Dr. Patrick Basham: Is there happiness without risk?

“We are pleased to welcome the esteemed Dr. Patrick Basham to CalvinAyre.com. Dr. Basham is a founding director of the Democracy Institute and an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute’s Center for Representative Government.

Dr. Basham’s latest book “Gambling: A Healthy Bet” argues that gambling is a net contributor to public health, economic life and an important component in a liberal society. We couldn’t agree more.

The following is an editorial from Dr. Basham, Is there happiness without risk?“

- Bill Beatty

 Patrick Basham

Here is a counterintuitive assertion: gamblers are indistinguishable from non-gamblers. Okay, that is not only counterintuitive; it is also not completely true.

Gamblers are distinguishable from non-gamblers, but in only one regard. Gamblers are more sociable, gamblers are more neighbourly, gamblers are more involved in community activities, and gamblers are more likely to give to charity than their non-gambling peers. Those are the consistent findings of studies commissioned by the British, American, and Swedish governments, respectively.

Why is the average gambler arguably a nicer and a kinder person than the average non-gambler?

Perhaps, it is because gambling sustains hope and optimism, which makes gamblers happier people. While many people are risk averse, gamblers are among those people who are risk preferring, that is, they are willing to take a risk – to gamble – to increase their wealth. For those who choose to gamble, the small sum risked for the possible return of a larger sum of money is justified by the opportunity of financial gain that a person would not otherwise have had the opportunity to obtain.

Such a taste for risk is essential to human development. Since gambling involves risks, it can teach the player to deal with real-life risks.

Risk-taking has always been an essential component of a progressive and a progressing society. A modern, dynamic economy requires risk. But contemporary policymakers fail to understand the requirements of a modern, dynamic economy. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that policymakers also fail to understand the requirements of a modern, dynamic society.

We should shout from the rooftops that tolerance for risk is a good thing. As gambling pits the human intellect against the unpredictable forces of chance that surround us, it is a concentrated form of the risk-taking behaviour we carry out every day, where luck deals us different talents and circumstances but we must use our intelligence to turn these to our advantage.

Gambling trains the mind to handle risk. A spectrum of skill runs from games of pure luck to games of pure intellect. But even games of pure luck challenge our judgment. They test our ability to wager only what we can afford to lose, and to know when to walk away with our winnings, or to cut our losses and stop playing, a skill we need in more calculating ventures.

Gambling honours the dual influences of chance and skill in our world. Both chance and skill are active in our lives all the time; we ignore either one at our peril. Gambling therefore educates people about the wider role of chance in life.

For example, as with so many well-intentioned public health interventions that lack an evidence base, the campaign to minimise, even eliminate, youth gambling may have unintended, negative consequences.

Not only does it limit young people’s ability to learn realistic lessons about risks and risk-taking, but it also makes it more, rather than less, likely that a young person will become a problem gambler. The possibility of developing a gambling problem increases the later in life you start to gamble. And those who start gambling later in life tend to develop gambling problems more quickly.

Therefore, the preoccupation with preventing, ideally eliminating, adolescent gambling may serve to increase rather than decrease the likelihood of certain individuals developing a gambling problem.

The historical record is clear. For nearly 5,000 years, societies have benefitted from gambling. To cite a comparatively recent example, illegal gambling in Victorian England encouraged numeracy and literacy among people who had had otherwise relatively little education.

Gambling has been a widespread leisure activity for several thousand years for a single reason: gambling adds to the sum of human happiness.

Despite the fact that the public health benefits of gambling are now well-documented scientifically, gambling’s critics simply do not understand why people gamble.

The simple, uncomplicated truth is that gambling is a terrific form of entertainment. Gambling is a leisure pursuit and a source of recreation that, like any other legal product, is a legitimate part of capitalist enterprise. Every individual gambles for different reasons and will derive pleasure from the activity according to his or her own set of preferences.

The bottom-line is that gambling is good for us. And, in a policy environment where illiberalism is the de facto governing philosophy, gambling is an important component of a truly liberal society.

Clearly, gambling is a risk worth taking – if happiness is your goal.

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Tags: Article, Dr. Patrick Basham, gambling a healthy bet, libertarian, The Democracy Institute

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