Author Topic: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!  (Read 22907 times)

farmecologist

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #50 on: May 01, 2017, 11:49:50 AM »
I'm in a casino a few days a week.  Side hustle is playing poker on nights / weekends.  It is depressing seeing all of the zombies around the slot machines.  Occasionally you hear stories about some elderly zombie that just pisses themselves at the machine because they don't want to get up.

You can say what you want about native American casinos.  However, the slot machines at the casinos in my area are a sad and surreal experience to see.  Zombies is a good term to use.   

 

It doesn't seem to me that the ownership of the casinos is a factor in how zombie-fied regular slot and VLT players can be.

Besides tuning all the machines in the key of C, optimizing colors, rhythms, and patterns to have a more hypnotic effect, and the very well known intermittent reward conditioning technique, would it be possible for game designers to do much *more* to make them mesmerizing? Especially with people serving them free alcohol while they play? It sounds to me like a recipe for inducing zombie behavior.
Likely has more to do with where tribal casinos are as opposed to the tribal ownership if that makes any sense. Case and point, there is one about twenty minutes from where I live that only the locals frequent and even then it really is just the retired members of the community. Given that this is a rural area and tourists come up here to hike and enjoy the national parks, the target audience for the tribal casinos really is retired people burning through their savings.

That is true.  I was talking in generalities.   As you mentioned, it has to do with the fact that tribal casinos are generally much more 'local' ( i.e. - easier to get to ).   Since they are more local, they tends to attract more lower-income people than a gaming mecca like Vegas.

This article is pretty interesting..and it ties right into the slot machine issue :

   https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/21/gaming-the-poor/








kenaces

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #51 on: May 01, 2017, 12:08:52 PM »
I play poker for a living and am in casino 5 day/week but I don't play slots/table games.  so many thought...

I agree with others who just don't get the appeal of sitting in front of slots, and the dreary nature of the casino floor.

Millenials were a big part of the online poker boom ~6-8 years ago, but I would love to see some demographic breakdown on online player pool but I don't think any of this is public.  As others have said part of millennials not gambling has to be connected to income/assets. 

Sheldon Adelson is hated by any online poker players who pay attention because he is spending millions in lobbying and advertising to stop online poker from getting legalized/regulated in the US.  He is a huge hypocrite because he argues that against online gambling on moral grounds - remember this is coming from a guy who has made his Billions on gambling!

Any slowdown in LV revenue has to be seen in the context of new casinos opening all over the US in last 10 years and of course in Maccau

AlanStache

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #52 on: May 01, 2017, 01:11:45 PM »
In vegas I have walked the floor at 5am on my way to work and seen plenty of zombies at the slots, it was really sad. 

As far as zombi-ification and the slots go many of the same principles are at play in cell phone apps; pretty colors, nice sounds, blinky lights.  Have read a little on the stuff going on with how you set up an app/websites look to get people hooked-is interesting.  It might just be that young folks are getting there blinky light fix from there cell; or not, plenty of old people are hooked on CandyCrush.

Hunny156

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #53 on: May 01, 2017, 02:45:10 PM »
I grew up in the NE with relatively frugal parents.  One of their friends convinced them to go to Atlantic City one Wednesday morning, so they gave in and went.  It was the 90's when they went, I recall it was $20 for the bus and they gave you $20 in quarters when you got there.  I remember getting a call from my parents after school to check up on us, and then complaining about how much it sucked, they didn't get it, and they were dying for the stupid bus to return so they could come home!  I don't even think they got a nice lunch together, and my mom was weird and hated the beach, so the boardwalk wouldn't have been an option.

FF to 2001, and hubby & I decided to skip the ridiculous "requirements" of the east coast wedding, so we did a destination wedding in Vegas, mostly b/c there were no residency requirements to get married there.  I recall having to go back to my in-laws room to pick up something for the wedding that they had forgotten to bring, and by the time I got back, the entire wedding was nearly over.  Those places are HUGE!

10 years later, hubby & I decided to go back for a vacation and to check out the real Las Vegas.  Other than stopping by the wedding chapel to take a peek, we did not step foot in any casinos.  We saw the Vegas sign, we took in a minor league baseball game, we went to the Hoover Dam, Red Rock and did a quick overnight trip to Los Angeles.  I scored a newly renovated massive timeshare for $250/week, just around the corner from the strip, and we rented a car for about $150.  We grocery shopped and did quick meals in our cool apartment, hung out at the pool, did some mini-golf, visited a chocolate factory, it was a great vacation and really cheap too!  That's the Vegas I love.  I'm not a millennial, but I fail to see the draw of casinos too.

