There are some in this country that insist gambling should be illegal because of the horrible effects it has on the individual gambler. Their arguments are usually flimsy to say the least, and usually inspired by ulterior reasoning, but still, those arguments should be addressed.
One misconception is that if gambling were completely legal, there would be huge problems with those that become addicted. As reported by Steve Chapman in his article Vice is Nice, Harvard Medical School's Division of Addictions is now claiming that only 1.6% of American adults will become addicted to gambling in their lifetime. One would say that with legalization, more people would become addicted, but since gambling exists in at least some form in all but two of the states already, the number should not be expected to change much. To put the 1.6% in perspective, a huge 13.8% of American adults will become addicted to alcohol. Alcohol, of course, is completely legal throughout the United States, and is responsible for a huge spectrum of crimes, from public urination to the more disastrous, drunk driving.
Anti-gamblers are quick to hypothesize that with legalized gambling would come an increase in suicide. Their evidence for this is the fact that Nevada, famous for it's legalized gambling, has the highest suicide rate in the Union. What they fail to point out is that New Jersey, with Atlantic City, has the lowest suicide rate in the country, and Mississippi, with gaming mecca Biloxi, still falls below the national average. Could it be that the suicides in Nevada are caused by some other force aside from gambling? Could it be that there is actually more to life in Nevada than gambling?
Another problem some have with gambling in general is the idea that rich casinos are somehow "tricking" the working class out of their money. Apparently Americans have to be protected from card dealers, because of our incapability to understand the odds of winning. The odds of nearly every game are published in a multitude of places (except Blackjack and poker games, as they are skill based). Roulette games even have the odds on the tables themselves. Nearly no one is duped into thinking gambling is a surefire way to make money, and if they do believe that, it is through no fault of the casinos or anyone other than that foolish person himself. Everyone understands the risk in betting, that's why they call it "gambling." For some reason, it is hard for some people to understand that someone would enjoy gambling even after knowing the risks. Americans spend $51 billion dollars a year on various forms of gambling. That's more than two times as much as they spend on movies, plays, operas, and spectator sports combined. That huge sum of money could not be duped out of Americans. We gamble because we enjoy it, plain and simple.
Some argue that gambling should be kept largely illegal because of the damage it does to the community. To them, I ask, what damage?
A common stat shown by the opposition to legal gambling is that the highest crime rate per capita in the country, as far as individual cities go, is Atlantic City. What they fail to note is at any given moment, the number of tourists in Atlantic City outnumber the residents 2:1. If the amount of crime in the country were divided over a number three times the population the pollsters currently have, logic would say that the ranking of Atlantic City would fall dramatically. Here in the great state of Illinois, the state police themselves have said that the introduction of riverboat casinos have not caused any problem or increase in crime. There are a million factors that play into the presence of crime, and to single out gambling as the main culprit is to distort the facts to meet a presupposed agenda.
There are those that argue that with gambling comes corruption by government officials. As also reported by Steve Chapman, the gambling industry ranked the lowest of the sixteen industries that gave "soft money" to Republicans and Democrats in 1996. That is an incredibly low ranking considering that not only do casinos need hard to get licenses from the government to operate, but also because there are many in government that are trying to effectively legislate the casinos out of business. The gambling industry has more need to get on the good side of politicians than any other industry, and still they give out less soft money than any other industry. Possibly an public angry about politicians taking bribes needs to remind themselves that they have elected politicians that can be bought, instead of rushing to blame the activity of gambling itself.
As a side note on the topic of corruption, it is important to note that state lotteries...legal gambling operated by governments...have an average payout of around 50%, while devouring the rest of the money in their own bureaucracy, while most casinos pay out around 92% of the money gambled. Some online casinos boast payouts even higher. When I think of corruption, I think of those that act to thwart the free market for profit. If the free market were working flawlessly, would anyone play a state lottery?
The most common argument against legalized gambling is the claim that the influx of casinos hurts other businesses, which apparently is something the government should act to stop. That idea is ridiculous beyond comprehension. It is synonymous with a town government deciding to ban McDonald's from their town to help Burger King stay in business. Since when was it the government's place to decide which businesses are to prosper and which are not? The addition of gambling in the economy does not harm it, it only changes the look of the economy. Instead of buying an overpriced hotdog at a baseball game, a man places a bet at a craps table. Instead of paying exorbitant ticket prices to see another cookie-cutter movie, a woman splits a pair of eights and walks out a winner. I, for one, have no problem with that.
The arguments against gambling are fallacies through and through, and usually only used by those seeking to keep gambling illegal on secret religious and moral grounds. It is not the place of the government to try to mold the public. It is not up to any legislator to decide where I should spend my money, or what morals to have. Because of the complete lack of legitimate arguments in opposition, casino gambling should be legalized and brought out of the backrooms and off the internet. It should be brought into the legal world where it can be watched, monitored, understood, and enjoyed.