While I was writing Roll the Bones, I thought sometimes that maybe there was a good reason that no one had yet written a thorough history of world gambling–because there isn’t any interest in reading it. But I find that I’m wrong: there is already such a book out there. There’s just one problem: to read it, you have to believe that gambling is an social evil willfully unleashed by parasitical con artists.
The book is called Gambling, Don’t Bet on It, and here are some excerpts from a review in the Mich News:
The Earl of Sandwich, was a problem gambler who wouldn’t leave the gambling table long enough to eat his dinner, so his servants had no choice but to develop something he could eat with one hand while he gambled with the other. Hence the birth of the sandwich as we know it today. This tidbit from the new Kregel Publications release, Gambling, Don’t Bet on It, demonstrates the degree to which gambling can alter a lifestyle, a personality, and in this case, even our eating habits.Finally, we have the definitive book on gambling, better defined as, the game that turns into pain. It has become a religion where people faithfully worship at the Temple of Chance, genuflecting before The Wizard of Odds.
It is a totally inclusive religion that welcomes outcasts and ne’er-do-wells, along with the rich and the powerful. As long as you have a few bucks in the pocket, it’s an egalitarian community.
The big names caught in the grip of gambling’s tentacles include sports figures, religious leaders, movie stars and government officials who have been sucked into this “sophisticated” lifestyle to their ruin.
This well researched and thoroughly documented work by Dr. Rex. M. Rogers puts gambling in a perspective that has never been captured so effectively. It details a fascinating history�and yes, they did cast lots in biblical times even though it is explained how that was not considered gambling.
The author reveals the very nature of gambling, its destructiveness, those who are behind it, and how the odds are skillfully rigged against the players so that the casino must make a profit at the player’s expense (or more correctly stated, loss).
…
Those who profit from gambling do not care that people are driven to bankruptcy, homes are devastated, crime soars as gamblers begin to embezzle money to pay off gambling debts and that the suicide rate for gamblers is staggering.Readers will be astonished to learn how much money these game operators take in; the real inside story of the Indian Casinos, where the money goes and most startling of all, how you, the public are being manipulated. This book should challenge everyone to re-think participating in the so-called ‘charity gambling.’
And let no one mislead you into thinking that a casino improves an area. This book provides solid documentation of what actually happens to cities, like Atlantic City (and others) when casinos are brought in. It shows clearly how crime skyrockets, the kind of crimes that casinos attract and how much money actually goes to the community.
What is worse, the powers that be have no conscience or even concern that they are aiding and abetting an addiction that is every bit as damaging as drug, alcohol and sex addition. All they are interested in is bringing in the money.
Gambling-Don’t Bet on It–Dr. Rex M. Rogers
Absolutely brilliant. Can someone explain to me how gambling “destroyed” Atlantic City. I mean, I lived there for most of my first quarter-century on earth, and I and everyone I knew felt that the casinos had created jobs and opportunity.
I personally feel that to parallel gambling and “sex addition” is a low blow, no pun intended. I guess this author doesn’t think that what happens in Vegas…you know the rest.
It’s always disturbing for me to see people who condemn “the casinos” as some monolithic force for greed. Personally, I don’t gamble, but I think that, in the scheme of things, gambling is one of the most transparent businesses in the world. Anyone with any sense of curiosity can learn the odds of the various games and what the house advantage, or profit margin, is. Can the same be said for other industries? What’s the mark-up on cars or, for that matter, medicine?
The United States is a capitalist (well, mostly capitalist) society in which people usually do things to make a buck. I don’t see the moral difference between profiting from roulette or from selling books, in most cases. I think that the industry has a responsibiltiy for those unable to control their gambling–chiefly to make sure that they do not gamble.
I can’t get over the certitude with which this guy writes: “Pit bosses and casino owners make special efforts to appeal to the young.” Pit bosses make special efforts to keep all of their dealers from asking for early outs, maybe, but working in the industry I never saw a pit boss soliciting a “young person.”
Anyway, I’ll have a copy of this book soon enough in the Gaming Collection, so if you are in Las Vegas feel free to stop by and discover its biases.