Changing Perception About Gambling

[coin-investor]

This really happened:
I have a neighbor who hates any form of gambling, and he wants gambling to be banned; at one time, we argued, and I argued that here in our country, taxes coming from gambling are a big help to the poorest of the poor, so he should not support banning and just let people bet. Still, it seems back then nothing can change his mind.

Then one day it happened one of his loved ones needed an operation and medication, and since he was poor he had no money to use for the operation and to buy medicines, but one of his relatives advised him to go to the hospital's social welfare and with the help of the social welfare and the taxes coming from gambling that's allocated for the health sector his loved one was operated, and he got free medications.

With this, his perception of gambling changed. He now supports betting on the lottery and sometimes takes a chance by betting as a way to thank the agency and, at the same time, try to win the jackpot.

How about you what made you change your perception of gambling from negative to positive?
Or what will make you change your perception?

Let's have a discussion on this.

Reference on this discussion :
PAGCOR helps fund health, education, sports programs

Note: I'll be locking this thread after 40 replies or three days after this creation.

[Oshosondy]

I have a neighbor who hates any form of gambling, and he wants gambling to be banned; at one time, we argued, and I argued that here in our country, taxes coming from gambling are a big help to the poorest of the poor, so he should not support banning and just let people bet. Still, it seems back then nothing can change his mind.

What country are you from? In my country, the poor will only suffer or work hard. The government are the ones that have the highest payment from the revenues the government are generating from taxes and other sources.

I am a man that think not on one side. This makes me not to hate gambling right from when I know that gambling exists. But I always wish people will understand gambling before they are gambling because gambling is very risky. Only little amount of money like 1% of your weekly income should be as bankroll for gambling.

[aioc]

We are from the same country as OP yes, gambling is legal in our country, but with strict restrictions; when I was not yet betting, I also did not like gambling, but after seeing the big allocations and the many schools, hospitals, and medical equipment bought by Pagcor and PCSO the two agencies that manage the gambling operation in our country, we become supportive, there is no free hospitalization in our country you need to be part of the poor sector to avail of this help.
Gambling is considered evil by many, but for some people, it's a blessing for their needs.

[HONDACD125]

I have never had a bad or negative perception of gambling or have been against it, the thing that I'm against is irresponsible gambling and people who don't understand that gambling is a game of luck and not a place for them to make a fortune and you can't keep pushing yourself trying to hit a jackpot or something because that isn't how it works. Just gamble normally, make your bets without trying to increase them, and if you are lucky, you will get something out of it, and if you are not, you will lose what you have deposited, and one should make sure they deposit what they can afford to lose.

In countries where gambling is legal it is true that the taxes collected by the state from gamblers and gambling platforms are used for good causes if the government is honest and good and doesn't use funds for personal growth and increasing personal wealth and resources.

[Obari]

One funny thing is that, the only major thing that will drag me and keep me gambling to make some extra cash and that’s one bitter truth that every gambler will be shying away from saying but it’s the obvious truth.
If I’m not wrong, I was attracted to gambling from a friends winning and I wanted to experience what winning from gambling was and I could remember when the winning was constant that every time I was fed to gamble but I had to redress my footsteps and seeing that, I was gambling more than expected, had to pause for a while and when I got back, I did gambled on a very strict principles.

[Egii Nna]

I am actually inspired by your country's ideas to allocate tax from the gambling sector in order to help the poor, which is actually a good one because some countries have no concern about that, which will go a long way to making it easy for the poor and not letting the poor go astray if it is in some country that a neighbour of yours will either forfeit his mother to die or go and get a loan, if they can give him one, but with this innovation of your country. The poor will have no worries about such things and will have to support gambling in any way because they have no option, and the neighbour might even have a slight chance of becoming a gambler because he will believe in gambling with his life and he will not allow anyone to see gambling on the negative side. 

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Right from when I became aware of gambling, I did not hate it rather I was only scared of losing my money because I do see friends who usually complain to have lose their money in gambling and also those that are rejoicing over their wins.
One thing I understand is that most people that hate gambling are people that have misconception about gambling or due to how some of them have been brainwashed in their tradition or religion. Some of them too are judging gambling based on the side effects it had on some addicted fellows.

[danherbias07]

I am against gambling when it's my loved ones who are doing it. That's why I am avoiding letting them know that I am gambling so that no questions will be asked and it won't make them curious about it.

