The Dangers and Misunderstandings of Gambling
Debate about the pros and cons of gambling rests fundamentally on what are frequently the unfortunate outcomes of a wrong choice and indiscretion. While these risks are, indeed, quite real, the representations behind gambling are mistakenly perceived when inadequate attention is accorded to them. Here Yukon Gold Casino review, which help you start playing.
Gambling in Ancient Cultures: A Sacred Tradition
Even ancient Roman citizens rolled dice once every year during a festival in honor of Saturn, the god of abundance, although they wagered on nuts instead of money. Gaming, rather than pure evil or a neutral embodiment of fate, was traditionally regarded in mythology as something to express universal energy.
The Role of Gods and Fate in Gambling
Scandinavian legend has it that Odin, king of the gods, bestowed upon mankind the dice and runes, or numbers and letters. The gods are said to gamble on a table game partly determined by the toss of dice, using unbreakable golden boards that survive even after Ragnarok, the downfall of the gods. One would suppose that even the gods come under the sway of fate: that number and measure rule all. The very word dice is said to be derived from the Latin datus, meaning that which is ''given'' by fortune, that is, ''gift'' in English.
Personification of Chance: The Wheel of Fortune
In antiquity, randomness was personified by the capricious divine will of the gods, or sometimes by Fortune herself. The images of the wheel of fortune and the mill of fate reflect the unchanging cycles of change within the world by the revolving skies above or the fall of the dice. The game board was conceived of as the four-quadrant Earth, with the moves of the players being dictated partly by the dice-a.k.a. Fate.
Gambling as a Ritual of Risk and Decision-Making
The first is to picture gambling as a ritual in which the human intellect contests with the twisting winds of chance surrounding us. It is shorthand for the risk-taking behavior we do every other day, whereby luck hands us talents and situations but we have to apply our own intelligence to harness them to our advantage. Gambling will train the mind to grapple with risk.
Training in Risk: Lessons from Ancient Games
Ancient history has handed down many boards, dice, and pictures of people playing games of chance and skill. Board games are particularly shown as the warrior's recreation, in which they trained him in decision-making and skill, preparing him for the chaos of battles full of unpredictable factors.
Luck vs. Skill: The Spectrum of Gambling Games
Most games can be divided into two general categories: games of pure luck, such as dice or the Lotto, and games of pure intellect, such as chess. Only games of chance, however, pose a challenge to the judgment. They inherently demand the exercise of judgment to place bets only we can afford to lose and decide when to take our winnings off the table or call it a day in the case of losses-- a very clever feat in other, perhaps more calculating, ventures.
Ancient Wisdom on Risk: Hesiod’s Advice
In the 7th century BC, the poet Hesiod advised: "Do not surprise all your goods on board ship for trading, since there is bound to happen some maritime accident; keep the majority at home in all things." Today, the same advice also applies to those who trade stocks.
Gambling and Real-World Ventures: From Horses to Stocks
Horse racing gambling is a "game" that imitates the ways venture capitalists wager for their varied kinds of investments. Horse breeders have put their faith, with their finances, on the quality of their yearlings in every race without having to place a wager; the investors are convinced that, in their opinion, the skill of the manufacturer they are backing will outweigh the graduations of chance, so they trust their money to their own good judgment.
Gambling as a Mind Exercise: The Duality of Chance and Skill
Gambling, then, becomes a training and exercise in the mind to risk in real-life situations. But as old metaphors expressed, it is a ritual by which we give reverence to the dual influences of Chance and Skill throughout our lives. What gamblers call trusting to Fortune is to err constantly; indeed, Mercury, the god of calculation, has his dreadful reward of vengeance when it is time for the bean counters to take over the bankrupt. In our lives, both Chance and Skill act upon us all the time, and to neglect either is to jeopardize ourselves.
The Ritual of Gambling: Acknowledging the Presence of Fortune
One might think of the sober citizen who, once a year, goes to the races as imitating the dice-playing Romans, enlightedly offering ritual acknowledgment of fortune's constant presence in our lives.