Gambling age reasoning?

Question

I am being the devil advocate in a class debate and i could really use some links to sites that show that the gambling age should be 18 instead of 21.

Answer 1

I'm also sure that in most states, you can bet on horses.  I know in Illinois and Indiana the legal age is 18.  I think the big reason it's 21 for a casino, is to avoid serving alcohol to someone under 21.

Answer 2

You can vote at age 18.  You can go to fight for your country when you are 18.

Answer 3

You may think it is a government law to be 21 but the truth of the matter is the casinos want it to be twenty one. For one reason is the drinking age and the other is they want older people who have money to loose and cause less trouble.

Answer 4

18 is still a teenager.  He is strong, he is fast, but he is stupid as well.  At that age he knows everything and won't listen to advice.  He lacks discipline and doesn't use his head.  He doesn't have enough life experience to make good choices.  We were all 18 at one point and we have all come to the same conclusion:  At 18 we were numbskulls compared to what we are now.

Answer 5

The gambling age already is 18.  You can buy lottery tickets at 18.  There are casinos in California where you can gamble at 18.  There is a off track horse betting place in Virginia I am going to tomorrow night, and you only have to be 18 to gamble.  Even though they serve alcohol there.  You can actually sit at the bar, at 18, with a betting slip in your hand, but you cannot of course order a glass of wine to celebrate your win!

But logically, if you are legally an adult at 18, then you should have all the rights that go along with that.  If you can be given a machine gun a shipped to Iraq to fight for your country, why can't you go and play a slot machine?  And really, what's the difference between a slot machine and a lottery ticket?  Both cost money to play, and both have a horrible house edge.

If an American living in Virginia can bet horses at 18, why not one in Ohio?

In the UK, the gambling age is 18 for everything.  They don't have any more of a problem of compulsive gambling than they do in the US.

So what's the issue?  If your opponent tries to argue that gambling is bad and wrong, and that 18 is too young, ask them to explain the lottery ticket issue.  If they try to blame alcohol being on sale in casinos, ask them how it is that 18 year olds can go to pool halls that serve alcohol.

There is no good argument for banning people aged 18-21 from gambling.  If anyone truly believed there was an issue, they would not sell lottery tickets to people under 21.

The current law is just a left over relic that America has going on where they choose to create a legal twilight zone for people aged between 18 and 21.  They can go to war, have a child, buy a home, get tried as an adult and executed, trade on the stock market (which is also gambling), but they cannot play slots in Vegas?  Not logical, not sensible.

Answer 6

You can go to Iraq and get your legs blown of at 18, but you can't come back home and place a bet in a casino.  That paradox always baffled me.