Gambling Optional

While the world of online slots has its own drama going on, the world of land slots continues to keep up. Calgary is the latest city to join the slots debate. Gambling has an especially sensitive set of pros and cons attached to it, because as the economy that it creates becomes dependent on the revenue it brings in, often the people contributing to it by playing casino games become addicted to them. The delicate balance between the need for economic stability and the importance of public health can be easily upset by an introduction of gambling, which is quite the double-edged sword.

However, when gaming is completely illegal, often the industry goes underground and becomes dangerous and unmonitored, as is the case in Asian countries. So Canada has opted to make casinos legal, and thereby benefit from the revenue and the increased safety from the regulated market. While the additional $2.3 billion Canada receives from the industry is obviously wonderful, slot machines have caused in increase in addiction rates across the country.

Addiction is a serious health issue, and when it goes unchecked, can lead to health complications such as depression and can have serious repercussions in a person’s personal life, including depression, job loss, and bankruptcy. With these serious dangers, frequency and amount of slot machines in the city has keep increasing. As of right now, Calgary is actually up in the same ranks with Las Vegas and Atlantic City in terms of slot machines. The machines are not limited to casinos and are featured in bars and restaurants and other social locations. A good compromise would be to limit slot machines to only casinos, and that way people will have the option of being around gambling or not.

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