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You can purchase a lotto ticket at age 18, but to gamble at a casino, you have to be 21. 'Well, I thought the technical legality was that you need to be 18 to gamble. But because you have to be 21 to drink alcohol, most casinos make it 21 for the sake of efficiency. 'This reply answers the above: Most U.S. Casinos model their regulations after the Nevada Gaming Commission. You can purchase a lotto ticket at age 18, but to gamble at a casino, you have to be 21.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the gambling age 19 in Canada, and 18 in Australia?
Australia
Vote 18
Drink 18
Drive 17
Gamble 18
Get shot ?
I say no, because teenage brains aren't fully developed, and one of the last things the human brain acquires is judgment, risk assessment, and discretion. Young people do foolhardy things because those skills don't develop until the mid-20's, or much later in the case of Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan. To allow teenage children to gamble would be to expose them to exploitation.
So what? Like they're not being exploited everywhere else already. Why stop at 21, make it 25, and they have to take a test. Get real, you can't protect people from themselves, you can't control them like they're livestock and you have the cattle prod. Let them experience life for themselves and make their own decisions and mistakes.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the gambling age 19 in Canada, and 18 in Australia?
A few pages ago and not sure if someone has answered but yes, the legal age for gambling (as with drinking) is 18 in Australia.
So what? Like they're not being exploited everywhere else already. Why stop at 21, make it 25, and they have to take a test. Get real, you can't protect people from themselves, you can't control them like they're livestock and you have the cattle prod. Let them experience life for themselves and make their own decisions and mistakes.
Human society can and does 'protect people from themselves' by prohibiting some behaviors and restricting some others. In the case of gambling, minors are particularly susceptible, and the societal cost of allowing them to gamble is huge.
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First, I think the gambling age should be left up to each state. However, what if the question were should my own state lower the gambling age to 18? This issue is not a priority for me, but I would favor it. Same with the drinking age. I don't think prohibiting either is keeping those age 18-21 away from gambling and drinking. In fact, I think prohibiting it makes it more appealing and exciting, resulting in doing both in excess. In my life I did way more drinking before 21 than after, for the same stupid reason. The emphasis should be placed on individual responsibility and moderation, not legislating behavior.
I don't see, and haven't heard of, swarms of underage gamblers seeking out illicit crap tables and slot machines buried in the basements of pool halls. Gambling isn't appealing for underage kids the way drinking is.
I would heartily disagree with the premise that making drinking illegal INCREASES the incidence of drinking. Granted, the prohibition won't reduce that incidence very much, but some number of underage persons--greater than zero--will refrain from drinking because it is illegal.
It would be nice if we could rely on the 'individual responsibility and moderation' of 18-20 year olds, but that's like relying on the ability of chimpanzees to play the violin. They aren't ABLE to be responsible or moderate--not yet. That is the single strongest argument for restricting certain behaviors on their part.
I do agree that if the individual states can regulate whether gambling exists at all, then they should also set the age limits. It takes a pretty desperate (cash-strapped) and dimwitted state to lower the gambling age to 18, though. Do you REALLY want to bleed teenagers to make up for your past fiscal stupidity?
Human society can and does 'protect people from themselves' by prohibiting some behaviors and restricting some others. In the case of gambling, minors are particularly susceptible, and the societal cost of allowing them to gamble is huge.
All the experts agree that if a man is going to be a problem gambler, he already is one by the age of 18, without ever entering a casino. And they say a woman can become one at any age from 18 to 80. Protecting people from themselves is a Socialist fantasy, its not possible. Look at the Great Experiment, Prohibition. The gov't tried to protect an entire country 'from themselves', and what happened was more people drank during Prohibition than before it was enacted. People are going to do what they want, you can't stop them.
Countries That You Can Gamble At 18
It takes a pretty desperate (cash-strapped) and dimwitted state to lower the gambling age to 18, though. Do you REALLY want to bleed teenagers to make up for your past fiscal stupidity?