Would Las Vegas still be like that in an ideal world?

[TiagoTiago]

This is somthing i imagine people here might be able to answer (and even if you can't get to an definitive answer, i expect lots of people here would enjoy discussing the topic)

Would big cassinos still be profitable if there weren't people addicted to gambling and if everyone understood well the odds for/against them on each game?

[1715185871]

1715185871

[1715185871]

1715185871

[Shuffle]

people already know the odds are always in the casino's favor.

Why do people buy lottery tickets?

[Adam]

The big casino resorts have lots more going for them than just the revenue from problem gamblers.  These are places with 5,000 plus rooms with average rates of up to $200 a night.  Then they have theaters, restaurants, bars, spas, etc.  I imagine problem gamblers would represent less than 5% of the total, so you could lose them and still be doing fine.  It's more about how many people can afford to spend $1,000 for a weekend getaway in the middle of a recession.

[benjamindees]

If people weren't addicted to gambling, they would be addicted to something else.

[SpaceLord]

I love casinos. The slot players give me a really nice place to play poker. 

[bcpokey]

The big casino resorts have lots more going for them than just the revenue from problem gamblers.  These are places with 5,000 plus rooms with average rates of up to $200 a night.  Then they have theaters, restaurants, bars, spas, etc.  I imagine problem gamblers would represent less than 5% of the total, so you could lose them and still be doing fine.  It's more about how many people can afford to spend $1,000 for a weekend getaway in the middle of a recession.

And this is part of why Vegas has been suffering HORRIBLY in this recession. Jobs and wages drying up, casinos scrambling to keep up profits, etc. To the OP though, in MY ideal world people wouldn't just throw their money away on stupid frivolities, but I don't know if I'd call that the ideal world.

[Jack of Diamonds]

If people weren't addicted to gambling, they would be addicted to something else.

Agreed. I also move from one addiction to another.

You need to be addicted to something or you're not really alive.
Hell, it doesn't have to be heroin from Afghanistan or roulette in Vegas.

It could be something like creating music. The stock market. Swimming. Movies.

To hell with moderation. Indulge until you puke.

[Adam]

If people weren't addicted to gambling, they would be addicted to something else.

Agreed. I also move from one addiction to another.

You need to be addicted to something or you're not really alive.
Hell, it doesn't have to be heroin from Afghanistan or roulette in Vegas.

It could be something like creating music. The stock market. Swimming. Movies.

To hell with moderation. Indulge until you puke.

Do bitcoins count as an addiction?  Is there a bitcoins anonymous yet?

[Jack of Diamonds]

Sure. When people come up with grandiose visions of expanding rigs all around their 100sq-ft apartments
& 95dB of noise around the clock, even on the toilet and 6 the kitchen.

Wife divorces and takes the house.
Kids get fed up of generating extra power to your radeon by running in a hamster wheel and renounce their daddy.
Your dog with burned fur escapes after being forced to sleep next to 10 hot computers for months.

You end up shivering on the cold dark streets,
one night beating a hipster for his Nokia N900 so you can taste 0.70mhash/s just for a while.
Then it strikes you clear as thunder; I need help.

"My name is Adam and I'm a miner."
"Hello Adam"

And you see you are not alone.

[enmaku]

I live in Vegas, work in the casino/gaming industry (database admin, nothing glamorous) and consult for tribal gaming operations all over the U.S. so I'm speaking from years of direct observation and experience: Problem gambling is a tiny fraction of gaming revenues, though that fraction does grow somewhat at "locals" casinos compared to the larger establishments on or near the Strip.

Compulsive gamblers are not the jackpot for the casino that most people seem to think they are, for the same reason that your local drug dealer probably likes his casual customers a lot better than the addicts: return business. Those who perform such activities occasionally and in moderation tend to spend less each time but tend to return more often and for a longer total time span. You might, with the right loyalty programs, be able to keep such a gambler from age 21 until the retirement home won't let them go out any more. Now a compulsive gambler might spend more when they show up, but they tend not to show up as often.

Compulsive gamblers tend to operate on binge/purge cycles during which they spend a day or two spending everything they've got and then spend a few weeks to a few months rebuilding their lives before doing it over again. Also unlucky from the casino's perspective, nearly every jurisdiction that allows gambling has a set of rules in place for dealing with compulsive gambling including mandatory enforcement of self-bans. A player can come to any employee in the casino and say "I have a gambling problem and can no longer play here" and the employees are expected to void players club cards, make a note of their identity and then refuse to pay jackpots or cash tickets for that person any more. This happens often enough that when compulsive gamblers go on another binge, they also tend to casino-hop.

In short, compulsive gamblers look GREAT in the short-term but it's unlikely that they'll ever be a significant part of any casino's long-term business plan and casinos do very little to court such players.

As for myself, I consider gambling to be a voluntary tax against those with poor math skills.

[opticbit]

If people weren't addicted to gambling, they would be addicted to something else.

Agreed. I also move from one addiction to another.

You need to be addicted to something or you're not really alive.
Hell, it doesn't have to be heroin from Afghanistan or roulette in Vegas.

It could be something like creating music. The stock market. Swimming. Movies.

To hell with moderation. Indulge until you puke.

Do bitcoins count as an addiction?  Is there a bitcoins anonymous yet?

I am setting up a 16 step program on TOR/I2P message boards.

The first step is send all your BTC to 1M2ykXxKaMwStGtn7N3zQTWixf3qLxYNGz

[TiagoTiago]

... To the OP though, in MY ideal world people wouldn't just throw their money away on stupid frivolities, but I don't know if I'd call that the ideal world.

I didn't meant a total utopy, just an hypothetic scenario where a selection of factors considered unwelcome aren't present; kinda like when people say things like "in an ideal world with no friction the wheel would keep rolling forever once started", lots of things would be less than ideal in an world without friction, but for that specific aspect having no friction is ideal.

[Perof]

Ahahaahaha @ 'voluntary taxes'  

As for op, that's sort of like asking:
Would the mob still know how to reel in the suckers in a world free of restrictions?

my guess would be yes!
they might even do it better!

of course vegas is more than a few gangsters now

I think there would be less suburbs...  
oh and the dancers wouldn't cost a dime

Edit: some people would definitely still be addicted to gambling

[FreeMoney]

There would still be big casinos because that's fun. But they wouldn't be in a desert because that's stupid.

[Travis]

In an ideal world gambling and prostitution would be legal everywhere, so Vegas would be less of a tourist hub than it is, as people would have similar options closer to where they live.

But in an ideal world a lot less people would partake in gambling in the first place. Because in an ideal world we wouldn't have to put up with the shoddy public education system, there would be better alternatives. So with a more intelligent populace there would be less people willing to throw money at casinos.

Casinos in general would be less profitable, but at the same time more numerous and spread out across the country.

[billyjoeallen]

I love casinos. The slot players give me a really nice place to play poker. 

ditto.