The wagering of money, known as gambling has been around for thousands of years and is common all over the world. Each year two thirds of the adult population will make a bet. Also thirty billion dollars are made in casinos and another seventeen billion comes from state lotteries. Gambling is a good thing for today’s society for several reasons.

First, gambling improves the economy. Only two decades ago two states had legal gambling; now forty-eight states have some form of legal gambling so it is obviously bringing in money for these states or it would not have been legalized that quickly. In 2006 over five billion dollars was made from state and local taxes. This means that the taxes from gambling contributed a lot to the economy. In areas where a casino has been put in there has been an improvement in the local schools due to the increase in funds caused by gambling taxes. Also roadways and other programs have benefitted from gambling in their area.

Next, having casinos in an area produces tons of jobs. In the United States alone over 350,000 jobs have been created by casinos. This helps families as well as the government because they don’t have to take care of those people who work at casinos. There are over 1,500 casinos across America giving the opportunity to many people for employment. This will also help a city by increasing the population and therefore improving the economy.

People may say that gambling is a bad thing, because some people get addicted to gambling and lose their money, but it is better to be addicted to a game than something like drugs or alcohol. In the United States there are 15 million Americans addicted to gambling and 23 million addicted to drugs or alcohol so the problem of people being addicted to gambling is not as bad as it may look. Also there is a simple cure to gambling and that is to just stop going to casinos in most cases. Drugs have harmful effects and are much harder to break that addiction.

Last, gambling is a way for people to enjoy themselves and is becoming a popular form of tourism. In 1996 twenty-nine million people visited Las Vegas and 38 percent of Americans will go to Las Vegas in their lifetime. People go on vacations to places like Las Vegas or Reno Nevada, which are two major cities for gambling, to go have fun in casinos and gamble for fun. This is also very good for cities like these to make money. In 2006 in the U.S. 450 casinos made about 34 billion dollars. Gambling is a good thing for tourism and lots of people enjoy it.

Gambling is a positive thing because it improves the economy by bringing in lots of tax dollars that can be used to help communities. It is a fun way for people to spend their time if they do it in a responsible manner. Gambling has been legal in Nevada since 1931 and has grown tenfold from 1975 until now, which means it is a growing form of income that helps the economy and tons of communities.




Bibliography
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"History of Gambling in the United States." California State Library. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/97/03/Chapt2.html>.