Economic Costs of Gambling

[BTCLiz]

Hi,

in this thread I would like to address a very important topic: Economic Costs of gambling.

From economic theory we know the concept of externalities:

In economics, an externality is a cost or benefit that is imposed on a third party who did not agree to incur that cost or benefit. For the purpose of these statements, overall cost and benefit to society is defined as the sum of the imputed monetary value of benefits and costs to all parties involved.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality



1. Gambling in fact has many negative externalities. If someone gets addicted, the likelihood is much higher to be depressed. Depression is factor, which leads to high costs for the society.

2. Gambling addiction leads to economic costs because of crime actions. Other market actors have to increase their security standards, which means higher costs.

3. Many gambling addicts go as a consequence to jail. Jail means EXTREMELY high costs to society.

What are your thoughts on this topic?

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[Oshosondy]

What are your thoughts on this topic?

Gambling is not good for addicts, people should not be addicted to gambling, the fact remain the more someone gamble the more the person will lose. Gambling should be for fun and not for profit or money making, if someone see gambling as a way to profit or make money, he will lose, that is just the fact, such people are the ones that are even getting addicted.

Gambling also have more benefit, it provides jobs for many people, this is the benefit many governments sees and not even bother about it because job creation does a lot to the economy. The best is to all the time tell people not to use the money they can not afford to lose to gamble because they can lose it while gambling, also people should not be addicted, but gambling contributed to economy development.

[BlackFor3st]

People who are addicted to gambling always know where to find a gambling site or casino where they will continue to gamble. The threshold is a lot lower at a physical casino. If you have 2 million euros in your bank account, it is more likely to be gambled online than you are using it in a casino. I think that the gambling market has only improved because of corona, seen online. More people at home, and those people think they can earn money by gambling with all the consequences that entails.

[BTCLiz]

What are your thoughts on this topic?

Gambling is not good for addicts, people should not be addicted to gambling, the fact remain the more someone gamble the more the person will lose. Gambling should be for fun and not for profit or money making, if someone see gambling as a way to profit or make money, he will lose, that is just the fact, such people are the ones that are even getting addicted.

Gambling also have more benefit, it provides jobs for many people, this is the benefit many governments sees and not even bother about it because job creation does a lot to the economy. The best is to all the time tell people not to use the money they can not afford to lose to gamble because they can lose it while gambling, also people should not be addicted, but gambling contributed to economy development.

I don't think you got my point. I want to focus here exclusively on the economic effects. You just mentioned jobs, this is a very bad argument, because if someone digs random & useless holes in the ground while I pay this person 10 USD is this job really good? Why not giving the 10 USD directy to this person?

[robelneo]

Gambling like Liquor and smoking have been labeled by the government as bad for your health that is why the government has issued a strong warning and they taxed these so people will avoid them at some point, even though the government has labeled them as bad to one's health, they still legalize because of the huge taxes that they are generating to sustain government operation, in fact, some government are the one operating casinos and lottery, like here in our country, the government considers gambling as a necessary evil especially to third world countries.

[adzino]

Hi,

in this thread I would like to address a very important topic: Economic Costs of gambling.

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1. Gambling in fact has many negative externalities. If someone gets addicted, the likelihood is much higher to be depressed. Depression is factor, which leads to high costs for the society.

2. Gambling addiction leads to economic costs because of crime actions. Other market actors have to increase their security standards, which means higher costs.

3. Many gambling addicts go as a consequence to jail. Jail means EXTREMELY high costs to society.

What are your thoughts on this topic?

1. People can get addicted to anything. Yeah, getting addicted is not a good thing. There are places and organizations that help with addiction. If you think you are or someone you know is suffering from addiction, then get help for you or them.

2. Not everyone who gambles are involved with crime.

3. I though they go to the streets and become homeless haha.

[Johnyz]

Leave this to the experts because they are the one who knows how to deal with this and maybe this is also one of the reason why most of the gambling site have introduce "responsible gambling" that aims to help those gamblers who are about to get addict in gambling and to those who are already suffering from a depression because of Gambling. I'm not an economist but looking at the taxes that is being paid of the Casinos, I guess its one of the main source of income of the government, just like in Vegas and Macau.

[jrrsparkles]

Why we should think that when someone gambles they are addicted to it and highly depressed?

Nowadays, its rare to see anyone without social media and its a proved fact that social media addict is highly destructive to their mental strength and over time they will become less capable of doing anything.While the social media companies are the most profitable companies in this world.

