Should mentally unstable people be allowed to gamble?

[Ziskinberg]

The title of this thread is quite misleading if we will try to avaluate your statement.

People that does look untidy does not necessarily mean they have unstable mind. Perhaps they are just not financially well, they are living a simple life doing some hard labor, but as long as they are thinking straight, they should be treated with respect, as they are human who have contribution to the community.

Now, if your questions is "Should mentally unstable people be allowed to gamble?", the answer should be a big NO.

[Rufsilf]

If he doesn't do something foolish, then let him be, ignore him, and respect his privacy. Knowing that you ask the attendant, she readily confirms to you that he doesn't misbehave and that, despite his appearance, she was already at ease having him as a frequent customer.

In a situation of mental instability, it is possible that a person has developed a gambling addiction while under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs. Moreover, it goes without saying that a bartender may have an ethical duty to step in and stop a mentally unstable customer from partaking in risky activities if they see that person is unstable and likely to be harmed by gambling. We should not determine someone's mental stability based solely on their outward look. We don't have the same perspective, and I'm aware that a lot of people may judge you by the way you look or make judgments.  As many have said to me, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

[GideonGono]

Recently I was around a physical bet shop close to my area and I observed a man who was shabbily dressed walking in the gambling house. I got into the place to observe what his intentions were. He walked straight to the gaming attendant, placed his bets in a highly coordinated manner and quietly walked out of the physical gambling house. From the way he was well organized, you will never know that he was mentally unsound apart from his dirty clothes and unkept hair and beard.

When I inquired from the attendant, she said he was a regular customer and that he usually raised money for gambling through the manual jobs he does around the area. She also told me that he has never misbehaved and acted violently in the gambling house so she was comfortable with him.

My question now is are there any moral, ethical or legal obligation to bar a person from gambling after physically observing that he is mentally unstable?

For me if you we would base it on your story, there is no reason to not to allow that person to gamble since he is working and doesn't disturb other gamblers on the area.
He might be having some personal problem and gambling might be his way to stay sane, but if you are talking about those people who are making some scenes on gambling house then yes they should be ban.
The way he acted base on your story is pretty much normal, it is just the way he looks that makes you think that he is mentally unstable.

[Westinhome]

Recently I was around a physical bet shop close to my area and I observed a man who was shabbily dressed walking in the gambling house. I got into the place to observe what his intentions were. He walked straight to the gaming attendant, placed his bets in a highly coordinated manner and quietly walked out of the physical gambling house. From the way he was well organized, you will never know that he was mentally unsound apart from his dirty clothes and unkept hair and beard.

When I inquired from the attendant, she said he was a regular customer and that he usually raised money for gambling through the manual jobs he does around the area. She also told me that he has never misbehaved and acted violently in the gambling house so she was comfortable with him.

My question now is are there any moral, ethical or legal obligation to bar a person from gambling after physically observing that he is mentally unstable?

We should consider the gamblers is mental strong or not,because physical experience from the gambling is not the important one.Many gamblers have been gamblers from the longer will not give the importance to the physical appearance.Because physical appearance need of some dollars to spend on the cloths and the gamblers can use the same money in the gambling to multiple the money.As you said if the gamblers would not act violently after the game loss,it seems like the professional behaviour.For this reason the gambler with worst physical appearance are allowed the gambler to play in the gambling site.

[taufik123]

Gambling is for everyone. I believe if that person life is not being affected badly then I don’t find the need to ban them on gambling which probably gave them entertainment despite they have some mental problem.

Not for everyone, there will be an age limit for gambling, so minors should not do it.
Gambling will indeed be entertainment when they treat gambling like a game that will only produce its own satisfaction in playing,
not produce addiction that will spend money very quickly.

In your example, the subject is a regular which means he is doing it for a long time without any problem. The situation might be worst if you stop them playing which they regularly do since they are mentally unstable.

