Gambling: Risky Lifestyle or Harmless Diversion?

I stopped at the 4-Way truck stop (4-Way Truck Stop, I-80 Exit 352, US 93 N Wells, NV. 9835 775-752-3336) because I was tired and needed to eat, they have a restaurant there, and fueling facilities, and slot machines. Gambling was the last thing on my mind…my "risky lifestyle" was driving long haul truck across the United States on somebody else's schedule. But on the way from the fuel desk around to the Restaurant I had to go by the slot machines and I plopped in a spare coin and poked the button just on an impulse.

Holy Moly ! The bells started ringing, the lights flashing, the coins clanging into the tray….. One nickel, so much commotion! I, being the unimaginative sort, and also darn tired and not amused by the possibilities, gathered the heap of coins into my little shoulder bag and just went on into the restaurant for a good meal, then out to my truck for my eight hours. End of gambling story for me.

(Nevada gambling laws : http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Laws/Nevada/ )

But that is not the end of the story for some people. For some the excitement is a siren song luring them into increasingly risky behavior and they seek it out on all levels at every opportunity. In 1973 a commission that was to study gambling in the United States began their report with this observation: "Gambling is inevitable. No matter what is said or done by advocates or opponents of gambling in all its various forms, it is an activity that is practiced, or tacitly endorsed, by a substantial majority of Americans." Commission on the Review of the National Policy toward Gambling-1976 p.l. Retrieved from http://www.library.ca.gov/CRB/97/03/Chapt1.html 12/28/05. A click on this link will bring you to a long, detailed and scholarly discussion of gambling covering the history of gambling in the United States, Lotteries, Indian Gaming, legal gambling, illegal gambling, economic impacts, political influence, and affect on crime.