[qwertyup23]

1. Gambling in fact has many negative externalities. If someone gets addicted, the likelihood is much higher to be depressed. Depression is factor, which leads to high costs for the society.

2. Gambling addiction leads to economic costs because of crime actions. Other market actors have to increase their security standards, which means higher costs.

3. Many gambling addicts go as a consequence to jail. Jail means EXTREMELY high costs to society.

What are your thoughts on this topic?

While I do mostly agree with the points you raised, the claims that you made are all fallacious, being a slippery slope.

Any addiction caused to a person has always its negative externalities, not just gambling. While gambling may be considered one of those addictions that are common, you must also consider those other addictions as they contribute to the costs in society.

In addition, while those negative externalities in gambling are present, you cannot escape the fact that gambling brings revenue to the government. The revenue garnered from these gambling establishments enable to government to construct infrastructures which bring positive externalities as a result.

It is thus, imperative to know where to draw the line on how to balance these negative and positive externalities. While the result of gambling addiction is detrimental to the society, we also cannot disregard the financial aspect on how it brings revenue to the government.

[$crypto$]

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1. People can get addicted to anything. Yeah, getting addicted is not a good thing. There are places and organizations that help with addiction. If you think you are or someone you know is suffering from addiction, then get help for you or them.

2. Not everyone who gambles are involved with crime.

3. I though they go to the streets and become homeless haha.

I think addiction is a tough thing we should not be a part of because it will be a huge economic cost in our family so it is a big problem and gambling is one of the wrong directions if they are not mentally strong when facing reality after a big mistake.

I see many neighborhoods in my area that have become criminals due to depression and become a financial cost to the family. I think we shouldn't be gambling if we are not strong I will try not to be a part of gambling because for me I can resist the temptation of addiction

[adzino]

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I see many neighborhoods in my area that have become criminals due to depression and become a financial cost to the family.

You are saying people become criminals due to depression? Its wrong and very insensitive of you to say things like this. Have you ever met a person who suffers from depression? Calling them criminals or judging them make things worse for them. If you think depressed people tend to become criminals and are a financial burden to their families, you should never try to interact with one. You will just be harming them more. Try to learn a bit more about depression. And please don't think I am being hostile or anything towards you .

[bitzizzix]

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I see many neighborhoods in my area that have become criminals due to depression and become a financial cost to the family.

You are saying people become criminals due to depression? Its wrong and very insensitive of you to say things like this. Have you ever met a person who suffers from depression? Calling them criminals or judging them make things worse for them. If you think depressed people tend to become criminals and are a financial burden to their families, you should never try to interact with one. You will just be harming them more. Try to learn a bit more about depression. And please don't think I am being hostile or anything towards you .

I agree with you, someone who is depressed, this disorder can affect feelings, thoughts and behavior, causing emotional and physical problems.
what I know is a crime committed by gambling addicts who only want money to play gambling because they have no choice because they have run out of capital to gamble, so they commit crimes just to get money to gamble.

[just_Alice]

I think this doesn't really make sense, because such statements aren't substantiated by the real facts. If we do the numbers, things turn out quite differently.

How many gamblers out there? Around 25%, according to some sources.

How many compulsive gamblers are out there? About 1% if we judge by the statistics in the US.

And the % of those compulsive gamblers that lead to economic costs due to criminal actions and jail would be even smaller...

On the other hand, we know that the gambling industry is very profitable. This means, that in case gambling is legislated - the revenue from the taxes is huge, which benefits the economy. As an example: https://igamingbusiness.com/us-gambling-revenue-reaches-record-equalling-11bn-for-q1/

So, when making assumptions like that, we should look at both sides of the medal. Overall, considering a really small percentage of the actual damage, that can be done by gambling addicts, the revenue from this industry might actually overlap the costs.

[fiulpro]

Well I do think the only reason it's still legal is because all these things mentioned are a small percentage of overall picture. All the parties are successful in obtaining benefits from it which goes for the long term. There are cases like India where gambling is not allowed but crypto gambling perse is very prominent in the whole nation, since people earn from it, the gambling companies and also the government alike. The total percentage of positive effects greatly outlaw the negative one's. Therefore I do think we have no right to call out the negative effects as long as we do an in-depth analysis, which would greatly vary country to country and region to region.
But at the end of the day I do think you can also look at this situation personally. How did gambling affect you ?

