Why do people gamble?

So many reasons why:

- The buzz of trying to win
- Loneliness - use it for some social stimulus (unless online of course)
- The addiction after the initial play.
- Just for casual fun, because they just enjoy it.
- Like the idea of making money for little effort.

There's plenty more but I think naturally, we gamble it due to a combination of the enjoyment and excitement of seeing if you'll win, combined with a desire to make money quickly, with minimum effort.

Good points Josh! For me I play for the buzz of one day landing a huge jackpot and funding a massive holiday around the world. We can hope!!

Boredom is the cause for a lot of people and that ties in with the social aspect Josh talks about above.

My experiences in gambling have been different each time.

But, I think is fun when you are not addicted to it.

I went with a date to Atlantic City. Drinks were free. That was good.

We spend a few hundreds just with the slot machines. Walking around, drinking some more, filling up our buckets with coins, drinking some more, playing again, drinking some more... and the money evaporated from my packet and her purse.

Then, we stayed on the line to use our credit cards and pull more money, there was a 13 bucks service charge, but "who cares"?

Playing some more I recovered 300 bucks and my intention was to exchange the coins for cash, but she told me that it was my night of good fortune, so I played the money again and my packets were empty again.

More drinks, we went to the hotel.

Next day, I was happy to be with her, and I smiled remembering the past night losing hundreds of dollars, I have no idea of what they put in the drinks, but such liquor makes you stupid when next day you keep being happy after losing a bunch of money.

Only after you check the balance in your bank account and the credit card bill arrives, if when you realize next time you go to Atlantic City, to ask for a red umbrella decoration in your drinks... because I heard it brings you good luck...

Its in human nature to gamble .....

Because of the adrenalin

I study poker. I work hard to learn the math, and the strategy. I read the books, I run the simulations, and I play. When I play poker, I am not playing against the casino. I am playing against other normal people. As long as I play better than them, over the long term I will win more than I lose.

This year, I am making about $35 an hour. Mind you... I have a day job, I am not playing for the money. It is a challenging hobby. But still that feels good, my studying is paying off. I think for the stakes I am playing ($1/$2 live), $35 dollars an hour is awfully high. I expect this to come down over the long term (the conventional wisdom is for very good players to net around $20 an hour at these stakes).

It is very nice to have a hobby that I really enjoy that puts money back into my wallet.

The most obvious reason people gamble is for the chance of quick financial gain.
Sports betting, black jack table, the lottery, or even the stock market.

I think the premise of the thread is not fully conducive to such a question. It would be better to as 'from a psychology/psychiatric view, why do people gamble?' (which I doubt anyone here is qualified to answer).

Psychology certainly plays it's part, and many of the answers here are valid (the possibility of getting something for nothing, etc).

There is also the part that the chemicals in our brain play - the chemicals that underlay our decision making (ie. that when gambling, reward 'winning', recreate 'anxiety' when waiting, and reproduce that 'crushing' feeling when losing).

I guess too, psychology plays a bigger part than psychiatry in lotto type gambling, and psychiatry plays a bigger part than psychology in casino type gambling.

It goes very deep & there's a lot of angles to it but one way to put it is instant gratification by winning.

We as Humans enjoy instant gratification more than a long term one.
For example

Most Lottery winners take the lump sum by doing so they lose a much higher percentage than take it over time keeping a significantly higher percentage.

I used to live 15 minutes from two different Casinos when I lived in Connecticut.
In a years time of living in Connecticut so close to both Casinos I went to both of them all together about 7 times with the exception of 2 times I was eating the marvelous buffet that they both have,
I gambled no more than $60 both times & it was mere fun, I was only there about 20 minutes each time.
It takes a lot of discipline to not keep putting money down when you go into those places & have money just in the elevator one time when I was eating at the buffet a couple was asking me if I won I said no I lost about $40 they said oh that's a lot less than we lost, we lost close to $50,000.....
From the emotion in their voice it was clear they were being completely honest....

Gambling uses patterns in the brain that are helpful to human beings. That is why we evolved with them.

Risk-taking is an important human trait. Without it our ancient ancestors would never have hunted mammoths, or build boats to cross oceans. And our brains have a system to reward us with good feelings when we take risks that succeed.

It is not a surprise that many of us find gambling to be pleasurable.

People get into gambling for many reasons. They may see it as a quick fix for money, or just a bit of fun at first. The basic idea is that they then become addicted and find it hard to quit. But why can't they just stop? Addiction is a very powerful thing. When the benefits out weigh the costs, e.g. the ability to have loads of money if you win, all rational goes out the window.

That's right, nothing more than willing to win