There are many kinds of gambling, like western cards, eastern cards, slot machines, and so on. These are different from computer games, game machines in the street and simple bets for fun that are found ordinarily. The former can cause enormous amounts of debt that are difficult to escape from, while the latter are for simple amusement. These days, regardless of sex, the number of people who indulge in gambling which ruins their life is increasing. Therefore people usually say that gambling is like a drug. That is to say, gambling has no advantages.
　　　 First of all, gambling is a quick way to ruin both oneself and one's family. So far as I know, no gamblers live comfortably. Most of them lose their fortune, credit, job and even family because of gambling. A few months ago, I watched a TV documentary, "Falling into Tales," which reports two or three real events every Friday. One of the stories was about a man that ruined his life by gambling. Once, he was a common taxi driver, but he indulged in gambling because of his friends' temptation. Then he ran up a debt and got fired by his taxi company. Fortunately, he had warm help from his family, returned to
become a reliable head of his family, and got a job as a policeman. But before long, he indulged in gambling again, and finally, he lost everything and his family also left him. After that, he felt regret for his faults, and now he is working as a guard at a company. Nowadays such examples often occur. The
gamblers always make the excuse that they gamble because of others' temptation. I think if anyone makes a mistake, it is because their will and convictions are weak.
　　　 Second, gambling is like pouring water into a jar with a hole. At first, most people start the gambling because of the fun of winning money, but such luck isn't continuous. When I visited the city of gambling--Las Vegas--about a year ago, I played the slot machines with a little money in a casino. At first, I won money, so I was more interested in it. But after all, I lost all of my money. Fortunately, I lost only a little money. My friends were the same. I was very vain and felt bad. I have heard that many visitors in Las Vegas sit up all night gambling in the casinos, and also they get drunk. They usually
try to drink away the pain of losing their money, so sometimes they become alcoholics. There are also such gamblers in Korea. Actually, I have experienced it, when I went on field trip a year ago in autumn to Nam-ei Island. At that time, almost all of the men that were my classmates and seniors sat up all night gambling with western cards. In the morning, they had bloodshot eyes and backaches. They seemed to be very tired. Therefore gambling injures gamblers' spirits as well as health, not to mention that they
lose money. The only thing they can gain is debt and the oppression of private loans from dishonest businessmen.
　　　 Last, gambling detracts from the worth of labor. Some people even support themselves by gambling. This is nothing but worthless labor. Recently, the game of yut, which has been played in Korean traditional marketplaces, has been degraded to a form of gambling. It has become a problem that some farmers lose all their money, which is earned from selling their bulls and pigs, playing yut. And also housewife gamblers are becoming a social problem. They no longer say, "I'm a good wife and mother of my family," because they are irresponsible about caring for their families and they spend their husbands' wages on gambling all at once. These social problems are caused by the loss of the worth of labor and money, and the spread of empty dreams of getting rich quick without effort.
　　　 Consequently, gambling leads gamblers to ruin. In short, gambling does more harm than good. Most people who gamble know how hazardous gambling is, but they indulge in it anyway. Like the saying, "The choice of a moment controls a whole life," if you don't want to ruin both yourself and your family by gambling, you should be able to reject the temptation of the moment. And if you are a human, you should play your part as a sincere laborer, not a gambler, in the society.