The Marijuana of Gambling
The spectating of sports is a significant aspect of America’s culture and pastime. For instance, the NFL now practically owns a day of the week during football season. The playoff games of baseball, basketball, and football can cause us to stay awake until two in the morning watching the final minutes of each game. We love watching sports, but we love betting on sports even more. Companies, like Fanduel and Draftkings, have sprouted from within our love of betting and competition. They have established well known daily games, which cost only a few dollars and allows sports fans to challenge themselves in predicting the outcomes of games. The fan who has the closest predictions wins cash prizes. They offer hundreds of games for dozens of different sports. The probability of someone winning these chance games is small, but the general idea that they could win is enough motivation for them to play. Although each game costs only a few dollars, most sports fans do not only play one, so the cumulative price can cost fans hundreds annually. Even though this involves sports, is it
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I play cost-free fantasy football and baseball, but I know that many of my uncles and cousins bet with real money. This is a dangerous issue that is lacking the attention it needs. According to a recent survey from the National Council on Problem Gambling, around 44% of twelfth grade boys bet on sports. This illustrates how the relatively new daily fantasy sports has infiltrated the next generation of America. Daily fantasy sports have now become the Marijuana of gambling. It is now the gateway form of gambling that can introduce us, high school students, to more dangerous forms of gambling, which is similar to how marijuana can introduce us, high school students, to more dangerous drugs. Any experience with risky activity including minor gambling make us more at risk to abuse gambling in the
John Culhane reports that DraftKings employee Ethan Haskell has taken unfair advantage of the information he receives as an employee. As an employee of DraftKings, Haskell is justly forbidden from participating in DraftKings fantasy contests. However, there is nothing stopping him from entering contests in FanDuel, which functions under a system very similar to DraftKings. On September 27th, Haskell revealed that he had insider information, and that he was the “only one with this data.” With this data, Haskell outscored over 220,000 people in a contest that week and brought home $350,000. Culhane reports that many at DraftKings make more money on FanDuel contests than from their own salary. This is absolute corruption. Hundreds of thousands of people are losing their money to people who should not be allowed to participate in the contests. This calls for more regulation and the banning of employees from playing in their competitor’s contests. Many believe that those who work for one of the companies do not have an unfair unadvantage. Rather, they are just very knowledgeable in fantasy football and, after working with the game constantly, know the smartest way to play the game. This logic, however, is wrong. The evidence of Haskell beating out over 220,000 participants cannot be a coincidence. The corruption of FanDuel and DraftKings employees using insider information is one reason why daily fantasy sports need to be regulated; regulation will secure safety and fairness for all
Gambling can have adverse effects on the social welfare of many individuals and families. Gambling can increase the number of individuals and families dealing with gambling addiction and exploit individuals and families who are economically disadvantaged. Under such circumstances, not all forms of gambling should be legalized. This is clear evidence that gambling revenue allocated for Texas schools is not worth the negative effects associated with gambling. Education is a valuable source of growth for all citizens in a community, no one in society can truly grow if one part of society is left
It becomes readily evident that the greatest attainable certainty isn't winning or losing, but that research, however pardonable – perhaps commendable – makes us examine more accurately the nature of statistics. Staying disciplined in regards to your bankroll ensures the opportunity for success, for I can't say you'll be successful for having a proper bankroll, but I can say you will not be successful unless you stay disciplined and maintain a proper bankroll. All in all, it's okay to be a fan of the game, but if you want to make money, trade in your jersey for a calculator. And remember, casinos will gladly accept a fan's wager, so don't act like one and, more importantly, don't think like one.
When looking into the history of our culture, there are many subtopics that fall under the word, “history.” Topics such as arts and literature, food, and media fall into place. Among these topics reside sports. Since the beginning of time, sports have persisted as an activity intertwined with the daily life of people. Whether it is a pick-up game of football in the backyard, or catching an evening game at the local stadium, sports have become the national pastime. According to Marcus Jansen of the Sign Post, more specifically, baseball is America’s national pastime, competing with other sports (Jansen 1). Providing the entertainment that Americans pay top dollar for, live the role models, superstars, and celebrities that put on a jersey as their job. As said in an article by Lucas Reilly, Americans spend close to $25.4 billion dollars on professional sports (Reilly 4). The people that many children want to be when they grow up are not the firefighters or astronauts told about in bed time stories. These dream jobs or fantasies have become swinging a bat or tossing a football in front of millions of screaming fans. When asked why so many dream of having such job, the majority will respond with a salary related answer. In today’s day and age, the average athlete is paid more than our own president. The cold hard facts show that in professional sports, the circulation of money is endless. Certain teams in professional baseball and football are worth over millions of dollars. Consequently, the teams who are worth more are able to spend more. The issue that arises with this philosophy is virtually how much more? League managers, team owners and other sports officials have sought out a solution to the surfacing problem. Is it fair to let...
Sports are a huge part of American culture. With football, basketball, and baseball being the most popular, the sports industry is worth an estimated 422 billion dollars. Of course, there would be no sports industry without the fans. The fanatics are what make sports so special. Even though each devotee is unique, most can be categorized into four main groups – Bandwagon fans, Casual fans, Hometown/True fans, and Coaches.