Just Joe

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #54 on: May 01, 2017, 02:54:46 PM »
I changed planes in Vegas. That was close enough to the tourist crazy for me. The airport had plenty of slots and "oxygen bars" and other silliness. I think I'd like to drive down the Vegas strip at night, take a few pictures and leave.

I'm not a gambler nor do I support gambling b/c of the disportionate hit the gambling poor take. Just too much technology at work to entice people to spend money they might not have. Not a fair fight IMHO.

If my absence hurts the casinos just a little then I feel better.

Gamble if you like though. I'm not preaching.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2017, 03:27:35 PM by Tasty Pinecones »

woopwoop

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #55 on: May 01, 2017, 03:07:19 PM »
The best part of Vegas for me has always been the artwork. Dale Chihuly has a new shop open, and you can't beat his installments inside the Bellagio. I love the flower displays as well. The last time I went to Vegas for my husband's birthday, we went to the Bodies exhibit and to a circus thing called Absinthe which was hilarious and awesome and well worth the ticket price. Apart from that, we just walked around looking at all of the amazing sculptures and paintings on display. Gambling is just so dreary. Why do that when you can spend your money on Penn & Teller or some other awesome show instead?

patchyfacialhair

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #56 on: May 01, 2017, 03:25:21 PM »
Driving down the Vegas strip, if you're the one driving, is overrated. Yes the lights are cool, but the traffic is insane and the cab drivers are even more insane. It's hard to enjoy the lights when there are crazy pedestrians and crazier drivers all around you.

There is a bus for like $2 that goes up and down the strip if you want to drive the strip, or, better yet, get some steps in and walk it (it's longer than it looks!).

Just Joe

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #57 on: May 01, 2017, 03:28:01 PM »
Thanks - the bus sounds like the answer.

radram

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #58 on: May 02, 2017, 06:32:28 AM »

FF to 2001, and hubby & I decided to skip the ridiculous "requirements" of the east coast wedding, so we did a destination wedding in Vegas, mostly b/c there were no residency requirements to get married there.  I recall having to go back to my in-laws room to pick up something for the wedding that they had forgotten to bring, and by the time I got back, the entire wedding was nearly over.  Those places are HUGE!


I may have missed something here. Are you saying you missed part of your own wedding? They actually started without you?

boarder42

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #59 on: May 02, 2017, 07:58:37 AM »
i love gambling but hate losing money ... i should only play games where i have a statistical edge ... poker and sports betting.  i'll take my winnings from there to the Black jack tables or pai gow tables.  but since finding MMM my gambling has almost stopped entirely. 

GrumpyPenguin

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #60 on: May 02, 2017, 09:46:12 AM »
I've wondered if millennials don't gamble in casinos much anymore because of the proliferation of video games.  Slot machines these days are just boring video games that just suck a ton of money away regularly.  I'd rather buy a good game for a fixed price.

UnleashHell

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #61 on: May 02, 2017, 09:48:45 AM »
I still go to Vegas. good meeting point for friends scattered around the globe. We do cheap hotels, poker, $5 blackjack and Pai Gow and $1 roulette. Any losses are part of the entertainment budget. The hotel food and drink costs are minimal.
Reduce the house edge as far as you can, learn basic strategy and don't do stupid shit when you are drunk. Turns into a hell of a good time.

boarder42

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #62 on: May 02, 2017, 09:51:36 AM »
I still go to Vegas. good meeting point for friends scattered around the globe. We do cheap hotels, poker, $5 blackjack and Pai Gow and $1 roulette. Any losses are part of the entertainment budget. The hotel food and drink costs are minimal.
Reduce the house edge as far as you can, learn basic strategy and don't do stupid shit when you are drunk. Turns into a hell of a good time.

this is why i stay away from Vegas now except with my wife. b/c she keeps me in line. haha.

UnleashHell

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #63 on: May 02, 2017, 09:52:59 AM »
I still go to Vegas. good meeting point for friends scattered around the globe. We do cheap hotels, poker, $5 blackjack and Pai Gow and $1 roulette. Any losses are part of the entertainment budget. The hotel food and drink costs are minimal.
Reduce the house edge as far as you can, learn basic strategy and don't do stupid shit when you are drunk. Turns into a hell of a good time.

this is why i stay away from Vegas now except with my wife. b/c she keeps me in line. haha.