Regarding the change of point of view about gambling, there was a cockpit near the residential area here in our place, and at first, I was against it. I told my neighbors that it could ruin the life of the people in our neighborhood and so do our kids in the future when they grow up.
But it all changed when I saw the changes in our city especially the upgrades in the road near us. I was told most of the funds came from that cockpit that was made and I also heard that the taxes were so high that even the gamblers cannot feel their profit if they are betting low amounts only. That's where I said to myself that it's okay but still I want strict regulations and entry of minors should not be allowed.

[Accardo]

Looking at the help the person received via gambling which is enough to change anybody's perception of gambling including another forum member who accepted to have a changed perspective of gambling because of such organisation, it's certainly hard not to change how we see gambling after being cured of illness through gambling money. Have never had any wrong perspective about gamblers. Since it's not being forced on people to become gamblers.

Even though it has to do with our emotions, gamblers have choices. Non-gamblers also have their decisions on what to say, think or do. I'd admit that they are some activities which wasn't acceptable by my thoughts, but after getting helped through it, my perspective about it changed. It's more like helping someone who never liked us, they'll definitely change the way they think about us.

[Yatsan]

Well that escalated quickly. Personally, I don't condemn those people who are against gambling because they have their own reasons why also, it is indeed addictive and many people just happened to lack self-discipline to not be one with those cases. Gambling is just an activity, as we all know but the fate and outcome a gambler has, depends on how he/she would do things whether he/she would allow him/herself to be too carried away by emotions whenever they're in gambling sites. As gamblers, we are all prone to addiction. It is just self-control which puts us away from that risk. They might had a bad experience with gambling which resulted to hatred on their end and if you know to yourself that you're a responsible one, just embrace it and keep it as a reminder than to just go up against the idea because of our ego.

[Cantsay]

How about you what made you change your perception of gambling from negative to positive?
Or what will make you change your perception?

I still have the same mindset I had before I started gambling I.e gambling is both good and bad - it is bad in the sense that being addicted could ruin your life and make you useless in life and it’s good in the sense that one could use it as a means of entertainment and also get to make money from it (if they know what they are doing).

In my country there’s nothing like this in the gambling industry - I haven’t heard of anything gambling related that was used by the government to settle one section of the public needs, the most recent news I heard was that gambling was going to be banned in the country due to the high rate of users that are swarming into it.

[Distinctin]

This is a lottery owned and operated by the government, so it's just right that the funds or revenue is used to help the poor. However, this isn't the game that is so addictive as there are other games out there that are more fun to play because of the better chances for gamblers, making them more addictive as they're challenging.

A lot of money would be collected by the government from gambling, but they also have to balance it so that it doesn't increase the poverty problem. Without control, poor people might become addicted to gambling as they are easy targets due to their desperation to make money. For the lottery, I think we can make an exception since it only requires a small, very affordable amount to bet.

[GxSTxV]

It is the first time realizing that some countries are using the Taxes coming from gambling to help poor people in need, or even some organizations themselves are giving away money collected from gamblers to needy people. I believe that my short knowledge about gambling is due to prohibition of gambling in our country, where the only form of gambling that exists is one TV lotto game, and also only casinos that the government itself can’t ban or do anything against it.
This story shows a positive side of gambling, although it is not good to make people and gamblers feel that this activity is less risky since it is played by many. One of the negative effects of gambling is making you lose everything you have, turning you to a poor person. So how logically can be more positive than negative, knowing that gamblers without moderation are so close to getting addicted.

[mu_enrico]

In general, my position is not binary positive or negative, it depends on (1) the income and (2) the self-control/psychology of the players. If he/she can afford gambling and has the necessary self-control then you can say that gambling is just as positive/negative as other entertainment.

However, from a personal perspective, I think it will vary depending on who you talk to. For someone who got rekt or hardcore religious, surely it will be negative. But for those including me who get many benefits from signature and love of the game, it will be positive. It will change tho if I don't get the benefit anymore since gambling is an expensive form of entertainment.

[YOSHIE]

How about you what made you change your perception of gambling from negative to positive?
Or what will make you change your perception?

There is no change in perception, we know that some of the taxes from gambling are used for social assistance, it's just that people don't understand where the taxes from gambling are taken, After he found out that the funds from the gambling tax were partly used for medical/social assistance, he kept quiet and realized the benefits of the gambling tax.

I really understand the gambling industry in my country, from one point it is prohibited and another side it is legal, so here I understand whether I support it or not, the point is that gambling continues as it is, it really is not prohibited, because the gambling tax is beneficial for the poor, as in the case OP said, what is clear to me is that there is no overall perception, of course I never said that I don't support it and don't order it, just do whatever is there and enjoy it.

