HSP
135-01
Albion College
Fall 02025
Discussion questions for RTB, Ch. 7
DL:
Ken
1. Can gambling be considered a form of
entertainment on par with film, music, and sport�or is it
fundamentally different because of the risks involved?
2. Do you think regulation of vice (like gambling) is more
effective when governments ban it or when they legalize and
control it?
3. For many immigrants and working-class people, gambling offered
the dream of sudden wealth. Was gambling more of an escape from
economic hardship or a way of participating in the American Dream?
4. How do debates over gambling in the 19th century echo current
debates about things like online betting, lotteries, or casinos
today?
5. Groups like the puritans saw gambling as a threat to public
morality and social order. Do you think their opposition was more
about protecting individuals or about maintaining control of
society?
6. Schwartz describes gambling as both a vice and a potential
business opportunity. Is gambling the only such thing that exists
in that tension�both condemned and profitable at the same time?