Gambling *Moved from Singles*

[Penumbra]

There are not too many things in life that are not a gamble.

Risking the fruit of your labour at the Casino is no less gambling than:

-Buying a stock you think will rise in price
-Buying land you think will appreciate in price
-Buying or entering a business/partnership that you think will make a profit
-Devoting time to a skill that you think will be marketable
-Giving your $$ to a preacher or a church with the primary motive of reaping a greater financial reward

Put simply, "gambling" is any endevour where one will risk their time/work(which is represented by $$) in the hope of reaping something greater from it in the same form (other's time/work, represented by $$)

Doing this at the Casino is generally foolhardy - since all the odds on every game (except poker, where you are simply paying to use the venue) are against you.

Morally, I do not see the problem with it, unless:

You gamble money you cannot afford to lose
Your gambling hurts someone else
Gambling causes you to covet someone else's things - for instance, I will not play poker with friends for anything but pocket change.
It consumes your life and affects charity

I personally have won quite a few thousand dollars(after losses) over the course of the last year playing a specific bet at the Casino which I know has the smallest odds against me (in other words, the Casino has a very very small advantage). I have to recognise that it is still foolhardy though. Winning can be a trap.

It's true that virtually everything in life is a gamble. Even driving a car is gambling.

I disagree that those things are "no less gambling" than casinos, though. In a casino, the odds are stacked against you, and there are few or no legal ways of hedging the bet in your favor. With things like buying stock, developing a skill, entering business partnerships, and so forth, you're making an educated decision (at least hopefully ). The odds are not necessarily stacked against you, and you can do a lot of things to drastically increase your odds of success. So there is a probability of failure (like anything in life), but it's far removed from the type of gambling found in casinos.

-Lyn

 

[Stravinsk]

It's true that virtually everything in life is a gamble. Even driving a car is gambling.

I disagree that those things are "no less gambling" than casinos, though. In a casino, the odds are stacked against you, and there are few or no legal ways of hedging the bet in your favor. With things like buying stock, developing a skill, entering business partnerships, and so forth, you're making an educated decision (at least hopefully ). The odds are not necessarily stacked against you, and you can do a lot of things to drastically increase your odds of success. So there is a probability of failure (like anything in life), but it's far removed from the type of gambling found in casinos.

-Lyn

Which is why I said this:

Doing this at the Casino is generally foolhardy - since all the odds on every game (except poker, where you are simply paying to use the venue) are against you.

All the things I listed are a gamble. It comes down to probability and smart "betting".

I could buy a peice of land only to find Council wants to build a nuclear plant or airport next to it.

I can buy a stock on a thorough investigation of it's balance sheet only to find that the Fed hikes up interest rates to the sky and my stock's price plumetts - or some new law/regulation comes into affect that I couldn't foresee that also affects the price negatively.

I could put my money into a business that fails because of intense competition or even a false rumor about my product leaked into media.

I could go to school and learn a skill only to find that supply has drastically outstripped demand for that skill and once again I must accept the lower pay/competition for a job so many people are going for.

On the whole, casino gambling is more foolhardy than any of the above(because of the odds), but it is still a gamble in the sense that it involves risk for only the possibility of greater reward.

 

[MostRadicalManEver]

Rom 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Do you gamble with Faith?

Lets cast lots about this!

 

[HeKnowsMyName]

MOD HAT ON

This thread has been moved from Singles in order to comply with the rules. A few posts were edited/deleted to keep the thread on topic. If you have any questions, you may send me or any other mod a PM.

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