More importantly on this topic. If mentally unstable still can enjoy the game then they should be allowed to play or else they will be discriminated.

It is quite difficult when someone is mentally unstable, because there are many reasons about what they will do so that they can cure their mental problems.

Mental problems can also be due to gambling that is always losing and always wanting to do it.
The wisest thing is to adjust what is really needed to overcome the mental problem.
If gambling is an entertainment to be done, then there must be control over it all.

[BitcoinPanther]

People have the right to gamble.  As long as they do not cause any trooubles to others, I think they can keep their right to gamble whatever the status of their mind is.

If we limit people who have mental issue to gamble then that will be labeled as discrimination.  As long as they are in the right age I believe they can gamble as long as they wanted.

[Hispo]

That example you gave in the OP does not necessarily is the case of a person who is mentally unstable, in my opinion, we could be talking about a person who is mentally okey but does not completely take care of his apparence or clothes as other do, actually here where I live there are many places where people do mechanical works and other odds works, so it is common for them to be dressed in oil stained and slashed clothes all day, some of them could also step in a gambling/betting place to set their Bets before going and continue to work.

Now, if we were talking about someone who we would 100% sure is suffering from mental illnesses which impaired them in someway, then there would not much the casino operator could do to isolate that person from gambling anyways, as long the person behaves, is an adult and can pay for the bets, there is no legal grounds for them to deny the services to those people. It would take the ill person themselves to express their decision not to be admitted in the establishment again, for them to be excluded.

[Woodie]

In this scenario the gambling house reserves the right to allow or deny certain users access to their facility, and the fact that this guy has not misbehaved around their premises has won the benefit of the doubt to keep being a patron and place his bets with no issues... besides without any proof of his unsound mental capacity isn't it considered discrimination to some degree and with the right person you can sue these guys and win

People have the right to gamble.  As long as they do not cause any trooubles to others, I think they can keep their right to gamble whatever the status of their mind is.

But when it comes to accessing these premises, isn't this a privilege unlike being a right

[Tipstar]

The problem is it's difficult to decide if a person is mentally unstable or not and even if he/she has a medical record, it's difficult and not a good idea to tag and prevent them on something simple as opening a bank account or using internet, which are enough to start gambling.
The people that are financially responsible for such people can limit their use by budgeting and asking for bills but if the person is financially independent and has no legal obligation, we can't just restrict them for using their money anyway they want.

[klidex]

If the person is mentally unstable, it would be better for officers or employees to refuse the person to enter and gamble at the casino. But seeing what had happened, it seemed that the person had no intention other than just gambling like other people, so the officers just let him do it. But if the person started acting out of bounds, the officers would take the person into custody and tell him to leave and never enter the casino again.

It may be a moral obligation to prohibit someone who wants to gamble but has a mental disorder. The officer in one place doesn't want any commotion at his place of work so he will supervise someone who is mentally disturbed so that they don't make a commotion.

From the OP's story, the person only wanted to gamble and didn't want to cause any trouble, so the officers felt safe as long as the person was gambling with their own money. Moreover, there are no rules whatsoever that prohibit someone in shabby clothes from coming to an offline casino, it's just that it might make you uncomfortable other people see it. In my opinion, not everyone who dresses shabbily is someone who has a mental disorder and it could be that this person is a gambler who is addicted so he doesn't have time to take care of his clothes and take care of his cleanliness, he is just trying to get money to continue gambling, hoping that one day he will get lucky the big one.

If someone is clearly seen having a mental disorder and is causing trouble, officers will definitely take action and try to evict the person, because it is impossible for workers at the casino to just watch a person with a mental disorder enter the casino, which will make the customers uncomfortable. So in conclusion, as long as the gambler still has enough money just to gamble, I don't think it's a big problem, after all it will increase the profits of the casino itself.