[Twinkledoe]

I think this doesn't really make sense, because such statements aren't substantiated by the real facts. If we do the numbers, things turn out quite differently.

How many gamblers out there? Around 25%, according to some sources.

How many compulsive gamblers are out there? About 1% if we judge by the statistics in the US.

And the % of those compulsive gamblers that lead to economic costs due to criminal actions and jail would be even smaller...

On the other hand, we know that the gambling industry is very profitable. This means, that in case gambling is legislated - the revenue from the taxes is huge, which benefits the economy. As an example: https://igamingbusiness.com/us-gambling-revenue-reaches-record-equalling-11bn-for-q1/

So, when making assumptions like that, we should look at both sides of the medal. Overall, considering a really small percentage of the actual damage, that can be done by gambling addicts, the revenue from this industry might actually overlap the costs.

You have a very good point on this. The revenue coming from gambling alone should cover those actual damages coming from the situations brought by gambling and they have a lot more left over. This is why gambling is a very lucrative business. Why do you think government-lottery business can cover a lot of charitable activities? It is no secret that gambling addicts bring a lot of problems to the society but you are correct, one needs to check both sides of the coin here.

[Gaaara]

Gambling actually is beneficial for economy, casinos' and other gambling establishment pays taxes and provide jobs it's the reason why gambling will always be a part of economy in some country. Illegal gambling on the other hand has no benefits at all, of course there is a reason why it's called illegal.

1. Gambling in fact has many negative externalities. If someone gets addicted, the likelihood is much higher to be depressed. Depression is factor, which leads to high costs for the society.

2. Gambling addiction leads to economic costs because of crime actions. Other market actors have to increase their security standards, which means higher costs.

3. Many gambling addicts go as a consequence to jail. Jail means EXTREMELY high costs to society.

What are your thoughts on this topic?

I don't agree with this, gambling addiction is a problem that caused by the gambler itself. Being a gambling addict is already a mental disorder and it doesn't need to become a depression just to be noticed or treated, if someone is indeed goes to jail because of depression there no way to know that it's the gambling that causes it.

The main reason why I disagree is that Gambling is just a factor for depression and with or without Gambling a person can build depression nonetheless, so gambling can be a factor but cannot be a major reason for these crime actions, meaning it eliminates the argument of gambling directly affecting the economy. Gambling does affect the economy directly but not because of this reason.

[3meek]

I think prison or crime is not the economic component of gambling, but the social component!
If you look at the economics - it's probably a plus for the state, since legal casinos pay a good percentage for their activities and buy expensive licenses...

By the way, it is wrong to argue that "many" gamblers go to jail or face crime!

[uneng]

These are things that exist in our societies with or without gambling addiction. Externalities are part of our daily life and although it's an absurd we have to pay for most of them, there is nothing we can do about it. Only politicians have the power to change the rules which could make everything works fairly.

1. Gambling in fact has many negative externalities. If someone gets addicted, the likelihood is much higher to be depressed. Depression is factor, which leads to high costs for the society.

Depression is about health, so I think people have a more empathic approach on this matter. It's an acceptable externality.

2. Gambling addiction leads to economic costs because of crime actions. Other market actors have to increase their security standards, which means higher costs.

Raising security standards I think it's not an externality, because you are paying for a service which is going to benefit you directly. Externality would be you paying security standards for someone else who doesn't even live near you.

3. Many gambling addicts go as a consequence to jail. Jail means EXTREMELY high costs to society.

Jail shouldn't have a cost for the society. The prisioner should work inside it to be able to pay for his family and his own living costs.

[TravelMug]

But the question is why in some parts of the world, gambling is allowed like in some US state. Right, even if we picture that there is this so could "economic cost of gambling", government as making huge money from taxes, so I guess it even out everything. If there is a negative effect, there could be some corresponding positive though. Just look at Macau now, once a unknown country, but they the government allow the nation to be the Las Vegas of Asia, it gain some attention, become a tourist spot, giving jobs to the population and of course earning revenues for the government.

[passwordnow]

Why is it that the negatives were only stated? Gambling is a big contributor a country's economy, think about Las Vegas, Macau and other countries that have been opened and known to be the gambling capitals. It is one of the main reasons why they've opened it because it generates money that's helping the economy of their country and local which had brought jobs and taxes. As a gambler, those things are very common and we know that negative effects will occur if we're not careful and if we cannot control ourselves as we gamble.