Term Paper on "Sociology of Gambling"

Term Paper 6 pages (1567 words) Sources: 6

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Sociology - Gambling

THE SOCIOLOGY of GAMBLING

The Decisive Moment of the Gamble:

It is difficult to accept the argument that compulsive or addictive gambling qualifies, in principle, as a disease when gambling is psychologically indistinguishable from other compulsions and addictions defined by social theorists as "vices." The fact that the vast majority of gamblers do not progress to addiction (Collins p. 328) suggests that learned addiction to virtually anything qualifies equally strongly as a "disease."

However, there is no denying that the behaviors associated with addiction to gambling often precipitate catastrophic life-changes as profoundly as the symptoms of many classical diseases.

On the other hand, the underlying psychology of risk and reward associated with our choices is, unfortunately, perfectly conducive to addiction in the case of anybody already predisposed to compulsion, addiction, and risk-taking behavior (Volberg, p. 230).

Ever since Skinner, psychologists have long known of the power of intermittent reward in particular, which is far more capable of producing compulsive behavior than regular reward, even of the same reward total per given time period.

Consequently, the moment of reward has a euphoric mood-altering quality that motivates continual attempts to produce it. Paradoxically, big losses and near misses intensify the addictive gambling urge more than big wins. Combined with the fact that the vast majority of addicted gamblers are motivated by financial need and the specific hope of solving their financial problems with a big win are physiological processes that trigger adrenalin responses and endorphin cycles in relation to risk taking and reward (Peele 215).

Further exacerbating the causal effects of risk and reward on the progression of compulsive gambling is the ease with which gamblers can invest in specific rationalizations to deny, minimize, and justify their compulsive behavior, even after substantial objective evidence of the continuing devastation it causes (Peele 212-213). It lends itself particularly well to those with fatalistic beliefs about life, as well as to those susceptible, in general, to rituals and compulsive or repetitive behavior. Apart from the conscious purpose of gambling, the activity of watching the roulette wheel and the sensory experiences associated with the activity provide their own reward in the form of a mesmerizing psychological escape from the outside world (Cosgrave & Klassen p.6), something especially intoxicating for anybody with insurmountable financial losses and family issues associated with them.

One of the most insidious aspects of addictive gambling is that virtually every possible outcome of the experience contributes to its repetition (in varying degrees) while none contributes to its inhibition. Chronic losers often feel "invested" in the pursuit, believing that their long losing streak eventually means that they are "due" a win.

Winners experience a sense of safety of "playing with the house's money" that promotes increased risk taking; at the same time, winning validates the hope of reward as within the grasp and near wins do the same. Finally, the irregular unpredictability of intermittent reward is so powerful that even recreational gamblers experience its pull even if they do not succumb to it.

Gambling in Las Vegas and High Finance in New York: Some of the traditional social objections to gambling derive from Christian religious beliefs about virtue and vice, as well as to the fundamental inherent value supposedly inherent in the concept of work. Likewise, whereas investment and surety provide a bargained-for service for a bargained-for chance of financial reward, gambling virtually always represents the one-way transfer of wealth from one to another, justifying paternalistic protection for our benefit (Cosgrave & Klassen p.7). The paternalistic perspective distinguishes Wall Street investment prospecting and surety-backed investment from gambling on games of chance despite the fact that it is difficult to justify that conceptual distinction.

Investment capitalism was, in large part, the brainchild of William Rockefeller, who pioneered mechanism for increasing the odds of financial reward in his favor by manipulating the variables artificially (Lears p. 191). In the 1990s, so-called day trading illustrated the difficulty of differentiating investment from gambling. Generally, whereas stock market investors traditionally focused on long-term revenue-generating potential of investments the investor understood in great detail, day traders typically bought and sold interests within a few hours, riding cycles of hours instead of decades (Lears p. 191).

According to gambling critics, even day trading qualifies as "work" because it requires a certain understanding of capitol markets, merely applying those principles to shorter-term risks. However, by that criteria, gambling on horse racing qualifies because sufficient knowledge of the field of equestrian science; furthermore, by perfecting specific skills, professional card players can beat the raw odds often enough to earn a living. It is not clear why, in principle, manipulating capital stock, but not skilled gaming, should be considered "work" (Lears 194-196).

Between 1910 and 1931, Nevada prohibited gambling, ironically, while California did not. Today, California tourist represent one of the largest continual sources of gambling revenue in Las Vegas (Gottdeiner p.3). The evolution of Las Vegas into the gambling Mecca of contemporary American society from a desert stop-over during the nation's Westward expansion is attributable to the convergence of several factors in its history.

Initially, a desolate area subject to the boom-and-bust cycles of gold prospecting in nearby California, federal investment in the Hoover Dam in nearby Colorado revitalized the state of Nevada by providing steady work at a time when the rest of the nation reeled in the Great Depression. Thereafter, the availability of cheap electric power and abundant lands and unregulated airspace attracted military investment and further expansion (Gottdeiner 9-12). Finally, the proximity of Nevada to California and the former state's six-week uncontested divorce and legalized gambling popularized it among the entertainment industry, on which developers capitalized by providing an "exclusive" upscale experience coveted by the masses seeking to emulate social icons. Some of the same influences attracted the attention of the criminal underworld since the very beginning of the post- World War II transformation of Las Vegas from desolate stop over and periodic mining area to its modern incarnation. For much of the latter half of the 20th century, Las Vegas politics was heavily infiltrated by criminally-financed public corruption although more recently, increased federal oversight has reduced such influences substantially.

The Nature of Risk and the Evolution of the Gaming Industry:

In principle, risk is an inherent component of all human activity whether those risks are attributable to nature or to artificial rules of invented games. It was once believed that the progression of human knowledge about the natural world would provide absolute predictive ability, but that was disproved early in the 20th century by quantum physicists (Bernstein 200-204) who demonstrated that random chance always plays a role in determining the outcome of any describable event or circumstance.

Global risks involve calculating the statistical likelihood of future occurrences on the basis of past history and a conceptual understanding of the various independent variables and the interrelationships among them in contributing to the causation of any given outcome (Bernstein p.204). The ability to predict the statistical likelihood of relative risks in maritime transportation lead directly to the evolution of the surety underwriting industry, and the mathematical principles apparent in the fluctuation of capital market values lead to the evolution of investment forecasting for financial profit.

The primary difference between global risks of the nature arising in the context of surety underwriting and financial market projection is that only the latter is subject to rules created by man. Capital stock varies in accordance with mathematical formulae that predict patterns, and deliberate transfers and other manipulations exploit variables capable of being understood, although not controlled. Gambling, on the other hand, is (in most prohibited forms) strictly based on random chance rather than on any identification of patterns, cycles, or formulae capable of predicting future outcomes.

Nevertheless, the psychological reward mechanism in combination with the physiological response to risk-taking behavior contributes… READ MORE

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