by Jerry "Jet" Whittaker

Dec 3, 2006

Article about gambling

Gambling is a type of wagering of money or other items of value on a tentative event, dependent either completely or in part on chance. Gambling appeals to the individual desire for gain and the thrill of impossibility or risk. Gambling has been practiced throughout human history and continues to flourish around the world, both legally and illegally as a beneficial industry and popular entertainment activity. Modern gambling, sometimes called gaming has increased rapidly in scope in recent decades. In the United States and all over the world, where legal gambling generates more than $60 billion annually approximately, many cities and states have authorized casinos and other forms of gambling too. Many Native American tribes have taken advantage of newly acquired legal rights to open casinos on uncertainties and have continued to expand their operations. The gambling industry provides jobs for hundreds of thousands of workers and is an important source of tax revenue where it accompaniments or flourish. Some community and religious groups oppose gambling because of concerns that it leads to crime, corruption and other social ills. Legal gambling is topic to strict government regulation in much of the world, including minimum age requirements and in some cases the odds of winning in specific games or machines. Gambling has had many different meanings and it depends on the cultural and historical context in which it is used. Presently, in Western societies it has a proper definition referring to wagering money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money or material goods. Typically the outcome of the wager is obvious within a short period of time.

Types of gambling

There are many and different types of legal and illegal gambling. Legal forms are run directly by government agencies, for-profit companies and charitable organizations. Illegal types include bets placed with individuals which are known as bookmakers or underground gambling services including Internet gambling sites, as well as informal gambling among friends like poker games or sports pools. Complex laws dictate the types of gambling that are legal in a particular city, state or country and these laws are subject to change. Due to the varied regulations from city to city and state-to-state, communities and vacation destinations that tries to attract tourism often use gambling. Many jurisdictions and local as well as national have banned or heavily controlled gambling. Such regulation generally leads to gambling tourism and illegal gambling, the latter often under the sponsorship of organized crime.  

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