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Sure bet at North
Published: 2005-04-24
 Sure bet at North: No poker, gambling allowed
Khiem M. Tran
Published: Sunday, Apr. 24, 2005
Ever since last year, Nashua High School North has not allowed playing cards and gambling to take place.
Students still feel resentment toward this rule.
When there are rules, there are people breaking them. Some students still feel this restriction is unfair, and they still sneak around to get in a game or two when the faculty isn’t looking. This shows the growing obsession of poker among teens.
Poker has been growing in popularity recently. Even though the game has been around for a long time, the television coverage of tournaments and the many poker and card TV shows involving celebrities raise the hype surrounding the games.
Teens have been getting into it. They play mostly Texas Hold ’Em, Omaha, stud games and the increasingly popular Big Two.
Ever since the banning of these games in school, teens have sought other places to play and oftentimes gamble. They hold poker tourneys after school or on weekends. Some play online.
Naturally, those who lose keep trying to win their money back, and those who win want to continue their streaks. This is the nature of gambling, and it becomes obsessive.
“I’ve seen kids lose quite a bit of money at lunch or before class starts, so I don’t get involved in it,” junior Tim Zeising said. “It’s not worth it to me, and I don’t see how it’s caught on for so long.”
Administrators saw this problem and disallow cards to try to prevent gambling. This is unfair to those who just play for fun.
Some students say poker is a critical-thinking game; it involves thinking and decision making to evaluate risks and tradeoffs.
Some students argue that cards can only benefit them and deny gambling is a problem.
Other students agree it’s good that cards aren’t allowed in school, but still feel their fun is being taken away. They say the ban has let them concentrate more on school, which, after all, is a place of education.
And many students admit that while gambling is fun, it can be dangerous if it’s out of control.
Teens should watch their gambling, because when someone wins, it’s someone else’s loss. Thus, it’s good that the school has taken the decision out of the students’ hands.
Khiem M. Tran is a junior at Nashua High School North.
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Poker tournaments
Published: 2005-04-24
 Herald poll response -- Poker tournaments
The Daily Herald
Editor's note: The Daily Herald recently asked readers if poker tournaments should be legalized in Utah. Here are the responses we received:
Today poker tourneys, tomorrow casino games
The mistake made in other states was to dismiss the clear and simple reality of what gambling really is.
Regardless of the value of the wager, each gambler wants to take what belongs to another or others without earning it or having it freely given as a gift. In other circumstances, we call this theft. Suicides, addiction, bankruptcies, crime, corruption and divorce are found in gambling's wake, no matter what form it takes. Pennsylvania put the "light" gambling snake in its pocket and is now poised to become Slotslvania. My advice on legalizing gambling in Utah is don't.
Dianne M. Berlin,
Manheim, Pa.
Only moral relativists
would support gambling
The recent gambling commentary showcases common failures in logic and reasoning. If Utah law prohibits gambling but still people wager, then Utah's law is wrong. This same logic yields: If smoking is unhealthy but people smoke, then smoking can't be bad. There are a wealth of documented social ills associated with gambling, but no credible study has identified a counterbalancing list of social benefits. President Hinckley's denigrated moral reasoning is supported by tomes of sociological/economic studies. The arguments in favor of gambling are
rationalizations.
Doug Van Duker,
Syracuse
Gambling a good deal
I absolutely agree. I think we should allow the gambling.
Kent Friant,
Alpine
Utahns should speak out against legal gambling
I don't think we should be having gambling in Utah. I would certainly hope our people would vote against it.
Joy Criddle,
Provo
Safe bet that gambling will never make it in Utah
I think it probably better not to legalize all gambling per se, although some specific exemptions should be debated. Not to be considered naïve, I must say that there is for the foreseeable future as much chance of legalizing gambling in Utah as the chance a snowball has in hell. Legislating morality is a fool's errand because the people who are addicted to gambling will continue to travel to Wendover and the others will play penny-ante in their own home, but the majority of Utahns will, without coercion, choose not to gamble.
Jeff Evans,
Orem
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A7.
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