The legalization of marijuana has been a highly debated topic for many of years. Since the first president to the most recent, our nation’s leaders have consumed the plant known as weed. With such influential figures openly using this drug why is it so frowned upon? Marijuana is considered a gateway drug, a menace to society, and mentally harmful to its consumers. For some people weed brings a sense of anxiety, dizziness, or unsettling feeling. Like alcohol, tobacco or any other drug, those chemicals may not respond well with their body. For other people marijuana brings joy, a sense of relief, and takes the edge off of every day stress. For those who are associated with cannabis, purposes usually range from a relaxant, or cash crop, to more permissible uses such as medicine, and ingredient to make so many other materials. We now need to look at what would change if marijuana were legal. Benefits to the economy and agriculture, health issues, and crime rates are three areas worth looking at. Deliberating on the pros and cons of this plant we can get a better understanding for marijuana. From there it will be easier to make a clear consensus on what is best for the nation.
I write to you today with concerns regarding a bill you sponsor, Senate Bill 5284. I have some misunderstandings regarding your bill. To the best of my knowledge, gambling on fantasy sports remains illegal in the state of Washington alongside five other states in the United States. Before I go further into my claim I would like to give my definition of gambling as well as my definition of fantasy sports. Gambling, in my opinion, consist of a game of chance. Fantasy sports are fictional teams assembled upon the better knowledge of the participant. The winner of the contest is then defined by the statistical performance of the participants' players. I am confident that we have similar definitions of those words, but our stance on the issue thus
I think that it’s a tragedy to see that many collegiate athletes are involved in gambling situations. It’s hard on the athletes too, because they’re not getting paid to play the game so it’s hard to resist thousands of dollars to only win by a few, in cases on point shaving. When I was watching that movie “Blue Chips”, which is all about illegal college betting and buying athletes to come to their school, there was a scene involving the coach and the point guard regarding a point shaving incident three years ago. After the student was harassed by the coach he finally confessed saying, “We won the game, we just didn’t beat the spread. That’s only for those gamblers anyway”. He has a point with what he said but that’s not the point. A lot of young athletes do see point shaving as partaking in an illegal and unlawful event or don’t believe that much in it, morally.
Introduction The legalization of marijuana is considered a controversial issue, something that can benefit people for medical purposes, but what about recreationally? Marijuana has been illegal since 1937, but there’s never been a bigger push for legalization. There are several reasons why it is illegal, because of government propaganda and big industry not wanting to lose money, but this will be discussed later. The purpose of this paper is to educate, theorize, and discuss various aspects of marijuana, such as its history, development, and the advantages and disadvantages of marijuana legalization. Finally, my personal reflection on legalization and marijuana in general will be discussed.
Many people say that marijuana should not be legalized in the United States, however, another percentage of the society says that marijuana should be legalized. Those who agree and disagree need to inform themselves about the pros and cons of marijuana. It is very important to see different point of views from each side because there are several consequences and benefits that the use of marijuana can cause. Legalizing marijuana can be dangerous because many people are not informed of the diseases they can get from using drugs. In most cases people try marijuana to see how it feels and how their bodies react, but there are many who try it once and they keep on doing it very often. Marijuana should not be legalized in the United States because
“Problem gambling, also known as gambling addiction or compulsive gambling, is defined as the urge to gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop” (Northstar Problem Gambling Alliance 2015). Karen Frazier states, nearly 3 percent or 6 million adults and 500,000 teens meet the criteria for problem gambling (Frazier, 2015). Legalized Gambling has many positive aspects, and it should be noted that though a large number of citizens are considered “problem gamblers,” the majority of the population gambles causally and in moderation.
Gambling has been around since 2300 B.C. It has its positive and negative effects; it also has somewhat of a positive impact on the economy. It stimulates most communities by creating jobs and generates tax revenue for state and local governments. The gambling industry in “2002 and the commercial casino industry provided 350,000 jobs in the United States” (americangaming.org). Even though gambling can bring a lot of economic growth to the economy there is still an argument going on today whether it is a great choice to legalize it everywhere.
A recent article in Readers Digest estimates that most Americans spend at least 13% of their income on sporting events and sport related products. Sports has entertained American people and drained money out of their pockets making sporting events an arena of pure economic activity. It has been proven that Americans will purchase tickets to attend sporting events, but this alone does not create enough revenue to keep sports teams profitable.
As previously mentioned, the issue at the center of the controversy or debate is morality or ethics. Morality or ethics has been at the heart of controversies regarding gambling because some people consider it as unethical. The consideration of gambling as an immoral act is largely attributed to religious beliefs and stigma of obtaining money relatively for nothing. Moreover, the ethical dilemmas and concerns associated with gambling is brought by the emergence of problem gamblers who account for nearly 2.1 percent of total number of gamblers (Kannon, 2012). Therefore, ethical concerns and dilemmas in gambling are fueled by the inherently sinful attitude about the activities, which generate a classical ethical problem from an individual level
Gambling addiction is an issue found in numerous areas where gambling is legal. People who are addicted to gambling, also know as problem gamblers, face many health risks including depression, suicidal thoughts, loss of sleep, loss of appetite, migraine and anxiety in addition to marriage breakdown, problems at work and bankruptcy (9). About 2 percent of adults are thought to be problem gamblers (1). In today’s society this costly addiction is not often considered to be a common problem among those who gamble. Only a small amount of states in the U.S. give enough attention toward this rising problem of people that are sometimes even willing to commit crimes just to aid their addiction. In the past our government has sought out a few solutions that help those who have developed an addiction and prevent a further increase in the number of people becoming addicted. Personally, my outlook on the problem is that it needs a better solution. I think that a higher funding to gambling addiction clinics, more ordinance and restriction laws, and more prevention and awareness programs should bee brought into consideration in order to lower the amount of people who become addict to gambling.