>>Anyone who gambles is a sucker. I have never gambled nor do I intend to start.
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>Paraphrasing a popular Spanish humor program, "I have never gambled, nor will I do it again..."
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>As a Bahá'í, my position is very simple: Bahá'u'lláh has forbidden gambling.
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>Apart from that, it does make sense, too. Actually, the math is very simple: The "house" has calculated everything so it makes money, AND it has to cover its operating costs, so the players lose money (on the average), since there is no added value involved.
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>Hilmar.

Hilmar;

When I was a teenager a neighbor of mine obtained a mechanical slot machine (a one armed bandit as they are called). We took the case off and inside there was a lever, which had different markings. I remember 250,000 to 1 and 750,000 to 1. These were the lowest numbers and there were a few more. This is how you established the odds of payoff for that machine.

When you would go to Nevada people would sit at a slot machine all day with a 505 can of coins. Many said, “This is my machine”! They were sure they would win. Today the slot machines are electronic and you can still set the odds to win. A casino owner told me men are employed to "set the odds of each machine several times a week"! So this is a full time job for some lucky person. When business goes down they decrease the odds. So weekdays and weekends are treated differently. Lots of people during the weekends so not too many winners.

Casinos even employ people who win. When you win lights and sounds of all kinds go off to indicate you are the winner. Then people gather around and the winner walks off for a few minutes only to return and win again sometime later. By then a new crowd is in the area and the act continues.

My memories of Nevada, include buffets in casino restaurants which required walking through the gambling areas. Children were not allowed to loiter so you had to walk quickly before the security people came over to you and gave you a bad time. The huge casino rooms were filled with smoke from cigarettes and cigars. Old men who could hardly walk were pushing small green oxygen tanks using small handcarts and had oxygen masks tied to their faces so they could breath.

We have a friend who moved to Nevada and she has an identical twin sister. The sisters work as security guards at a large casino. They work the same shift and opposite ends of the building. Some people are observant and say, “I thought I just saw you at the other end of the building”!

It has been over 9 years since I visited Nevada and I do not miss it at all!

Tom