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Poker is credited as being an all American game.  It was started on the riverboats that would cruise up the Mississippi river.  The fact that the game is all American I think has a lot to do with the fact that it is often exempt from major gambling bans.  There are people all over the country that like to host poker nights.  Poker is also one of the few gambling games that are allowed to be televised.  Most forms of gambling are not even allowed to advertise, let alone have their own television show.  However, the biggest thing that people say in defense of poker is that it is not a game of chance.  To the average poker player, this may not be the case as they have not learned the math behind the game, but when you reach a certain calibre of player it is hard to deny that there is skill at work.

There is something else that poker has going for it that some other games do not.  The fact that it is essentially a paper game.  It has been seen time and again that some states will regulate paper bingo, but the for some inexplicable reason they will ban electronic bingo.  There is some sort of distrust that American’s seem to have with technology. The slot machine is another all american game, but it has also been called the one armed bandit for many years so clearly it does not receive the same embrace that poker does.

I am continuing my discussion of gambling games that seem to be treated differently by the non-gambling world.  Nothing is simple when it comes to debate, you would assume that groups, like the church, that oppose gambling would simply be against all things that relate to gambling.  But it is highly unlikely that you would find these groups protesting a paper bingo game or even the lottery.  But there is one popular gambling games that is treated differently and I think deservingly so: Poker.  Poker is one of the most popular gambling games in the world, but when it comes to legislation, there does not seem to be as much of a stigma against this game in the United States as something like slot machines.

There are a number of reasons why poker is looked on differently from something like slot machines.  The main reason people continue to bring up is that poker is clearly not a game of complete chance.  As a matter of fact the televised poker games that became popular about ten years ago showed that there was a legitimate amount of skill involved in poker.  If it was not evident from the game itself, it had to be evident that the same players would appear in the final rounds of various tournaments.  If poker was a chance based game there would be different faces at different stages of the tournaments.  It also helps that the game of poker has developed right along side the history of the United States.

I have been trying to analyze the psychology behind why some forms of gambling just are not looked at as gambling.  Now any game that is played at a casino immediately gets hit with a major stigma that haunts all gambling.  Gambling is for some reason considered the devil’s activity.  I agree that gambling on a regular basis is probably not a wise decision, especially when playing games that are totally based on chance and when those games stack the odds against you.  I mean, if you are looking for something to do that is out of the norm and you have a few bucks to spend, then there is absolutely no harm in playing the slot machines from time to time.  But to make a career out of wagering on a machine that will inevitably make more money for the casino that it will ever pay out to you just seems foolish.

However, in some circles, games like bingo are for some reason treated as if they are a lesser of evils.  Churches are always the first to make a big old protest scene against a new casino, but there are countless paper bingo games hosted in church basements all across the country.  Then there is the weird occurrence of states that will legalize paper bingo games, but will make it illegal to offer electronic bingo, because electronic bingo games feel too much like slot machines.  But the reality is that the rules to bingo are a lot like slot machines.

I remember as a kid, my grandmother playing the Lottery on a regular basis.  Of course growing up and watching television, there was always this stigma against gambling.  If it appeared on a family based sitcom, it was inevitable that the character that was having a great time gambling would eventually make one wager too far and endanger his personal relationships.  But that type of gambling was always some sort of casino based gambling, it was never the a lottery game.  It was not as if the character kept spending his money on scratch off tickets or would foolishly by a whole stack of numbers to play for the big draw.  For some reason lottery gambling does not seem to be real gambling to people.  This does not make sense as it is still wagering money on games of chance.

In many states there are even laws against casino advertising on television, for the fear of corrupting youth and tempting compulsive gamblers.  However, in most states, state lottery commercials run back to back.  Images of people holding winning tickets or some sort of personification of luck cheering them on.  It does not seem fair that one form of gambling receives preference over another.  It likely comes down to the fact that state lotteries are directly run by the state and that is not how it appears with casinos.  But that is the case for most states when it comes to casinos.  The casino companies are known as operators.  In some states they are not even allowed to own the slot machines and table games they operate.

While many countries all over the world have accepted that online casinos and other forms of online gambling are going to be a part of the gambling future, the United States continues to attempt to keep the industry out of the country.  It has never been entirely clear to me as to why online casinos seem like such a giant sin to the American people.  Especially now.  We are living in a time where just about every state has some form of gambling available to its people.  SInce the recession, state after state has either succeeded in or tried to expand their casino gambling offerings as a way to increase revenues.  Yet somehow, online casinos are the thing that will ruin the moral fabric of a state.  It seems wholly irrational.

The only forms of online gambling that do not seem to be getting as much of a negative reaction from legislators are internet gambling that pertain to state lotteries and online poker.  It is no surprise that Internet lottery options are not being treated the same way online gambling is being treated because it has always been as if playing the state lottery were not actual gambling, when there is no doubt that it is.  Poker is not so objectionable because it has been proven time and again that poker is a game of skill.  While Poker is one of the most famous casino games in the world, it is not nearly as chance based as slot machines or other table games like roulette.

