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Gambling in Las Vegas

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Gambling in Las Vegas

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, intending to gain a more considerable amount than what was wagered. It starts as
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fun, but with progress, it becomes a habit and eventually ends up as an addiction. Gambling

addiction then grows into an uncontrollable behaviour with a significant impact on the

individual, society and largely to the economy, mostly known as problem gambling (Schüll,

2014). 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 to attract 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 centres 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 worthy subject 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 gamble 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
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casino slots. The aim is to make these machines more addictive and gain higher profits. Most

of these machines have ATMs that enable gamblers to 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, to extend 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. Gambling

eventually lands these individuals to bankruptcy (Rosengren, 2016). Gambling results in

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 a history of attempted suicide, 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

for many jobless people. 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 to give more information (BBC Studios. 2020). For example, he went to his first

gamble and acted 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,
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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 (BBC Studios. 2020). 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 a low profile, not active in social media, and it rumored that he drives for

Uber. He also met with two salesmen, 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,
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stress, depression and suicidal 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.

References

Schüll, N. D. (2014). Addiction by design: Machine gambling in Las Vegas. Princeton

University Press.

Rosengren, J. (2016). How Casinos Enable Gambling Addicts. ATLANTIC MONTHLY.

BBC Studios. (2020). Gambling in Las Vegas [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlmEdkNLL92L3rFS7B8sz7T5WspC3kDHq
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