Gambling
All over the world, gambling is considered to be among the most addictive games of chance. It involves wagering of an item of value or money on ana event whose outcome is uncertain, with an aim of gaining a larger amount than what was wagered. It starts as a fun but with progress, it becomes and habit and eventually end up as an addiction. Gambling addiction then grown into an uncontrollable behavior with a huge impact to the individual, society and largely to the economy (Schüll, 2014). This is mostly known as problem gambling. Gambling does more harm than good to those who get addicted, despite being considered as a recreational activity. In America, especially Las Vegas, gambling has been rising attracting everyone, both children and adults with no signs of declining anytime soon.
While these are common factors known to most of the gamblers, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of gambling centers al over Las Vegas. That has been promoted by the existence of potential gamblers ready to part with their assets and prime resources in exchange for an entry into the gambling lots. However, this is one of the greatest challenges in the gambling field owing to the increased risks in losing personal assets and even financial resources (Rosengren, 2016). Different study resources have shown that this is one of the fastest growing industry all over the world at large. Much of the efforts by the advisory boards have worked on advertising the gambling sites and encouraging the gamblers to exercise self-responsibility while on track. For instance, this has neither been taken lightly since most of the potential gamblers have been addicted to the phenomenon. As a result, this has been a subject worthy consideration over the recent past, with much efforts being involved in educating people on responsible gambling and how they can best avoid addiction into the game.
Las Vegas has been one of the most dream destinations for a lot of domestic and foreign visitors. It was famously known as Vegas whose synonym is gambling, primarily casino gaming. The casino owners have come up with means to entice people to gambling and ensure they become their regular gambling customers (Rosengren, 2016). They have invested heavily in electronically operated gaming machines, video pokers and a wide variety of casino slots. The aim is to make these machines more addictive and gain higher profits. Most of these machines have ATMs that enables gamblers withdraw cash on cash-advance or debit options, making it hard for them to leave these machines, hence leading to addiction. The casino owners also befriend the high spenders by giving them special offers such as giving commissions, with an aim of extending their stay and become habitual gamblers. They also include animated flashing screens, blinking lights and simulated sounds that imitate clinking coins.
Problem gambling has harmed most gamblers lives together with their families such as substantial financial crisis. They tend to chase the lost money through more wagering of money, leading to their inability to meet their daily obligations. Once their money is drained, they solicit money from friends and relatives to an extend of obtaining loans. This eventually land these individuals to bankruptcy (Rosengren, 2016). This results to mental illness due to stress and depression, guilty and self-blame making a lot of these individuals to contemplate suicide. Approximately 3 to 4 million Americans are gamblers, where one out of five has history of attempted suicide. This is according to Atlantic magazine. Las Vegas has led in the number of suicides due to gambling addiction, and this number includes both residents and visitors.
However, despite these negative impacts, casinos and gambling are top revenue generators to the economy of Nevada. They have created job opportunities to many jobless people. That having been said, the gambling benefits lie on the side of operators and authorities.
Louis Theroux uses his documentary to find out why so many people went to Las Vegas to gamble and reveal the myths of gambling culture. His documentary used a different and unique interview method compared to the standard one on one interview. He tricked his respondents into giving more information. For example, he went to his first gamble and acts as if he does not understand anything. His interviews are real time making it more efficient. He met two of the casino’s high-rollers, a retired dentist, Dr. Martha Ogman, who says she has lost 4 million dollars in seven years and an employee who looked after them. He was curious about what happened to each of these gamblers.
Dr. Martha Ogman spent at least 1,000 dollars a day, for seven years without missing any day, and ended up losing four million dollars. She still lives in Vegas, the same community featured in the documentary. Richard Wilk was a high roller handler and a smooth-talking super host who prided himself on his ability to say yes to the clients. He works for a different casino now, but still handles celebrities and high rollers. The other high roller was Allan Erlick from Toronto. He lost over $250,000 in his trip. His company, Bedford Furniture was sold in 2009, due to gambling debts and economic downturn. Currently he keeps low profile, not active in social media and it rumored that he drives for Uber. He also met with two salesman, Tim Nordahl and John Salem. These two went on a weekend bender playing blackjack. Both live in Arizona and they are doing fine. John has a drug and alcohol rehabilitation Centre named Fountain Hills Recovery.
Gambling is controllable although it has been very difficult for the government to detect the addicted persons, hence it has not done much to prevent gambling. Individuals have to accept that they have a problem and they need to seek help from professionals. Parents, guardians and family members need to try to detect the signs of addiction and help the affected. Problem gambling is a social problem which is accelerated by the casino owners whose main aim is to make wealth at the expense of the gamblers.
In conclusion, gambling addiction is a major problem in the real world. Its negative effects outweigh the benefits. People become willing victims of casinos and gambling that are persuaded to play but not ready to do so. It is the high time for the government and other concerned authorities to come up with ways of curbing gambling. The surest way is by wiping all the casinos and all kinds of gambling and declaring them illegal. By doing this, many social, economic and psychological problems such as divorce, dropping out of school, stress, depression and suicide thoughts among others will be reduced. From Louis Theroux’ documentary, it is clear that the events discussed have a great significance in the real world of gambling.