[Hirose UK]

Judging someone just by their appearance doesn't seem to be the right way because they could have left home and become homeless or they might be someone who lives on the streets so they look like someone who is in mental or emotional trouble.
People who experience mental or psychological disorders will of course never be able to think about making money and gambling and the person you meet still has way to make money and he can still think about making predictions about what to bet on.
After all, he still has good attitude and never does anything bad.
From here, can he be called person with mental or mental disorders?

If we are talking about whether someone who has mental disorder can gamble then the answer depends on the person himself whether he actually likes gambling or not and also what role his family plays.
People with mental problems usually have more difficulty controlling themselves and of course this will be very influential in gambling, they must be able to cure the mental problems they experience before actually carrying out any gambling activities.
Moreover, there will not be any prohibitions related to this problem, the only prohibitions may be those made by the casino owners themselves, not from the law or anything like that.

[mamesso]

A person is prohibited from entering a gambling place for several reasons, such as mental disorders, often causing trouble or getting unreasonably angry when they lose or other reasons that result in discomfort for other visitors. Gambling places are open to the public, anyone can come there as long as they don't disturb other people's comfort.
Cases like the man you observed can still be tolerated, even though he is dressed shabbily and looks unkempt, his behavior is very polite when he is in a gambling place. The reason this person got permission to enter when he first came there was probably that the people around the gambling place were already close to his character.

[EarnOnVictor]

-snip-
My question now is are there any moral, ethical or legal obligation to bar a person from gambling after physically observing that he is mentally unstable?

Before I answer your question, you never established the fact that this man is unwell, and neither did the salesperson tell you such, unless you omit that part from what you narrated here. And for someone to dress dirty doesn't mean the person is not well mentally, it might just be that the person at times doesn't care due to the nature of his job, or may just be rough. The fact that he is always well-behaved and has never for once misbehaved shows that he knows what he is doing, so we can't use his appearance to judge anyone.

For the question, it is right, moral and very ethical to bar a person who is not stable mentally from gambling, unless you are a bad person and don't have a conscience. First, the person doesn't know what he is doing, secondly, you never know the source of the money, and third, you are not helping such a person in such a bad state to gamble. To me, it is just like a rip-off. What will the madman do with the money if he wins? And what if he wins big, where will they load the money? I believe it is not just wise since that kind of a person is not with his senses, and at that stage, the only thing that people should allow him to use money for are water and drinks. Others will only amount to wickedness.

[aioc]

My question now is are there any moral, ethical or legal obligation to bar a person from gambling after physically observing that he is mentally unstable?

if they are not causing any disturbances to the betting station or anyone, there's no reason to bar them, it's their money they have the right to bet, if nothing in the betting station that says specific people are forbidden from entering, then they should be allowed, and they have to give good reasons why they are barring these people, if they do not allow them.
Gamblers have different characteristics as long as they do not cause harm or inflict damage, we should not look down on them and let them bet.

[ethereumhunter]

From the OP's story, the person only wanted to gamble and didn't want to cause any trouble, so the officers felt safe as long as the person was gambling with their own money. Moreover, there are no rules whatsoever that prohibit someone in shabby clothes from coming to an offline casino, it's just that it might make you uncomfortable other people see it. In my opinion, not everyone who dresses shabbily is someone who has a mental disorder and it could be that this person is a gambler who is addicted so he doesn't have time to take care of his clothes and take care of his cleanliness, he is just trying to get money to continue gambling, hoping that one day he will get lucky the big one.

If someone is clearly seen having a mental disorder and is causing trouble, officers will definitely take action and try to evict the person, because it is impossible for workers at the casino to just watch a person with a mental disorder enter the casino, which will make the customers uncomfortable. So in conclusion, as long as the gambler still has enough money just to gamble, I don't think it's a big problem, after all it will increase the profits of the casino itself.