Took my wife last year. cost me more as she likes decent dining and not a club sandwich on points!! AND i had to bankroll her!

Luckily I learn from my mistakes... :D

infogoon

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #64 on: May 02, 2017, 10:15:23 AM »
I'm in a casino a few days a week.  Side hustle is playing poker on nights / weekends.  It is depressing seeing all of the zombies around the slot machines.  Occasionally you hear stories about some elderly zombie that just pisses themselves at the machine because they don't want to get up.

You can say what you want about native American casinos.  However, the slot machines at the casinos in my area are a sad and surreal experience to see.  Zombies is a good term to use.   

Nothing like watching dozens of blue-haired widows pumping their husband's Beth Steel pension into a slot machine at 2pm on a random Tuesday.

Hunny156

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #65 on: May 02, 2017, 12:29:42 PM »

FF to 2001, and hubby & I decided to skip the ridiculous "requirements" of the east coast wedding, so we did a destination wedding in Vegas, mostly b/c there were no residency requirements to get married there.  I recall having to go back to my in-laws room to pick up something for the wedding that they had forgotten to bring, and by the time I got back, the entire wedding was nearly over.  Those places are HUGE!


I may have missed something here. Are you saying you missed part of your own wedding? They actually started without you?

LOL, I should have been more clear.  The Reception, by the time I got back, the reception was nearly over.  The actual wedding ceremony was Vegas style, done in 20 minutes, with the next wedding party waiting in the hallway...

MgoSam

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #66 on: May 02, 2017, 01:29:09 PM »

FF to 2001, and hubby & I decided to skip the ridiculous "requirements" of the east coast wedding, so we did a destination wedding in Vegas, mostly b/c there were no residency requirements to get married there.  I recall having to go back to my in-laws room to pick up something for the wedding that they had forgotten to bring, and by the time I got back, the entire wedding was nearly over.  Those places are HUGE!


I may have missed something here. Are you saying you missed part of your own wedding? They actually started without you?

LOL, I should have been more clear.  The Reception, by the time I got back, the reception was nearly over.  The actual wedding ceremony was Vegas style, done in 20 minutes, with the next wedding party waiting in the hallway...

Yeah I remember walking from the Sands Convention to the Mirage (across the street on the strip) and then up to my hotel room to grab some things and then walking back and it was probably like 90 minutes.

I love that most of the conventions I go to now are at the Vegas Convention Center which is off the strip and that now I stay at the Best Western. It's so much more comfy, cheaper, less smokey and casino-y, and has a free lot where you can park your car.

Sugaree

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #67 on: April 01, 2019, 07:48:56 AM »
I'm a millennial and while I don't *hate* gambling, I only go every couple of years now.  I used to live within easy driving distance from Biloxi, so we'd go over, catch a show at the Beau Rivage and maybe play some blackjack for awhile.  There was a time where I knew enough strategy and could keep up with the cards well enough to play for a solid few hours on $50.  I have had some decent luck on slots, but it's not something that can hold my attention long. 

The one time I went to Vegas, it was for a friend's wedding.  It was sooooooo hot I didn't want to do anything.

GreenToTheCore

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #68 on: April 01, 2019, 11:01:07 AM »
Shout out to the Pin Ball Hall of Fame: http://pinballmuseum.org/

I'm not a gambler, and the insanity that is the excess of Vegas makes me feel ill, but I'll pay $0.25 for pin ball games.
It was a great place to spend the hot hours of the day while the party people of the group slept off their hangovers.


Just Joe

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #69 on: April 01, 2019, 02:23:59 PM »
Shout out to the Pin Ball Hall of Fame: http://pinballmuseum.org/

I'm not a gambler, and the insanity that is the excess of Vegas makes me feel ill, but I'll pay $0.25 for pin ball games.
It was a great place to spend the hot hours of the day while the party people of the group slept off their hangovers.

That looks like a fun several hours!

UnleashHell

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #70 on: April 01, 2019, 03:15:26 PM »
Shout out to the Pin Ball Hall of Fame: http://pinballmuseum.org/

I'm not a gambler, and the insanity that is the excess of Vegas makes me feel ill, but I'll pay $0.25 for pin ball games.
It was a great place to spend the hot hours of the day while the party people of the group slept off their hangovers.

