Gambling

Over the next few days I'll be answering a few questions a reader e-mailed me. Here's the first one:

Gambling in all forms is VERY popular. Gambling used to be an activity that was considered somewhat shameful (if not sinful) among the middle class... Now it's ubiquitous. It was once considered louche, now it has no disreputable air. I wonder if you believe that this will continue or whether it will reverse since the economy is in a tailspin.

In my opinion, it was the instability of the economy that made the gambling trend so popular in the first place. Of course, back when the poker trend started a few years ago, it was in an atmosphere of economic growth and relative optimism, which on the surface justified a trend towards playing games in which one risks money. But beneath that optimism probably lay a subconscious worry about just when our economic bubble was going to burst. That underlying anxiety perhaps led people to voluntarily take on economic risk in order to gain a feeling of control over it. Now that that risk has become all too real, I expect that the popularity of gambling will indeed dwindle.