turned over his hole card and had an Ace to go with his Queen showing. I just sat there smiling and shaking my head. I actually only lost about $70, but still.
 
oldman said:
My wife is the gambler in our family. She has won a few nice winnings, but has lost also. If I had to guess, I would say that she is at the very least, slightly behind. We have been to Vegas and Reno several times, mostly for the entertainment at the casino theaters. My biggest take-away was $8500 at the Black Jack table. I am probably a little ahead because I donā€™t gamble a lot if money. I had a really nice run at the roulette table in Caesarā€™s in Vegas. I put $50 on the ā€˜0ā€™ and $50 on the ā€˜00ā€™. ā€œ00ā€ came up. I think I walked away with about $1700. My other bragging point is when I played craps at the Venetian. I knew nothing, well, ver little about craps. The guy across the the table from me had a nice stack of chips, so I just rode along with him. I bet on the same blocks as whatever he did, but he was putting a lot more on the blocks. After just 4 rolls, I had $600 and decided to cash in and leave.

Now, for the bad news. We were at one of the old casinos. I canā€™t think of the name offhand, but it sits on LV Boulevard all the way at the far end. Now, believe it or not, they had a $1 black Jack table, so thatā€™s where my seat was. I was doing pretty good when my wife walked up and asked me how I was doing. I told her that there was one thing I always wanted to do. She asked what? I said watch and I slid my three stacks of chips onto the circle. The table allowed up to $500 per bet. I had $322 in chips and I played it all on one hand. I drew 2 Jacks, but had no money to split them and didnā€™t want to ask for credit, so I just played the two Jacks or 20. I couldnā€™t believe my luck and was ready to give a woo-who when the dealer turned over his hole card and had an Ace to go with his Queen showing. I just sat there smiling and shaking my head. I actually only lost about $70, but still.
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Yup.
 
Nope!

I'm not opposed to gambling as a form of entertainment for those that can afford it.

Sadly in most cases, it's just another government-sanctioned way to separate the average person from their rent money.

"Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing for something." - Wilson Mizner
 
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