ABSTRACT
Gambling in Las Vegas or Atlantic City is no more than a fad for those who go infrequently, but for the inveterate loser it becomes a nightmare. Intelligent people throw away good money at the casinos in these resort areas when they know full well the odds against winning are high. Their glee in handing over dollars, their faces pained, is paradoxical. Of course, the ultimate paradox of gambling is that the player agrees to participate in games of deception in the belief that he or she will not be deceived. Today's gambling casinos are more or less legitimate because they can rely on volume business to earn millions of dollars. Even slight odds in favor of the house will pile up money quickly when thousands of people gamble each week. Yesteryear's games of deception were not quite as legitimate. Supposedly, in the frontier West, people were more gullible and easily fooled. Con men found their dupes at county fairs, circuses, and the like. And no different from today, parents warned their children, and friends their friends, not to get taken in. Yet the newest dupes had to learn the hard truth for themselves, and some never did.