That looks like a fun several hours!

If you happen to be in downtown vegas there is the Fremont Arcade at Neonopolis that has a bunch of customized and one off pinball machines.

Stimpy

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #71 on: April 01, 2019, 03:49:28 PM »
Shout out to the Pin Ball Hall of Fame: http://pinballmuseum.org/

I'm not a gambler, and the insanity that is the excess of Vegas makes me feel ill, but I'll pay $0.25 for pin ball games.
It was a great place to spend the hot hours of the day while the party people of the group slept off their hangovers.

That looks like a fun several hours!

If you happen to be in downtown vegas there is the Fremont Arcade at Neonopolis that has a bunch of customized and one off pinball machines.

I do enjoy me some poker but ^ and the roller coasters would be a reason to go to Vegas.  Been there pre and post 21, and honestly, gambling was not the fun part!

thesis

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #72 on: April 03, 2019, 08:50:59 AM »
Millennials are too busy paying for worthless master's degrees so they can feel smart and independent. Who has scratch for slots when your $600 monthly student loan bill is due next week? =P

It could be, as others have mentioned, that mills have turned to online gambling, but, as a millennial myself, I don't personally know anybody who gambles in that way. The smart millennials are being cautious, the less-smart ones are trying to make quick profits doing other things like house flipping with money they don't have, but that leads into another topic.

At least we aren't wasting our time in casinos, though. I think I subconsciously associate casinos with old farts, to be completely honest. Fat old dudes with tropical t-shirts. The Godfather Part II. I lost $1 at a casino in South Dakota many years ago, the experience wasn't even worth that much. :o

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #73 on: April 03, 2019, 11:07:53 AM »
I've lost a total of $3 at casinos in my life. I had to go to an Indian casino in Mississippi for a work trip a few years back. I decided to take $100 out of the ATM (which charged a $3 fee). I stood at a craps table for about 5 minutes with my $100, trying to figure out what the hell what happening. Then I walked upstairs to my hotel room and went to sleep. Casinos are a literal incarnation of my nightmares, and I would never go back to one willingly.

MountainFlower

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #74 on: April 05, 2019, 01:13:27 PM »
I live just a few minutes from a gambling town (Not in Nevada) and my observation is that young people have never gone to them whether they were millennials, genxers, or whatever came before or between.    Gambling seems to be most popular with people over a certain age if you ask me.  Our gambling town can't build hotel space fast enough to accommodate the number of people who want to come and stay overnight, so not really seeing a slowdown in this market.   

Zikoris

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #75 on: April 05, 2019, 02:49:48 PM »
I live just a few minutes from a gambling town (Not in Nevada) and my observation is that young people have never gone to them whether they were millennials, genxers, or whatever came before or between.    Gambling seems to be most popular with people over a certain age if you ask me.  Our gambling town can't build hotel space fast enough to accommodate the number of people who want to come and stay overnight, so not really seeing a slowdown in this market.   


It's pretty funny, I've been to Vegas twice now and it definitely seems like the casinos are all full of old people. There are way more young people at shows, exploring the strip, or outdoors at any of the awesome desert hiking areas near the city. The main appeal to me for Vegas is honestly the hiking. Living in the PNW, some sweet desert hiking is always a blast.

driftwood

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #76 on: April 05, 2019, 03:44:48 PM »
Those typical spoiled millennial brats, not wanting to... um... throw their money away on casino gambling like their parents and grandparents did?

Quote
But that's not the Vegas Strip where the Raiders will play after owners on March 27 approved the team's relocation by a shockingly lopsided 31-1 vote. They're moving in either 2019 or 2020 to a Vegas that is fading, thanks to the continuing fallout from the real estate crash a decade ago and millennials' deep distaste for casino games. Wide swaths of craps tables and roulette wheels sit empty on casino floors as 20-somethings, mesmerized by their smartphones, idle on leather chairs with their backs turned to the pulsating penny slot machines. Deep debt hangs over most gaming corporations, and a handful are untangling themselves from multibillion-dollar bankruptcies. Many casinos now charge for parking, once unheard of in an industry designed to make it easy for customers to enter and all but impossible to leave.

You always hear people accusing us millennials of being the entitled ones, but here the casino owners are the ones showing a sense of entitlement. Even though we're making a financially savvy decision, they use the same language to attack us for it. They think it's rude of us to not waste money on games where the odds are in the house's favor, as if they had a right to presume that every generation would be as mathematically illiterate as the one before it.

