Wednesday, December 20, 2006

GAMBLING AS A GAME OF CHANCE

By five in the morning, a mother had already dressed her two daughters for school. After which, she will be heading next to a casino for an early dose of gambling activity.

Seemed like a "too absurd to be true" situation? Guess again.

Nowadays, gambling seems to be an ordinary activity that most people tend to overlook. By doing so, they do not see the potential harm gambling can do with their lives.

Generally, gambling, more commonly know as betting, is a kind of behavior that involves money valuables being put out to risk as a product of a certain game. So to speak, the money or valuables are at risk because the probability of winning is too low or is totally dependent upon chance. Unless otherwise one will do something about his winning through evil ways, one could never be sure of winning a gambling game.

Gambling comes in many forms: one that can be beatable and the other type is not.

Beatable games of gambling refer to games that can be trampled thereby creating a positive numerical probability through proper strategy. These includes poker, though this is better classified as a game of skill; blackjack, video poker, Pai Gow Poker and Tiles, sports betting, horse racing, and slot machines.

On the other hand, unbeatable games makes a player eventually lose a game no matter what strategy they use. More common examples of these games are slot machines, baccarat, craps, roulette, keno, casino war, faro, pachinko, 3-card and 4-card poker, red dog, pyramid poker, Caribbean stud poker, and Spanish 21.

Both beatable and unbeatable gambling games can be found in the casinos. Though, there are other gambling games that are not played inside the casinos such as lottery, mahjong, backgammon, coin-tossing games such as head and tail, and carnival games like The Razzle and Hanky Pank.

There are also the so-called fixed-odds gambling that can be seen on events like horse racing, football, golf, tennis, baseball, and other sports that entice people to bet on the winner of the event.

All the same, they are all forms of gambling that never stand a chance of winning continuously.

In gambling, people usually tries to gain back whatever they have lost in the game. Some continues to play for the belief that they should not break the monotony of luck. By doing so, they continue to bet and eventually place their selves at the risk of losing more instead.

Most people who are involved in gambling contend that they only play for pleasure or as a form of recreation. While others say they just have to earn money and that gambling is an easy way to do so.

However, because gambling involves a variety of mental activity, coupled with stress and the mentality of a winner, it can be a possible source of psychological addiction. In the long run, this can be very harmful to people who are affected by gambling.

With so much psychedelic effects of gambling, there are even those who engage in betting with another person on premises that a certain statement is true or false, or that a particular event will or will not happen at a given specific time. This occurs commonly on situations wherein two people with strong opposing views debate with each other. Normally, they place bets for fun or for money reason but often to establish their stand on a certain issue.

Consequently, because of the negative effect of gambling, most legal jurisdictions opt to not legalize any gambling activity. With this, any contracts that led to debts brought about by a certain gambling activity are deemed unenforceable by any legal process.

That is why gambling is such a risky activity. Those who gamble merely does not realize what harm gambling can give them.

As they say, never put your good money after bad money. If ever you get to be involved in gambling, discontinue doing bet so as to steer clear of an evident loss.

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