[Voltron87]

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I don't think you can play up youth gambling as a positive experience.


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I don't think I did.

I think your parallel with the dangers of a credit card are apt. You don't give an irresponsible, immature youth a credit card because while he could learn how to be responsible as a result of making small mistakes and learning from them, he might also figuratively hang himself. Poker or other gambling games have the same dangers.

I'd permit my child to be involved in gambling according to the law, and my judgment of his level of maturity and to the extent that they could demonstrate to me that they could handle the responsibility, which is significant. This is really no different from good parenting in general. For example, letting your daughter date is necessary for her growth and maturity, but you are also flirting with major danger of lives ruined at the same time. You have to do your best to teach your kids how to handle their responsibilities and make mature decisions. I don't believe a blanket prohibition of poker playing is a good way to do that any more than a blanket prohibition of teenage dating would be.

eastbay

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I was exaggerating to make my point, there is a lot to learn from poker. There is a dark side to gambling which a lot of people who get caught up in it never really think rationally about what they're doing or learn for it.

My other point about credit cards is this: a lot of people are stupid, in short. Why do people carry credit card debt for years on stuff they don't really need? Because they don't think about the way the interest they are paying is going to make not paying off their debt extremely expensive. Some people are more intelligent and have parents who explain "well, don't carry a balance on credit cards unless it's an absolute emergency because...". Given the state of the credit card industry, not everyone learned this when they were a kid. I am lucky enough to have parents who laid stuff like that out for me. My bigger point about that is: Not everyone is intelligent to really grasp poker or to benefit from it. Poker isn't really all that hard at low limits, but a lot of people aren't really all that smart. This makes poker a dangerous thing rather than a beneficial one to a lot of people.

I would definitely agree that a blanket prohibition of poker for kids is a bad idea. For teenagers a blanket prohibition on anything except armed robbery, hard drugs, etc. is a bad idea. Kids are going to be exposed to the real world eventually, and if you don't deal with things like alcohol, marijuana, dating, etc, things which are not going to kill your kid and are a part of society which they will encounter eventually, you are doing a disservice to your kid. There are a lot of things kids aren't equipped to deal with alone which they will have to deal with when they grow up and move out, and one of the main responsibilities a parent has is to get the kid from the point they aren't able to make those decisions on their own to a point where they can. All this relates to poker and kids because it is the framework in which poker can be a positive influence.