So.  I am sitting at the bar at Duffy’s.  Yes, the same classy place where my buddy asked a male server about a cute female server and that male server instantly showed us inappropriate pictures of the young lady on his cell phone.  It is your typical suburban sports bar where it seems like the owner spent most of decorative budget on giant flat screen televisions.  One of the screens above the bar happened to have a horse race on.  Granted I do not watch television almost ever, but it was humorous to see a horse race on television at a sports bar.  It was funny to me because it was clear how little anyone cared about horse racing.  As a matter of fact it became sort of a joke at the bar.

I voiced my opinions about the bar to people within ear shot.  Suddenly people started rooting for random horse just to show the absurdity of horse racing.  No one called the horse by name just to their numbers a signed.  A small portion of the bar, half heartedly, attempted to get excited about horses trotting around the track.  If horse racing every wants to become a viable sporting event again, it will have to stop relying on slot machines and some how rebuild a fan base.  That does not seem immediately possible to me unless we as a nation return to an agricultural society that actually has an intimate connection with horses again.  That day does not seem close.

Obviously, when looking for intellectually stimulating conversation, the last place a person should go is to a sports bar.  But that seems to be especially true of a sports bar in South Florida.  I have had the pleasure of visiting Duffy’s once or twice and it seems to me that every time I have been there the servers, particularly the male servers have been the sort of guys that you would expect to find passed out in a bush sometime during a party in a puddle of their own puke.  I even had one server come up and ask me why after 5 minutes I still had whiskey in my glass, as if real men only chugged their alcohol.  The place is sort of a delightful nightmare.  Anyway I did manage to have an interesting conversation with a pair of patrons about the horse racing industry.

As you know, race tracks all over the country are shutting down unless they get access to slot machines.  I discussed with a pair of southern kids that grew up on a far the value of horses and how much money is actually in horse breeding.  Part of the reason the industry manages to stay alive is that there are wealthy people out there that are making a lot of money by selling rare horses.  The problem is that as the industry suffers there seem to be fewer and fewer people to sell those horses to.  But these are the kind of wealthy people that have the money to keep legislation in favor of horse racing.

I feel like as sure as the rain falls from the clouds, New York is destined to offer table games in the very near future.  While the state has been offering slot machines for some time now with no sign of upgrading to table games, the opening of the Resorts World Casino is a complete and total game changer.  The venue is already planed to be a massive casino, but recently Genting and Governor Andrew Cuomo got together to ensure that the venue makes a lasting impact on the community.  They are planning to build the nation’s largest convention center on the casino grounds.  This ensures that many industries will come to Queens and there is likely to be a steady flow of business types checking in and out of the 3,000 room hotel planned for the resort.

I should be remembered that the venue is located only five miles away from JFK International airport.  That means it will be very convenient for international business people to visit the casino as well.  While slot machines are a big deal here in the states, it is not necessarily the case in other countries. Table games like craps or even card games have much more of an International appeal.  Even if the rest of the casinos in the state do not get table and card games immediately, I think it would be foolish of New York to spend all this money on this casino venue and not make it appealing to an International audience.

You would be surprised at the strange places where I have conversations about the industry.  To be honest I find that very few people know anything about the gambling industry.  For sure, I meet gamblers all the time.  There are guys that claim to be killer card players that, thankfully, never really test out their luck in the big boy arenas of professional card players.  There is the occasional person that talks about how they used to frequent slot machines all the time.  However, none of these people seem to know anything about the business itself.  Small details like which company owns the Live! brand of casinos.  Or even big deals like who Penn National Gaming is as a company.  I suppose no one really cares.

However, I feel like it is something that people should have some insight on whether they care or not.  These are not small deals.  Even if you do not gamble, if you come from a state that offers casinos or slot machines, you should know that casinos are either contributing to tax breaks or helping fund public schools in your area.  These are major contributions to any state.  I also think that knowing about the industry makes a much wiser gambler.  When you know a few things about International Game Technology and their product line it makes it harder for you to spend your entire paycheck on an entertainment device like a slot machine.  Education makes for a far more savvy consumer and a much smarter gambler.

Slot machines are one of America’s games.  Slot machines were made here in the state and have gone on to enjoy great success as the main money maker at most casinos.  In many ways slot machines have the ability to appeal to the most American of sensibilities.  We are a society that likes everything fast.  That is why the microwave dinner and fast food industries thrive in our country.  Slot machines are sort of like the fast food of the gambling industry.  There is absolutely no wait involved.  You do not have to make any drawn out decisions about which cards you want to keep.  There is not tedious session of watching horses work their way around a track.  You simply make a wager, hit a button, and then within seconds you can repeat the process all over again.  That speedy wagering process is what makes slot machines such big money makers in the United States of America.

While slot machines are huge in the United States, that is not necessarily the case in other countries like Asia.  This is the reason that slot machines alone will never do at the Resort World Casino in New York City.  This venue has potential to do some serious international business that rivals a top venue in Las Vegas.  This fact cannot be lost on the state of New York.  That is why I believe it is only a matter of time before table games are legalized in New York State.  Otherwise, what a waste of a first class venue.