Why I Don't Play With Money

My friends were talking about playing a small gambling event together. I'm not going to play. But it got me thinking.

My first thought was simple. If I lose some money in that round, it doesn't just disappear. It goes to someone else, and maybe that person uses it to help himself. So is it really a loss?

Then I asked, who gets it? Luck decides that, not need. The money just moves from one person who has enough to another person who has enough.

Why I won't play

I don't believe we should use money to play around with. Many people in our world don't have enough money to even live. People are dying for food. Using money as a game while that is happening is not justified for me.

There is one version I would be okay with. If at the end we collect every single penny from the game and donate it to someone who needs it, then we just had a moment and used the money for good. That good is guaranteed. That's ethical for me.

I know my friends won't agree. If they don't end up with the money, the whole surprise and risk factor is gone. For them, the money is just gone.

And that's fine. If someone just wants to gamble, that mindset cannot be changed. But some people want to gamble and still feel the guilt. For them, this is a way to cut out that guilt and use their privilege for a good cause instead of just giving it away in a game.

Isn't everything a risk?

Someone could say everything has risk. The stock market has risk. Building a company has risk. Education has risk, because you never know when or where you'll need your knowledge. Time is a risk too.

That's true. But in all of those, the end goal is not mostly luck-based. Hard work is part of it. You take a small risk, take your position, embed yourself into the system, and start working. The world just works like that.

Gambling is different. There's no hard work in it. A little skill, but mostly luck. It's entertainment.

It depends on who is playing

If someone is very good at gambling and he's fighting for his life, for food, I'd say he should gamble and put himself in a position where he can at least live.

What I find wrong is someone who has enough, using that privilege just to play around. If you have more money than you need, the least you can do is provide work or make a good impact on the world. Gambling is the last thing.

And me

I'm not outside of this. I have the privilege to live, to go for good food, to entertain myself. People fighting for their lives could look at me and see that some humans are living the best while others are dying because the value system didn't give them even food to start some work.

My previous one or two generations worked hard to create that buffer for me, so I carry that guilt. Just not that much. And that's exactly why I don't want to throw money into a game.

There's a bigger thought behind this about money and the value system itself. That's for another note.

So I'll sit with my friends. I just won't play.