The Little I Know said that casinos steal from their patrons, and rather than provide a legitimate product or service only offer the fantasy of winning.
I think that casinos are bad for people and for society, but the fact is that casinos are great at entertaining people, and entertainment is a legitimate service that some people work hard to provide and others willingly pay for. Casinos are in show business – everything about a casino is designed to help people have fun (while they gamble their life savings away).
Would you say that Broadway cheats people because they have nothing more when they leave than when they arrive? Broadway provides excellent entertainment. The difference is that people know what they’re paying for Broadway up front whereas casinos use various methods – many of them deceptive – to extract money from people.
Some people go to casinos with $100 worth of quarters (and that’s it) and have a good time with their friends. They don’t expect to win, they expect to lose the $100 but have a great time. To me that’s the way to enjoy a casino.
However most people don’t do that. They get sucked in by the lights, sounds, free drinks and the atmosphere. They forget that chips are actual money and get careless. They lose track of time because there are no clocks or windows. And before you know it they’re deep in debt. That’s the part I have a problem with.