Arkansas Blog

Is it that you aren't for gambling or would rather it be open to competition?

ARK. BLOG Good, but complicated question. I like to gamble now and then. But I do it with the clear understanding that if I leave a machine or table with more money than I started, it was the product of sheer luck, not skill. I object to the subterfuge -- "game of skill" --that is being used to expand gambling at two monopoly gambling houses in Arkansas.
That said, I'm not sure I favor even more gambling in Arkansas. I think it tends to blight landscapes and ruin people when it proliferates.

On the other hand, we let adults harm themselves in many other ways -- by drink and tobacco, for example -- and the libertarian in me says llet those who want to gamble do it. Also, Arkansas is increasingly becoming an island in a nation of gamblers.

I guess I wish this proposal were more honest and that, if we m ust have huge gambling in Arkansas, it might be worth looking at doing in a competitive way.

If the Texas guy gets his casino measure on the ballot, you can bet the operators of the "games of skill" parlor will find ways to talk about the evils of a casino monopoly and the damage that "gambling" -- as opposed to games of skill -- can do to unsuspecting Arkies.

Lotta welfare checks will disappear in these babies!!!

You bring up a good point, Max. There is no such thing as a "game of skill" in a casino. I definitely favor gambling, but call it what it is...gambling. Anyone that has ever stepped foot in a casino knows the video poker machines are like crack...

If they truly wanted to provide games of skill then we should have blackjack tables, poker tables and other card games and not video machines.

I am against monopolies in any shape. I am for legalizing gambling in the state. Hopefully we can find a way to legalize casino gambling and remove it from the grasp of Oaklawn and that dump in West Memphis.

I think people become a bit too consumed in the moral fabric dilemma that the gambling debate carries. It's not like the individuals that don't need to gamble who are gambling are socking away all of this money in the first place and all of a sudden gambling comes along and ruins their life.

the phrase "game of skill" is used to differenciate it from a "game of chance". it seems honest to me.

ARK. BLOG Suckers like you keep the casinos in business. Hint: They set these machines to deliver a pre-determined payoff to the house. The less the competition, the higher the payoff to the house.

The bottom line is it's kind of hard for me to call a game a "game of skill" when if you play it perfectly you still lose to the house in the long run. You can't win these "games of skill". Sure, there is an element of skill in video poker, blackjack, and other casino games, but all that skill does is reduce the house edge, not eliminate it.

They way I read the law you could have blackjack, poker, etc, as long as you could use a machine. I bet (no pun intended) that before long they will have blackjack machines..

"You bring up a good point, Max. There is no such thing as a "game of skill" in a casino."

Well hold on. As an old Hot Sprgs boy I got told to leave of couple of Reno houses after I hit the max allowed in winnings.

Besides if they are only keeping 15% for the house this way better than when Orval allowed illegal hses in Hot Spgs. The house kept 40% on all machines and tables. Roullette wheels were wired.

Last time I looked at border state lottery stores there weren't many po' folks driving up. Saw many big SUVs , Lincolns, big Dodge p.u.'s,etc. One lady at Missouri border got out of Ark SUV, dripping with jewelry, put down $275 on her fav numbers with a 1:4 mill chance of winning.

"Suckers like you keep the casinos in business."

Could the same be said about you folks who play the stockmarket? Could that be read to say, "Suckers like you keep the Lays and Skillings in business"?

ARK. BLOG: Sure. Just as long as we all understand we're placing losing bets.