Banking on Chance
July 1, 2002 | 12:00am
My older brother recently decided to move to the province to take care of the farm. Being a city slicker for most of his life, living in a rural setting took some getting used to. It seemed like everyone was abreast of his activities, knew what was going on inside our compound, and wild speculations about his next moves were all over the place.
As he did not relish the prospect of being the object of further gossip, he decided to hire workers who weren’t from the place. This turned out to be a good idea, as petty theft was minimized and the workers applied themselves to their work. However, during their off-times, he noticed that the workers gambled among themselves.
This bothered him. He couldn’t understand why anyone would gamble away his hard-earned money. The locals’ penchant for afternoon and evening sessions of gambling hadn’t escaped his notice either. Ostensibly, these are friendly card games which they engage in just to kill time. But my brother thinks there must be better ways to amuse themselves other than throwing their hard-earned money away.
Among all of the vices, gambling tops my list. I suppose it is the lure of "easy" money that entices first timers into the doors of wretched places like gambling dens and casinos or into the houses of their friendly gambling neighbors. I must admit that it must seem tempting to be able to make a lot of money on a lucky draw, but on the flip side, a lot can be lost, and I’m not just talking about cash.
In defense of his vice, a gambler once told me that large sums of money from PAGCOR go to charitable projects, like building schoolhouses, providing medicine for the indigent, and care for street children. This is well and good I suppose, but if a person really wants to be charitable there are other ways of going about it.
But do gamblers really have the intention of helping the needy when they step into a casino? I highly doubt it. Will a gambler be happy if he loses even if he knows that his money is going to charity anyway? I highly doubt that too. The street children will be the last people on his mind if he blew away his hard earned cash.
There are winners of course, but are they really winners? I would hardly call them that since gambling is a game of chance. How much control does one have on the way the dice is rolled? Where the ball lands in a roulette wheel, or the outcome of a slot machine? None whatsoever, though card players would argue that they have some degree of influence when they manipulate the hand that is dealt them. "Discarte lang yan," they would say, but not all of the discarte in the world can change a bad hand, which is incidentally a thing that comes about by, yes you guessed it; chance.
Then there are the losers, who at times fall into the vicious cycle of trying to "win" back what they lost and in the process they end up losing even more.
Only a fool would wager money on something that he cannot control. Sure, take the risk and the pay off might be a big one, but if you lose, you lose big too. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the odds are already against you as soon as you step into the place. Casinos already earn so much revenue and did you ever stop to wonder why? People lose more than they will ever win in there. It’s that simple.
Why do I loathe gambling so much? For one thing, it goes against my sensibilities. And here is the saddest part of all: gambling is addictive. Like drug dependents who would do anything to get a fix, addicted gamblers wouldn’t let anything come in between them and the tablesâ€â€not their runny-nosed wailing children, endless cash advances or "vales", or the prospect of losing their jobs.
Where does the desire to gamble come from? Is it because of greed? Is it a lack of self-control? Or is it a lethal combination of both? Perhaps it is the lazy person’s way to get ahead. I can’t really be sure, but one thing I do know is that there are better ways to spend your time.
Each one of us is dealt differing gifts of talent and intellect when we are born but I believe that there is such a thing as self-determination. Even if life is a gamble where we are dealt differing cards, we ultimately have control of improving our chances of winning a good life through hard work, creativity, and developing a clean conscience.
As he did not relish the prospect of being the object of further gossip, he decided to hire workers who weren’t from the place. This turned out to be a good idea, as petty theft was minimized and the workers applied themselves to their work. However, during their off-times, he noticed that the workers gambled among themselves.
This bothered him. He couldn’t understand why anyone would gamble away his hard-earned money. The locals’ penchant for afternoon and evening sessions of gambling hadn’t escaped his notice either. Ostensibly, these are friendly card games which they engage in just to kill time. But my brother thinks there must be better ways to amuse themselves other than throwing their hard-earned money away.
Among all of the vices, gambling tops my list. I suppose it is the lure of "easy" money that entices first timers into the doors of wretched places like gambling dens and casinos or into the houses of their friendly gambling neighbors. I must admit that it must seem tempting to be able to make a lot of money on a lucky draw, but on the flip side, a lot can be lost, and I’m not just talking about cash.
In defense of his vice, a gambler once told me that large sums of money from PAGCOR go to charitable projects, like building schoolhouses, providing medicine for the indigent, and care for street children. This is well and good I suppose, but if a person really wants to be charitable there are other ways of going about it.
But do gamblers really have the intention of helping the needy when they step into a casino? I highly doubt it. Will a gambler be happy if he loses even if he knows that his money is going to charity anyway? I highly doubt that too. The street children will be the last people on his mind if he blew away his hard earned cash.
There are winners of course, but are they really winners? I would hardly call them that since gambling is a game of chance. How much control does one have on the way the dice is rolled? Where the ball lands in a roulette wheel, or the outcome of a slot machine? None whatsoever, though card players would argue that they have some degree of influence when they manipulate the hand that is dealt them. "Discarte lang yan," they would say, but not all of the discarte in the world can change a bad hand, which is incidentally a thing that comes about by, yes you guessed it; chance.
Then there are the losers, who at times fall into the vicious cycle of trying to "win" back what they lost and in the process they end up losing even more.
Only a fool would wager money on something that he cannot control. Sure, take the risk and the pay off might be a big one, but if you lose, you lose big too. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the odds are already against you as soon as you step into the place. Casinos already earn so much revenue and did you ever stop to wonder why? People lose more than they will ever win in there. It’s that simple.
Why do I loathe gambling so much? For one thing, it goes against my sensibilities. And here is the saddest part of all: gambling is addictive. Like drug dependents who would do anything to get a fix, addicted gamblers wouldn’t let anything come in between them and the tablesâ€â€not their runny-nosed wailing children, endless cash advances or "vales", or the prospect of losing their jobs.
Where does the desire to gamble come from? Is it because of greed? Is it a lack of self-control? Or is it a lethal combination of both? Perhaps it is the lazy person’s way to get ahead. I can’t really be sure, but one thing I do know is that there are better ways to spend your time.
Each one of us is dealt differing gifts of talent and intellect when we are born but I believe that there is such a thing as self-determination. Even if life is a gamble where we are dealt differing cards, we ultimately have control of improving our chances of winning a good life through hard work, creativity, and developing a clean conscience.
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