Gambling

Gambling, in the United States, is more than a $75 billion per year industry. This number is only attributed to the legal aspect of wagering and does not include the illegal areas of the money making. There are several billion dollars being wagered illegally throughout the country each year with bookmakers, illegal casinos, and Internet gaming. The most common forms of legal gambling in the United States include table games (poker, blackjack, craps, and roulette), slots, and sports betting. There are many similarities and differences regarding risk, odds, legality, addictiveness, and the duration of the wagers within these three forms of gambling.

Table games have just recently become legal outside of Nevada and Atlantic City in many government regulated and Indian casinos across the country. There are many increments of dollar amounts that may be wagered when playing these games. The odds, as with all wagers, always favors the house (casino); they never favor the bettor. For the table games, the odds against the bettor will always remain the same and the money wagered will be at risk. Except for hands played during poker, wagers often do not last more than a minute each. Roulette, craps, blackjack, and poker can be an addictive problem to anyone who has an addictive personality.

As with table games, slots have also recently become legal outside of Nevada and Atlantic City in legalized casinos across the country. There are several types of slots available for play, with many different amounts, in each casino. The biggest odds against the bettor belong to the slots. Every time a bet is placed on the slots, the odds are always the same. Similar to the table games, the bottom line is, money is still at risk. The duration of a slot game is rarely longer than a few seconds. Slots can also