Yes, that means the casino can accept someone in shabby clothes to come and gamble in the casino. Based on what has been said, the guy didn't make a scene in his casino, so the officers didn't mind if he gambled. Moreover, after gambling, he will leave the casino straight away without making a fuss about other people who are also in the casino and gambling. Unless the person often disturbs other players and makes a fuss, perhaps the officers will no longer allow him to gamble at the casino. Not all people who dress shabbily indeed have mental disorders because there could be people who dress shabbily. But he turns out to be a millionaire who gambles and doesn't want anyone to recognize him in gambling so he decides to dress shabbily. The important thing is that everything will be fine if the person doesn't disturb other players.

The officers at the casino must have recognized the people who were their regular customers because that was their job. And I think there are even people who dress neatly but often disturb people who are gambling and the officers have to be firm with them and will not allow them to return to gambling at the casino. Anyone can come to the casino as long as they are old enough to gamble and not disturb other people. The officers who work at the casino look after this because they also want to avoid any problems while they work there.

[dansus021]

Should mentally unstable people be allowed to gamble? No, I don't think so because gambling involves money and people should be mentally stable in my opinion especially in emotions because when you cannot control your emotions you will hit by an endless storm of the gambling world.

But of course, there are people who agree that people with mentally unstable should do gamble but those are just my opinion

[Z390]

Most mentally unstable people can't do gambling, they have lost part of their senses, how can they place bet on any game? Even if they can what will they use the money to do? Because mentally unstable people that I have seen struggles to even have a good conversation with stable people, there are different levels of mentally unstable, and the best ones out of all are those that can't control their emotions, but that part of losing focus on their surroundings and thinking about something that's not there is very common in them, they can't survive any gambling, it will only add more problem to their lives.

Mind you, not all those who are mentally ill dresses in rags, some actually still have that well being desire in them, they will come in good clothing and you will only know that they are mentally unstable with their behaviour in the public, if someone like them visits the casino for the first time I am sure they won't be allowed into the casino the next time, they are trouble makers and they don't even know it, due to their condition.

[Davidvictorson]

My question now is are there any moral, ethical or legal obligation to bar a person from gambling after physically observing that he is mentally unstable?

To answer this question you first need to define what mental is. Why is mental illness or mental instability. Did you know that there are many people who are mentally unstable. These people are our colleagues at work, friends at school, neighbors, and even some folks on this forum are exhibiting it. You already know.
You do not need to be violent to be categorize as a mentally ill person. In extreme cases, it is only a schizophrenic person that violent and this is when they are not in any medication to suppress the violent personality.
As long as the mentally ill person is not being disruptive, is conducting themselves appropriately and decently, there is no need to bar them from gambling if that is the little thing that gives them joy.

[Kakmakr]

How will CASINO employee be able to determine if a person is mentally challenged? They lack the qualifications to make such a determination, and should concentrate on doing the job that they were employed to do.. checking ID's and also making sure banned and self-excluded people do not enter the establishment.

I think I will be doing an experiment soon.... giving a homeless person $100 and sending him into a casino.. to see if they discriminate against certain people.  

[Betwrong]

Recently I was around a physical bet shop close to my area and I observed a man who was shabbily dressed walking in the gambling house. I got into the place to observe what his intentions were. He walked straight to the gaming attendant, placed his bets in a highly coordinated manner and quietly walked out of the physical gambling house. From the way he was well organized, you will never know that he was mentally unsound apart from his dirty clothes and unkept hair and beard.

When I inquired from the attendant, she said he was a regular customer and that he usually raised money for gambling through the manual jobs he does around the area. She also told me that he has never misbehaved and acted violently in the gambling house so she was comfortable with him.

My question now is are there any moral, ethical or legal obligation to bar a person from gambling after physically observing that he is mentally unstable?

I'll tell you this, "physically observing" is not enough. Someone can appear mental to some people while being a leader of a nation at the same time. Not allowing to such person access to a casino may cause international conflict, you know.

But if seriously I don't know if it's actually legal to bar from entrance people with dirty clothes and unkept hair and beard?