reversehaven

Casino.. my personal viewpoint.
:Tuesday, April 26, 2005:

Well, this is just a post I'm making, with regards to the casino, and my views to it.. Well, I can't put it up in the today paper like Mr Brown, but I guess I can put it here..

Well, my strong disapproval of the casino comes in five points.

First, the social implications. As we all know, gambling can become a habit, a bane to life. Gambling, especially to Christians, is prohibitied, because of its strong association to the world, and the kind of ruin gambling can bring to your life. I ever tried small scale gambling before, and that little bit of gain that it can bring you could lead you to continue, out of greed of gaining more. Fact is, the probability of gaining overall after a session of gambling is very small. One small win is very poisonous, because no matter how many times you lose after that, you'll still be led to the erroneous thinking that you will gain on overall, and this leads one to borrow money right after they have lost all their money, still foolishly believing that they can win. However, in gambling, the only true winner is the casino. Never any gambler. The lucky gamblers who get the jackpot ultimately spend most of the cash, and when they are almost dry, they will come back to gamble some more, hoping to get another jackpot. This will inevitably break families up as their irresponsible family members gamble, putting the family into financial stress. Mr Brown couldn't have put it more tactfully - to IR is human. (IR stands for integrated resort... while he would pronounce it as 'err' in this case)

Second, the economic implications. Woe unto us! the Government refuses to look at the long term, but only the short term! I just had a conversation with keene, and we both wondered if God would choose to punish this now becoming sinful lion city by means of a tsunami or similar natural disaster. The government only looks at the short term results... for four years.. They can create another 35,000 jobs for four years, and i think about 1000 or less long term (as casino staff, if i'm not mistaken). However, they fail to realise that in Singapore, the only people who gamble are the poor, who will never willingly pay an entrance fee of $100. The poor are the people who are foolishly led by their greed and hope to win through this means. The rich will never come here, because most of them are either too busy making money with calculated risks in the market (the stock market. Most of the gains and losses are at a macro level, so each win and loss implicates a big sum. However, since it's calculated risks, these people already know how to win, and win overall.). Never will these rich people come to the casino. Perhaps,... perhaps for some entertainment, yes. Just perhaps. However, many singaporeans are already in the "against casino" camp in the debate. Just how many of our local rich people would patronise it... I don't know.

Third would be the foriegners. This would be under economic too. I sometimes wonder why foriegners would come out of the way to an out-of-the-way (ok lar.. not so out of the way lar.. Singapore is supposed to be the most accessible country in the region right?) Singapore, just for a teeennyy tiiinnyy casino. Face it. The Government has made a mistake in having the casinos occupy 3% of the total space of the two centres. First mistake they made is thinking that this 3% will make the casinos any less evil (pah.). Second mistake is that... this 3% would make these casinos really puny. Compared to the huge massive casinos in Las Vegas.. Hmm.. those casinos there would be...er.. now.. just how big is Las Vegas? hmm...

Fourth would be the mentality with which the government takes. They think that the 3%of total space and all that counselling and 'measures' put in place to reduce social implications make the casinos less evil. Look; Like Mr Brown said.. They only look at that short term 35,000 jobs. If chewing gum could bring that many jobs, they would immediately unban chewing gum and declare singaporeans mature enough to chew gum (with a little help from the trained social counsellors, of course.).

Fifth.. would definitely because it's wrong. Gambling; Drugs; Drinking; Smoking... All these go together. under one roof. The Bible did not say "thou shalt not gamble" neither did it say "thou shalt not drink". But the implications it brings... bringing one further from God... makes this inherently and absolutely wrong. I am totally and fully against the casino. No way would anyone be able to persuade me otherwise.

The reversehaven spoke at 11:58 PM