I cheer every time I see a headline talking about an industry/business/product that the millennials are 'destroying' due to not spending their money there. No business is entitled to my money. The ones that earn my money provide me a service I want or need in a way that's better than their competitors. So if casinos die... ok, guess they aren't needed anymore. If they were, there would be enough customers to waste their money there. Same with every other industry. If millennials don't want mortgages, fine, the housing market can die or shift to a higher percentage of rentals. If millennials decide that they don't want blue vehicles, and no one else buys enough of them, blue vehicles will go away. That's how it works. At some point the horse buggy businesses folded because they weren't needed anymore. Blockbuster is down to one store. It's all good. Move on. If you want your business to survive, shift to meet the needs of the current customers. Even if that means getting rid of DVDs and going to online streaming.

Just Joe

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #77 on: April 06, 2019, 09:56:12 AM »
I've lost a total of $3 at casinos in my life. I had to go to an Indian casino in Mississippi for a work trip a few years back. I decided to take $100 out of the ATM (which charged a $3 fee). I stood at a craps table for about 5 minutes with my $100, trying to figure out what the hell what happening. Then I walked upstairs to my hotel room and went to sleep. Casinos are a literal incarnation of my nightmares, and I would never go back to one willingly.

I have fun watching the dog and horse races. Making mental calculations on who I think will win the race. I'm very scientific about it - the red one or the one on the end of the row.

I have fun watching my friends win or lose in casinos. My money is happiest staying in my pocket. Lotteries have a similar effect on me.

Wahoo! $500M in some lottery somewhere! Wouldn't that be fun to have all that money (if I could collect anonymously)? That's as far as I get towards actually participating in any lotteries.

MoMan

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #78 on: April 12, 2019, 12:11:16 PM »
My local stations air lots of ads for Lake Charles, LA and the native American resorts nearby.

I think the funniest (and saddest) part of the casinos is contrasting the actual zombie patrons to those people depicted on the TV commercials: It's almost always some successful, stylishly dressed middle aged James Bond guy with some young arm candy, cooing and cheering him on as he wins bigly. Her fancy evening dress covers slightly more than the white (always) bikini she was wearing while ordering fancy poolside drinks earlier that afternoon. And after a fancy meal, they finish the evening by ballroom dancing. Gotta love marketing!

OtherJen

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #79 on: April 12, 2019, 12:26:57 PM »
My local stations air lots of ads for Lake Charles, LA and the native American resorts nearby.

I think the funniest (and saddest) part of the casinos is contrasting the actual zombie patrons to those people depicted on the TV commercials: It's almost always some successful, stylishly dressed middle aged James Bond guy with some young arm candy, cooing and cheering him on as he wins bigly. Her fancy evening dress covers slightly more than the white (always) bikini she was wearing while ordering fancy poolside drinks earlier that afternoon. And after a fancy meal, they finish the evening by ballroom dancing. Gotta love marketing!

Yep. We get glamorous ads for Greektown casino in Detroit. Admittedly, I've only been there once, but I didn't see any one in a fancy suit or evening gown. Hmmph.

A Fella from Stella

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #80 on: June 21, 2019, 02:36:25 PM »
The biggest issue Boomers and older gens have with Millennials is that we're not buying their worthless junk. For example, my kids just finished their Little League softball seasons. If you placed, you got a trophy, and because not everyone gets one (which can be a nice memento), the extra funds go to every team getting an equipment bag and a bucket of balls.

We're not buying "collectibles." Why? Because they are stupid.

We're calling gambling "a problem," like smoking, vaping, drinking, and working yourself to death.

Remember the headline: "Young people think they should be happy at work"? and others like it? They are trying to pat themselves on the back while trying to convince us that their old ways are better.

Bloop Bloop

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #81 on: June 22, 2019, 02:58:42 AM »
I used to gamble frequently using arbitrage, sign-up bonuses and fake accounts to earn a decent buck or two off online gambling sites.

Since sign-up bonuses and betting inducements have largely been made illegal, I've stopped gambling. I don't see the point in gambling unless the house is rigged in your favour. Gambling for the sake of gambling is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard of.

