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The Gambler
“Care to make a wager?” I said this to a friend during a discussion we were having. He quickly responded that, he was sure that I knew he wasn’t a gambling man. His answer completely took me by surprise. I was utterly stumped. Here was a man, I thought, who reaps the benefits of a democratic, capitalist society and he was saying that he did not gamble. So, I inquired, “What is gambling?” “I just don’t bet and stuff like that,” he responded. My definition of gambling for years has been any wager, bet, or proffered material/service in a situation of chance in hopes of making a profit or gain. My friend, I knew, has been dabbling in the stock market for years now. Does he not consider the stock market a form of gambling? Within the context of my definition, I can readily identify the fundamental markers. Take, for example, if my friend takes money (his or other’s) and invests into a stock that is selling at $50 a share. In all respects, my friend would not be buying into this stock to lose. So let us say that my friend buys a $50 share and the stock doubles to $100, my friend has just made a profit. The fact that he could have lost his $50 expresses the chance he took. This is gambling in all sense of the term. A car salesman is a gambler; anyone who opens a business is a gambler because they made a wager by putting money into an idea and hoped that in doing so they would make a significant return. It is no wonder that Jean Falzon, Executive Director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, can make the statement that, “gambling is now a national pastime.” She can make such a statement because our whole system is built on making money or taking chances. When I mentioned this to my friend, he flat out disagreed and said I was taking the meaning of gambling out of context. To bolster his position he said that, “only dice games, card games, and slot machines should be considered gambling.” I countered with the question, what about the lottery? Is not a casino a business? Is not a clothing store a business? All of them are out to make a profit; is there a chance that they could loose their investment? The mere system of capitalism is gambling. “How?” he demanded. I told him, to lay in wait for something to happen in hopes of making a profit is capitalizing. This involves chance and a hope of making a profit whether monetary or material gain. I held my hand up indicating him to hold his response then I plunged into yet another fact. Do you know that according to the National Council on Problem Gambling, “over 70% of U.S. adults report gambling at least once in the past year?” Where do you think this appetite for gambling comes from? It is imbedded in our capitalist culture. Let’s face it, you too are a gambler, just remember every time you try to avoid stopping for gas when you are running late but your gas tank is running low. You are taking a chance in hopes of getting to your destination without running out of gas. Your possible gain is the time you saved by not going to the gas station. In all actuality, you just gambled with yourself to see if you could make it to your destination without the added stop. My point of view may seem as odd to some as it did to my friend, at first. What I tried to explain to him is this: just because he does not go to casinos or poker halls does not mean that he is not a gambler. There are compulsive gamblers and those that are action seekers (they usually just play for the action, not the win). Maybe he does not fit into either of these categories, but because he is usually on the computer checking for the slightest change in a company’s stock prices, he has become compulsive, addictive even. This addition runs even deeper, it threatens our youth. According to Pat Fowler, Project Director of the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling, [the] promotion of lottery, horse racing, or bingo leads “young people to think it is ok to do [it].” But in my opinion this is only half-way true. While promotion might make these avenues of gambling more popular it does not overshadow the biggest examples of what drives our society to gamble, and that is our education, which is a gamble within itself. We are taught to reach for the stars, to aim for the sky, to take a chance. This tautology is meant to prepare us for life in society, but just reinforces our get-rich-quick attitude. Taking a chance on the stock market or capitalizing on a business idea, all require a percentage of chance and investment. What I was trying to explain to my friend was the fact that he did not immediately see the connection because according to the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery, “pathological gambling is often a hidden disease.” And as Alec Roy, MD, a psychiatrist formerly at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism notes that pathological gamblers have lower levels of norepinephrine than normal gamblers; “norepinephrine is secreted under stress, arousal, or thrill, so pathological gamblers gamble to make up for their underdosage.” So the next time you wonder why it feels good to run to the computer and check the latest price change of your stock, or the next time you convince yourself that your business needs more advertising because it feels good, remember your norepinephrine level because this is gambling. My friend nodded in what seemed like a dejected agreement. So, to drive my point home, I reminded him of the time he ran the red light. He smiled and said, “Maybe I’m a gambler after all.” I smiled back at him. Society has created a gambler in all of us. We all seek to raise our norepinephrine levels for thrill and excitement, or chance and gain. Works Cited “G2E Flyer.” National Council on Problem Gambling. www.ncpgambling.org/media/pdf/g2e_flyer.pdf “Problem Gambling” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_gambling “Recognizing gambling addiction.” Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery. www.addictionrecov.org/recoggam.htm About the Author Mr. Andre Lewis is a published author and poet. His first book, ‘Pay to Play’, an urban novel, was published by Around the Way Books in January of 2005. His second title, ‘The Plexus Agenda’ (Around the Way Books, November 2007), is an espionage novel which makes an exploration into race relations. You may read more about his books and poems at the publisher’s website: Around The Way Books
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