h a l f b a k e r yNot so much a thought experiment as a single neuron misfire.
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ok, heres the deal. A casino is set up, whose income stream is not gambling, but investment. Casino games will continue to have the standard edge to the house. Gambler's will enter via security cards and gamble using these cards much like credit cards placing their bets on swipe compatible touch screens.
Here's
the part that bellagio, tropicana and mgm grand won't like. A large proportion of the money lost by the gamblers will be returned at a later stage via the security cards. Just enough is kept by the casino to cover the costs.
The casino pools the gambling profits, investing it in whatever the hell gives them the best return (I hear the underwater basket weaving industry is booming).Five years or so after a gambler has emptied his pockets, the money is returned and the casino keeps the return on investment.
Quite obviously, this is not as profitable as a normal casino, but at least we have a risk free form of entertainment for both parties IN THE LONG RUN.
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Annotation:
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What guarantee is there that the casino will make good investment choices? |
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They'll gamble it all at their own casino. That way they win twice. Especially if they use ENRON accountants. Somehow all this financial activity will impress the bank and they'll get lots of interest on their account. |
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I don't think gambling is unethical. However, it is reasonable for society to not want casinos because some will lose all of their money and become a burden upon society. Giving them their money back in five years will not solve this. |
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Also, have you considered that some people actually win? Will this come out of the pockets of the casino owners or other clients? Either way someone has to lose. |
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without risk it's not gambling, it is just playing games, and you can already do that. |
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Invest in a mutual fund, and purchase a deck of cards ... hookers and booze are optional |
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Agreed, except I'd do away with the mutual fund and the cards. |
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listen people, your responses have been taken on board.
Let me respond as concisely as possible:
1) there is no guaruntee the casino will make sound investment decisions. In a sense, this is the gambling aspect of the idea. However, it is in their best interests. Perhaps if they were locked into a contract to pay back to gamblers their losses, there would be greater incentive to invest better.
2) this idea is not meant to be a solution to the worlds gambling worries. In fact i would expect the opposite. I agree that gambling is not necessarily unethical, as long as the gambler is willing to lose that money as a consequence of being entertained, i say why the hell not. Also i stressed that in the Long Run the casino will always win given the odds are in their favour.
3)It still is a form of gambling as you still incur losses (i.e a 95% of losses are recovered, the other 5% may go towards paying overheads). However i believe it is more entertainment than gambling, and that is the distinction b/w the ethical casino and the greedy casino.
4)mutual funds are a form of investment. Any rational profit driven person would put their life savings into a mutual fund before this shonky casino. It's all about entertainment for the gambler. |
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Gambling is only fun when you have the fear of loosing more than you can afford. |
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Replace gambling with drugs in this idea, and you will understand my opposition to it. Imagine a crack house where they charge you inflated prices for the crack, invest the profit, and give it back to you in five years... |
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I think this would work fine (five years is sufficiently long that the risk would seem real to gamblers), but wouldn't it be the lamest casino in the world? Without the huge revenues of a regular casino, it would never be able to afford the outlandish architecture, decor, and performers of other casinos. It would essentially be a big video arcade that also borrowed money from its patrons. |
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//a risk free form of entertainment // |
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risk free gambling, isn't gambling. In fact the punters dont gamble, in this idea, but the casino does, on the markets. if casinos now one thing its that only idiots try to make money by gambling. thats why their operations are always sure things. |
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As [Worldgineer] pointed out, casinos already return 95% of the money to their customers, in the form of winnings. |
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