Why wouldn't I? Gambling teaches math, probability, detecting deception, the sunk cost fallacy, sticking to a budget, dealing with disappointment, and if you win, generosity of sharing your win.
Maybe I'm biased because growing up Jewish we learn gambling at a very young age (playing dreidel) but we're also using blackjack and poker with our kids to teach them all the things I said above.
Incidentally, I believe that it is also good to teach teens about fine wines and spirits (to expand their palates) and how to drink in moderation and avoid hangovers (to help them in social situations). Many people who start drinking early also don't learn those lessons.
Kids also pick up a lot from context, so if you teach your child to gamble using a dreidel on a holiday, it is a very different thing than teaching them to gamble with online poker (for example). It's very easy to learn the wrong lessons from games like poker and blackjack.
Looking at drinking age 21 in the US vs drinking age 16 in Germany, I would say German college students don't put so much effort in getting wasted in my experience.
Starting earlier gives some time, where the kids are still somewhat under the control of their parents, to adapt to alcohol. At 21 I feel like a lot of Americans already have an unhealthy obsession with getting wasted, because they've waited so long to get there.
I do understand that in the US you get your driver's license at 16, and having these events coincide would be horrible, but it's not entirely clear cut to me whether this trade-off is good.
more the state of society than the number
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_flush_reaction#frequen...
Absolutely true, and to add to that, even taking good bets requires disciplined bankroll management. Too many gamblers seem to think a bet that won means it was good; and that it's an oxymoron to take a good bet which loses.
Tangentially related, it's important to learn to seek out mispriced odds or lines in sports bets. For example, the recent Mavericks Suns game 7 had the Suns favored by ~6.5 points depending on the oddsmaker, which translates to ~94% implied probability of winning. I saw this as mispriced and so I bet on the Mavericks, expecting to lose - I thought the Suns would win, but nowhere near a 94% probability of winning (I didn't pick a number, but I'd have estimated something like 60% probability to win); therefore I felt it was a "good" bet to take. If the suns won and I lost money (which was my expectation), it was still a good bet to take.
As an additional point of interest, after the game, I googled to find out the home team in NBA game 7s had won the game 78% of the time (after last week, the number is now 77%).
I'd rather they learn risk taking through strategy games with incomplete information (like XCOM 2, Starcraft, Among Us, etc). That gives them a range of strategies to experiment with and will teach the perils of both risking too much and being too conservative. Most traditional gambling assumes a position of "luck is part of the fun" as opposed to treating it as a risk to be managed. Because if you treated it as a risk to be managed, and the requisite luck level is set so high, why play the game in the first place?
Viewing a casino as a place to make money is certainly an error. However with smart play and a bankroll of $20,000 or more you can get a VIP experience at an excellent average price in Las Vegas. A room, food, and beverage comp from your host can easily have a nominal daily value in the low four digits if you have a nice room and eat and drink at the nice places owned by the property you play at. You will be expected to spend a minimum of four hours a day at the tables though, so it’s not really worth it unless you enjoy the games. Personally I find blackjack and craps entertaining, albeit for very different reasons. Incidentally those games are very close to even odds.
You don’t have to beat the house edge, you just have to beat the house edge less their marketing budget. The casino allocates marketing dollars, that is comps, based on your theoretical loss. Last I knew for blackjack the theo assumed a 2% house edge and marketing will refund about 30% of that in comps. That’s regardless of how well or poorly you do. Since even competent basic strategy brings the house edge down to a 0.5% you’re already ahead there.
Curious if you could expand on “smart play”? Which strategies do you consider? Just basic BJ strategy and come bets with odds? Or something else? How much do you bet per hand to get RFB comps?
For BJ I usually just do an ace-five count[1] because it’s simple enough I can do it without being distracted from the experience and it moves the needle a few points. But basic strategy is good enough.
As for craps yeah, pass and then come every throw with max odds. Don’t pass and don’t come is mathematically superior, but it ruins the experience because everyone including the crew will hate you. Also place six and eight.
With respect to RFB, for blackjack they’ll want to see around 4 black chips a hand base bet. But if you have a relationship with a host and can be charming to the pit boss you might get RFB as low as 200 a hand. That’s assuming 4-5 hours a day. You can bring your theo up by just spending a ton of time at the tables but I like to do other things. However I haven’t been to Vegas since just before Covid so I don’t know if or how things have changed.
Realize that the pit boss has considerable authority over the comps you do or don’t get. He or she inputs your average bet into the system and if you’re pleasant, toke (tip) the dealers generously, and otherwise show respect they may well rate your play considerably higher than is objectively warranted.
Doing this I’ve come out considerably ahead including comps over the course of many years, but I won’t lie I had a bad trip where I lost 15 grand so don’t play with money you can’t afford to lose. Of course I’ve also had several trips where I walked out with five grand or more to my favor.
Another social skills aspect is maintaining a good relationship with your host. They can bend the rules for comps too. I just ask them what they need to see for the front end comps they’re offering and exceeding that is how I’ve gotten RFBed.
[1] https://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/ace-five-count/
[2] A good-enough simplification of Kelly’s criterion for my purposes.
Gambling is a vice. Where there is a vice, other vices exist.
I agree with your comment primarily but suspect that the influence on life outcome of learning gambling at a young age is environmentally and culturally dependent.
Games with sufficient game theoretic aspects can also be excellent intellectual playgrounds for strategic planning in uncertain situations.
Gambling is highly emotional and triggering. How were the inevitable outbursts handled?