Gambling And All The Issues Philosophy Essay

There are many types of gambling including state sponsored lotteries, casinos, sport betting including horse and dog betting and online gambling. Convenient stores, truck stops and bars now have slot machines.

Lotteries are more popular than ever and will continue to be so as long as state politicians have no clue how to raise revenue while also campaigning on the impossible platform of reducing taxes and not cutting essential programs. Lotteries will also remain popular as long there is the occasional multi-hundred million dollar winner. While the idea of the lottery may seem like a relatively recent thing that has arisen in concert with capitalist economics, the history of lotteries in fact goes at least back to ancient Rome. Roman emperors routinely held lotteries for important visitors; it is assumed that Augustus Caesar was the first to come up with the idea of selling lottery tickets to these people. The prizes ranged from slaves favored by the infamous Nero to what might be termed gag gifts that lesser known Heliogabalus preferred: things like dead animals. Still, it is to Augustus that America’s uncreative state legislators owe the idea of holding public lotteries as a means of paying for necessities without calling it a tax (Sexton, 2008).

In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions. There is a lot of debate over whether or not the social and economic consequences of casino gambling outweigh the initial revenue that may be generated. In the United States, many states are grappling with high unemployment and budget deficits and are now turning to legalizing casinos, often in places that are not tourist destinations. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertainment events, like stand-up comedy, concerts and sporting events. Use of the word in the past, and modern use in some countries, does not necessarily involve gambling.

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Gambling on sports seems to be a fun thing for sports fans to do these days. It is something that a person can do to make the game more interesting, especially championship games already soaked in rivalry, and to make a few dollars off of their favorite team. Why not?

Sports’ gambling is usually all in good fun, but as of late there have been some situations that have arisen in which some people have been using their positions in the sports industry unethically, and are placing bets on sporting events that they are involved in. Many scandals have emerged that people may or may not have taken or placed bets in such instances, and of course all people are presumed innocent until it is proven otherwise.

Why is it such a bad thing? Sports gambling by people who are so closely involved are truly unethical. It leads to cheating attempts and poor sportsmanship, none of which is conducive to anybody’s experience on the court, out on the field, or even in the stands.

Sports’ gambling is not always a bad thing at all. It can be a great way for people to share in a particular interest and to find something to look forward to and get excited about. It is, however, a bad thing if you are gambling money that you need for your bills, money that you need to survive, or even money that you do not have. This latter situation is often the case with many people, and it has lead to many gambling ring busts and sports gambling even being made illegal in some places.

Online gambling, also known as Internet gambling and iGambling, is a general term for gambling using the Internet. There is a large number of online casinos in which people can play casino games such as roulette, blackjack, pachinko, baccarat and many others. These games are played against the “house”, which makes money due to the fact that the odds are in its favor.

Normally, gamblers upload funds to the online gambling company, make bets or play the games that it offers, and then cash out any winnings. Gamblers can often fund gambling accounts by credit card or debit card, and cash out winnings directly back to the card; most U.S. banks, however, prohibit the use of their cards for the purpose of Internet gambling, and attempts by Americans to use credit cards at Internet gambling sites are usually rejected. A number of electronic money services offer accounts with which online gambling can be funded; however, many top fund-transfer sites such as FirePay, Neteller & Moneybookers have discontinued service for U.S. residents. Payment by check and wire transfer is also common.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in November 2002 that the Federal Wire Act prohibits electronic transmission of information for sports betting across telecommunications lines but affirmed a lower court ruling that the Wire Act “‘in plain language’ does not prohibit Internet gambling on a game of chance.” But the federal Department of Justice continues, publicly, to take the position that the Wire Act covers all forms of gambling.

Online gambling, which was once illegal in all but two states, is now accepted by most states, though some states have specific laws against online gambling of any kind. In addition, owning an online gaming operation without proper licensing is illegal, and no states currently grant online gaming licenses. Despite this, online gambling now generates more than $60 billion in revenue for the United States.

In March 2003, Deputy Assistant Attorney General John G. Malcolm testified before the Senate Banking Committee regarding the special problems presented by online gambling. A major concern of the United States Department of Justice is online money laundering. The anonymous nature of the Internet and the use of encryption make it especially difficult to trace online money laundering transactions.

Gambling traits are often similar to the symptoms of substance abuse. Gambling is a persistent, ongoing circumstance that occurs when an personality is not capable to control the urge to partake in gambling,

Statistics show that compulsive gambling may lead to devastating circumstances for the gambler and their family. A compulsive gambler may experience the same withdrawals as any other addict: chemical withdrawals, which may consist of sweating, palpitations and extreme itching, emotional withdrawal, post acute withdrawal, and new addictions. Someone who suffers from pathological gambling may also experience delusional fantasies involving unrealistic winnings, whether it is past, present or future gambles.

When a family member has a gambling addiction it can affect the entire family unit negatively. The family member with the gambling problem creates tremendous tension within the family unit that can affect all members of the family in a variety of ways.