[Frankolala]

A lot of people don't know that casinos do contribute their little quarter to charity organizations and for free health care to government, that is why they are always criticizing gambling. It was when I was growing up that I thought I will not engage in gambling but as I grew up to understand that it isn't bad the way some folks talk about it. I found myself gambling and I don't criticize gambling.

Note: I'll be locking this thread after 40 replies or three days after this creation.

Must you write this on your recent topics. The last time I checked the first topic you created writing that quoted sentence is on the third page and you have not locked it.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

This really happened:
I have a neighbor who hates any form of gambling, and he wants gambling to be banned; at one time, we argued, and I argued that here in our country, taxes coming from gambling are a big help to the poorest of the poor, so he should not support banning and just let people bet. Still, it seems back then nothing can change his mind.

Then one day it happened one of his loved ones needed an operation and medication, and since he was poor he had no money to use for the operation and to buy medicines, but one of his relatives advised him to go to the hospital's social welfare and with the help of the social welfare and the taxes coming from gambling that's allocated for the health sector his loved one was operated, and he got free medications.

With this, his perception of gambling changed. He now supports betting on the lottery and sometimes takes a chance by betting as a way to thank the agency and, at the same time, try to win the jackpot.

How about you what made you change your perception of gambling from negative to positive?
Or what will make you change your perception?

Let's have a discussion on this.

Haha, I am not surprised really, for I too used to have the same perception about gambling and wished the government can just ban it for the general good of the entire society, since I really used to believe that only irresponsible people are the ones who are gambling, and the majority of them are criminals, kidnappers and participants in all sorts of crime in our society.

But then in my work.place, a new guy was employed, he was a very good guy, we got talking and after several months of him working in the same shift with me, we became tight friends, he helped me when he can and I also did same when I can, we became really close to each other, and this was when I discovered that he was a gambler, he he often spent a few dollars on gambling on every weekend, I have liked him to the extent that it was now impossible to hate him because he was a gambler, and amazingly, he was a very hardworking and responsible young man, this alone changed my initial perception that only irresponsible people gambled.
I tried advising him to stop but he insisted that nothing is wrong with him gambling, so I watched, and one day, he won a really good amount of money, one that is more than enough to change my life for good completely, this was when I got interest in gambling myself.

[C10H15N]

Nothing is going to make me change my perception of gambling.  At best it is a form of entertainment, at worst a life destroying addiction.

Do I choose to gamble?  No.  I don't have the knowledge to improve my probability of winning on sports wagering or the skill to do the same against opponents (poker, etc.).
Pure probability gambling (lotteries, slots, roulette, etc.) are off the table since I understand basic mathematics.

What I do understand is the human desire to win even against (or while ignoring or failing to understand) the odds, so I invest in casinos (MGM Grand, Las Vegas Sands), gambling related real estate (Vici Properties), and firms that support and provide equipment and management to gambling operations (Gaming International).

tl;dr:  I make money off gamblers, not gambling. 😎

[Viscore]

A lot of people don't know that casinos do contribute their little quarter to charity organizations and for free health care to government, that is why they are always criticizing gambling. It was when I was growing up that I thought I will not engage in gambling but as I grew up to understand that it isn't bad the way some folks talk about it. I found myself gambling and I don't criticize gambling.

You are talking about casinos run by the government or private casinos?

If it's run by the government, of course the revenue or net income will go to the people and the development of the country. However, if it's a private casino that is regulated by the government, they can only get a certain percentage of the income of the casinos. As for the casinos, we don't know where their money is going after paying taxes because they don't have any other responsibility aside from paying taxes and licensing fees.

PCSO, or the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, is the organization running this business. I think there was also a topic before about corruption within the government agency, but let us not dig into that. We just have to focus on the benefits to the people from this government-owned lottery business.

[Dewi Aries]

From the beginning I got to know gambling, I knew that gambling is a risky activity and can have a bad impact on someone's life, but that doesn't mean I have a bad perception of this activity, because on the other hand I also see the positive side of this activity which I can use to fill my life. My free time is boring, especially on weekends, meaning I have a neutral perception of these activities according to my understanding.

Everyone is free to choose and everyone is also free to determine their point of view on everything they find, but I will say one thing simply that whether gambling is good or bad according to someone ultimately depends on how you understand the activity, and if If you are a gambler then it also depends on how you treat this activity, because of course gambling will open the door to various bad disasters if the person treats it in the wrong way.