A 1991 study by Caneday and Zeiger showed that residents' quality of life ultimately suffers when gambling and tourism come to town. Gambling, in one form or another, is as American as apple pie. We use the office pool to gamble on athletic contests. Churches have profitable bingo nights. Many states have legalized poker parlors.
State lotteries stretch across the nation from coast to coast.
So it appears our society agrees that under certain conditions, gambling is acceptable. That gambling survives at all suggests that it meets social and personal needs of the gambler that are not being fulfilled otherwise. Protest against rationality. Too many of life's pleasures are controlled by rational thought. Gambling allows the gambler to strike a blow for personal freedom.