Children of those with a gambling addiction tend to suffer the most. In severe cases, children of those with a gambling problem are brought to the casino and are waiting on the sidelines for hours while their parents are in the casino gambling. In more extreme cases, many children are left in the car while their parents are in the casino throwing out all of their hard-earned money.

Studies have also shown that the family member with the gambling problem can also become extremely verbally, physically, and emotionally abusive due to the stress of the addiction. This can be devastating to young children and adolescents as they are trying to succeed academically and socially.

The financial ramifications for families can also be devastating as well. Money that is supposed to be used for food, gas, shelter, medical bills, and other necessities becomes unavailable as it is squandered away by the gamblers. Debt piles up very fast, and the financial future of the family becomes severely threatened.

Many families who file for bankruptcy have been the result of having a compulsive gambler in the household gambling away all of their savings and credit. It is a tragic state of affairs that leads to homelessness, despair, and worse of all suicide.

Gambling disease affects everyone that has a disposition to compulsive and addictive behaviors, whether you are a Bingo Player, casino gambler, or have sports betting problems the solutions are the same.

All gambling produces adrenalin and endorphins, self produced by your own body’s reaction to the risk taken. The body in turn becomes tolerant and familiar with the drug as it is repeated Therefore compulsive gamblers need to experience a greater risk – higher bet – to get the same high.

Nalmephene and other drugs may have some short term effect to slow down a gambling disorder but it is simply a replacement drug for the adrenalin. Root causes need to be addressed for long term success. It is a well known and accepted fact that to recover fully from any addiction, three specific areas need to be properly addressed and effectively treated.

I believe utilitarianism would be the best classical theory to resolve the problem of gambling. Utilitarianism is in conflict with ordinary moral thinking in a number of ways. This is because utilitarianism is a form of act consequentialism, and act consequentialism conflicts with ordinary moral thinking. A natural way to see if an act is the right thing to do (or the wrong thing to do) is to look at its results, or consequences. Utilitarianism argues that, given a set of choices, the act we should choose is that which produces the best results for the greatest number affected by that choice (Mosser, 2010, p. 1.7). In my personal experience with gambling I feel my ex-husband had an obligation to his family first. Lying to his wife and children and taking money from us did not produce the best result. It in fact tore our family apart. The destruction of his family did not detour his actions. He is still gambling and I do not see an end in sight. He would have to decide that he will no longer put himself in situations where he would be tempted to gamble. The biggest problem I see would be sticking to that rule. Gamblers are compulsive and it is an addiction. As with any addiction there are always going to be situations where one will be tempted. It is what the addictive personality does in that situation that matters.

Emotivism offers a perspective on our ethical claims that eliminates much of the traditional kind of argument based on reason. Emotivism, instead, sees our moral evaluations as simply the expression of whether we respond to a given act by liking it, or not liking it (Mosser, 2010, p. 1.8). Emotivism is the theory that ethical judgments are primarily expressions of one’s own attitude and imperatives meant to change the attitudes and actions of another. The theory of emotivism would mean I would use ethical judgments to have others follow in my beliefs on gambling. Only facts can be right or wrong. Emotional expressions are not the sorts of things that can be right or wrong. Moral language, for the emotivist, is used to influence behavior and to express an attitude. Also, for the emotivist, any reason that influences behavior is a good reason, since that is the object of moral language. Emotivism is based on personal emotions, which are at hand and can be measured or for our case felt.

The view closest to mine is utilitarianism. In the case of my ex and his gambling problem I am not the only one that sees the problem. His family as well as friends knows well the problems this has caused in his life. Whether an action is morally right or wrong depends entirely on its consequences. An action is right if it brings about the best outcome of the choices available. Otherwise it is wrong. The main argument for utilitarianism is that happiness is good and that there is no reason for one person’s happiness to be more important than another’s and that there is no reason to follow a rule of conduct that is known to be detrimental to the happiness of us all. Many traditions and values of the American society are beneficial, but some are harmful. Acceptance of utilitarianism will preserve beneficial traditions while replacing the harmful ones. As a result, new traditions, grounded in reason, will emerge, and future generations may wonder how the irrational and unnatural non-utilitarian values had survived for so long.

My personal belief is that gambling is a hereditary disease and passed on generation to generation. Most of my ex-husbands family on his mothers’ side is addicted to gambling. It is a sad situation and it seems there is no way to control it.

I have discussed this addiction with my children many times in hopes of avoiding this type of destruction in their adult lives. Gambling ruined my marriage and caused much pain to my children. My kids know if they call their father and it goes straight to voicemail he is gambling somewhere since this is the only time his phone is off. I have often wondered if he will ever hit “rock bottom” and end this mad obsession. There have been a couple of times I thought he had. He had called me saying he was checking into a facility to get the much needed help but needless to say he never went. We have been divorced for several years and in some ways his gambling is no longer my issue. In some ways it will always be my issue due to the fact it still causes pain for my children. It seems gambling will be a never ending issue in my life.