My work as a gambling authority takes me into every type of place where Americans gamble: the plush legal gambling casinos of Las Vegas, Reno, Puerto Rico, Curarrao, the Bahamas, Latin America, Europe and North Africa, also the plush and dingy illegal gambling dives that are spread all over this country. Recently on one of my periodical visits to Las Vegas, I was
impressed by the crowded casino. A closer look, however, revealed that most players were so-called "average Americans." Generally speaking, they placed minimum limit bets and their play appeared amateurish. Gone were most of the "high rollers" (big-money gamblers) of yesteryear who lined the dice and Black Jack tables placing maximum limit bets of $500, $1,000 or more on each decision. Even the Baccarat-Chiming de Fer tables had reduced their $20 minimum limit bet to $5. It became obvious to me that with the recent acquisition of most of the big casinos by giant corporations and syndicates a new breed of small gamblers had taken over the Strip casinos. The high roller, if not dead, was fast on his way to extinction.
Determine Gambling World
This drastic change in Las Vegas casino gambling habits led me to the decision to undertake another gambling survey-to determine just what was what in the gambling world. I wanted, among other things, facts and figures about the new breed of players. I wished to know why they gambled and what kind of gambling they preferred. To avoid any bias in these results I
carefully avoided questioning anyone I saw illinois lottery gambling and did not include in my survey count anyone I knew in advance to be a gambler. This survey was made from a random sampling of our populace. My questionnaire included, among many others, such questions as: "Do you gamble?" 'What is your favorite gambling activity?" 'Why do you gambler' "H you do not gamble, why
not' "Are you in favor of legalized online casino' Answers were obtained from people in all walks of life and in varied urban and rural areas throughout the United States.
Opinion of Players
I found as in earlier surveys that most people were interested in the subject and the questions and eager to supply answers. Aided by several assistants, I obtained replies from 10,000 women, 10,000 men and 5,000 professional gamblers, a total of 25,000 adults. Here were my findings from the answers to the questions above:
1. Do you gamble? "Yes" was the answer given by 80% of the women and 76% of the men.
2. What is your favorite casino gambling activity? The replies show that the various types of gambling rank in order of number of participants as follows: (1) card playing; (2) lotteries, raffles, Numbers and Bingo; (3) horse racing; (4) betting on sports events; (5) dice games; (6) carnival games; (7) slot machines and consoles; (8) punchboards and sales cards.
The majority stated that they did not confine themselves to the one form of gambling they listed as their favorite but also indulged in one or more other gambling activities.
3. Why do you gamble? The big majority, 75%, replied that they gamble primarily to win money. Another 20% said that they gamble for pleasure, and, of this group, one-fifth put it in stronger terms by saying that they had found nothing more exciting or thrilling. The remaining 5% gamble for reasons that have nothing to do with the nature of gambling itself, such as the character who goes to the Poker parlor to watch his girl friend dealer, or the lady who plays Bingo just to get away from her husband.
4. If you do not gamble, why not? Half of this group said they could not afford it; 30% said they do not believe it is possible to beat the game; 10% said they used to gamble but had stopped because they usually went broke; 4% said they know nothing about gambling; 2% stated that they believe all forms of casino gambling are sinful; and the remaining 4% gave assorted other
reasons, such as the woman who replied, "My husband said he'd leave me if he ever caught me gambling. I love my husband, so I don't gamble."
