What struck me yesterday as we got into a discussion that touched on the morality of gambling and the gambling industry on the podcast yesterday is how different some US residents view of gambling is to myself who lived in the UK for most of his life. I get this impression that there is a forbidden alure to gambling in the US, perhaps due to the glamour of Las Vegas and of course since gambling laws in the US are surprisingly strict in many states. In the UK, gambling is one of the most mundane things imaginable. Betting is legal and as a result there are "bookies" on every highstreet which you can just walk into to place a bet. Also legal are "amusements" small casino like buildings which are purely slots/video gambling as opposed to table games. There's nothing exciting about them. Amusements are often where old people go to waste some money and the occassional "I'm 18, honest guv" teen who think he's a real hard man for playing a fruitie. Gambling is certainly destructive to some people, of that there can be no doubt, but it's hard to view it as a great evil or a serious vice when you grew up surrounded by it as if it was as normal as going to the shop to pick up a pint of milk. Different perspectives.