TomTX

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #82 on: June 22, 2019, 06:37:31 AM »
The first time I went to a Casino was when my Aunt dragged me to the Tropicana in Atlantic City, New Year's Eve 1987. I had no interest in gambling, but got $20 in quarters just for something to do. $14 later, the slot machine I was playing lit up - I had hit the jackpot, yay! Because I was only playing one quarter at a time, I only won $125. If I had been throwing my money away at the rate of five quarters per throw, it would have been $12,500 $0 as I would have run out of quarters long before. I was quite happy to walk away with $111.


Fixed that for you ;)

Buffaloski Boris

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #83 on: June 22, 2019, 07:16:11 AM »
Cool.  Maybe the casinos will go BK and be turned into housing or something worthwhile?  Probably not.     

catprog

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #84 on: June 23, 2019, 12:55:45 AM »
My casino experience was I played some roulette, and was down $30.  I put a dollar in a cheap slot machine and won a small prize(33 or so) so I played until it equaled my roulette loss and walked out. (I ended up with too may dollar coins though.)

I do do a bit of sport/political betting but that was funded from sign up and deposit bonuses so I have not lost their either.



kenner

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #85 on: June 23, 2019, 08:37:54 AM »
I live just a few minutes from a gambling town (Not in Nevada) and my observation is that young people have never gone to them whether they were millennials, genxers, or whatever came before or between.    Gambling seems to be most popular with people over a certain age if you ask me.  Our gambling town can't build hotel space fast enough to accommodate the number of people who want to come and stay overnight, so not really seeing a slowdown in this market.   


It's pretty funny, I've been to Vegas twice now and it definitely seems like the casinos are all full of old people. There are way more young people at shows, exploring the strip, or outdoors at any of the awesome desert hiking areas near the city. The main appeal to me for Vegas is honestly the hiking. Living in the PNW, some sweet desert hiking is always a blast.

Exactly.  I'm not there often, maybe a long weekend every third/fourth year since it's an easy spot to meet up with some remote friends (extremely cheap flights from almost everywhere is a big draw, as are the constant hotel deals) and the best use for the casinos for us is post-hike and pre-show.  Post-hike we can grab showers and lounge around a pool for a while to relax; pre-show it's a couple dollars on video poker at one of the bars to get comped for a drink before said show.  And by a couple dollars I mean <$5 apiece even with tip.

A Fella from Stella

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Born to Lose
« Reply #86 on: June 27, 2019, 08:18:41 AM »
I am wrapping up a book called "Born to Lose," by Mike Lee, a compulsive gambler who began losing all his baseball cards in grade school, and later went on to accumulate casino debt that took 10 years to pay off.

He once screamed to God on his way to Reno to make his car break down, and it did. He coasted to a gas station where the belt was replaced. The result? He couldn't believe he'd lost 30 minutes that he could have been gambling, and felt that $13 for the part was a bit high.

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Born to Lose
« Reply #87 on: June 27, 2019, 12:27:40 PM »
I am wrapping up a book called "Born to Lose," by Mike Lee, a compulsive gambler who began losing all his baseball cards in grade school, and later went on to accumulate casino debt that took 10 years to pay off.

He once screamed to God on his way to Reno to make his car break down, and it did. He coasted to a gas station where the belt was replaced. The result? He couldn't believe he'd lost 30 minutes that he could have been gambling, and felt that $13 for the part was a bit high.

It's astounding that when a person is fixated on a compulsive behavior, even when they get a lucky break that interferes with the self-destructive process they don't seem to see it as anything except a barrier to be overcome on the path to more satisfying self-destruction.

partgypsy

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Re: Waah! Millennials aren't gambling anymore!
« Reply #88 on: June 27, 2019, 12:58:37 PM »
I was at a family vacation that was at Atlantis, and one evening went to the casino. They had a couple Chihuly pieces (I always think Cthulhu when I see his name) that were beautiful, but otherwise thought the place has a tacky feel. I didn't like how you couldn't even tell what time it was (no clocks or windows). I watched my BIL play roulette for awhile and then played a few dollars of slots. It wasn't fun because I didn't know what was going on. What was I supposed to press when? How do I increase my odds? What was I supposed to do when a little animation came up?) Playing bejeweled is more fun. And intellectually knowing the odds were against me, was aversive versus incentive. I would be a lot more interested if, I had cash, to spend it at the adjacent restaurant (Nobu).

The thing is, it seems every place that has casinos, the prices for regular stuff is raised (drinks, sandwiches, entertainment). I did get a free drink, but it wasn't a place I'd want to hang out.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!