Kairat Murzabaev

Mr.Hilgeman

Writing S1

March 29, 2017

The Dark Side of Gambling

Have you ever thought of going from rags to riches? Probably yes, and one of the

ways people can do that is by gambling. Gambling is an activity of playing a game for a

chance for money at a casino, sport center, bingo, lottery, etc. Some people, after some time,

think about starting gambling, but thats not the best choice. Gambling has a bigger and much

more negative impact on the gambler rather than positive.

First of all there might be financial problems. There are plenty of gamblers who get

into debts. According to debt.org, there are about 23 million Americans who get into debts

due to gambling. In total American gamblers lost about 119 billion of dollars in 2014. More

than 20% of fanatical gamblers get forced to sign for bankruptcy (debt.org). The gamblers

also might get into overdue bills, might be short on money, might get there home in

foreclosure, or sometimes even properties are repossessed, and their pay credits may grow

every day. (businessinsider.com) An example to that is, Keith Gillespie lost 7,215,875

because of gambling. Keith Gillespie was a young and a perspective football player in

Manchester United. He didnt just lose a lot of money, but he also lost his property due to

gambling. (telegraph.co.uk).

According to problemgambling.ca, because of gambling personal problems may occur

such as family problems or depression. Gambling can lead to break up or even to divorce.

This could even affect the kids, since they feel forgotten, depressed or angry. The kids can get

into trouble in school or even outside. They may start using drugs or drinking alcohol,
gamble, or break laws to get attention. Anxiety and depression also are effects of gambling.

The gambler starts to feel angry, lose interest in sex, lose interest in usual activities or

hobbies, and they start to think about committing suicide (problemgambling.ca). One of the

people who committed suicide due to gambling was Joshua Jones. He jumped out of a PwC

building on the South Bank on July 30, 2015. The motives of his death were loans and debts

he got in. He got a job in PwC, which is one of the worlds most prestige accountancy firms,

but still he doubted that he could get out of the situation. (telegraph.co.uk)

If you start thinking about gambling keep in mind there are a lot of cheaters and

scammers. Website the Ranker tells about two of the most known cheaters in the casino

world: Richard Marcus and Dominic LoRiggio. Richard Marcus got forced to leave Las

Vegas because of his gambling experience. He then became a dealer in blackjack and

baccarat. That gave him a new view of casinos. Using his position as dealer he got millions of

dollars by using a simple trick sleight of hand. Dominic The Denominator LoRiggio was

another example of a cheater. LoRiggio mastered controlled shooting in the game of

blackjack and craps tables. The point of the technique was to throw the dice to the numbers

that he needed. (Ranker) In sport betting people also get scammed. One of the ways is point

shaving. Point shaving is the highly illegal act of purposefully holding down the score of a

sporting event, in order to impact who will win bets against a point spread. Some examples

of point shaving was the CCNY 1951 and NBA 2005-2007. In the NBA the referees bet on

the team they will ref in, and purposely affected the games in turn to them (thoughtco.com).

The casinos as well trick the people. For example they hide the progression of time,

so the people would spend more time in the casino. They manage the casino so everyone will

see the win, so other people get confidence in playing too. The use of chips rather than cash is

also one hidden trick since it makes the person use the rest of the chips instead of changing

the chip back to cash. They also offer free drinks, so the person under alcoholic state is more
likely to risk. (business insider)

The only counter argument of gambling is you can hit the big win. The probability

of that happening is extremely low, and if someone manages to do it he still wasted a lot of

money on the way. The 50/50 win isnt actually the chance you think you play. Gambling

managements use the technique of expected value, so you just wont get the entire win.

(Quora) When gamblers gamble there always a mathematical opposition against him

winning, so the casinos insure that they wont lose the money to gamblers. An example to it

is the game of Blackjack where the rule of big numbers plays a big role. (THE ODDS OF

GAMBLING) The big win doesn't overweigh all the risks and chances of losing.

Remember that there arent only statistics, but there are examples to prove it like

Keith Gillespie situation or the death of Joshua Jones. Gambling has very bad and big

consequences, and all of the big wins arent worth the chances of that of that happening.

The negative side of gambling is worse than the positive side.

Works Cited

Fay, Max. "Gambling and Debt - Problems & Compulsive Behavior." Debt.org. AFSLR, n.d.
 Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

"Financial Consequences." Nevada Council on Problem Gambling. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar.

2017.

"Gambling 101." The Effects of Gambling. Problem Gambling Institute of Ontario, n.d. Web.

14 Mar. 2017.

Kane, Libby. "9 Tricks Casinos Use To Make You Spend More Money." Business Insider.

Business Insider, 19 Aug. 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

McBride, Lorraine. "Keith Gillespie: How I blew 7,215,875." The Telegraph. Telegraph

Media Group, 27 Apr. 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

Shi, David, and Mike MacHenry. "How does house always win in gambling, even if the

chances are 50-50?" Quora. N.p., 7 Nov. 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2017 .

"The Biggest Casino Cheaters in History." Ranker. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

"THE ODDS OF GAMBLING ." FRONTLINE. PBS, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2017 .

Turner, Camilla. "Young accountant was driven to suicide by gambling addiction, his father

says." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 27 Apr. 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

Zegers, Charlie. "The Illegal Point Shaving Scheme." ThoughtCo. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar.

2017.