I am an LDS Card Counter.

[Guest MormonGator]

This might be the first time @Vort and I agreed totally on what is and isn't sinful. 😝

[NeuroTypical]

Fun things about me: My dad was a serious gambler.  He and his brothers were born in the waning years of the great depression, and a major purpose of their lives was to get enough money together so they could gamble and "hit it big".  One brother learned computers because he "knew" they were the key to figuring out the right horse racing scheme.  My dad shot craps.  As I grew up, an average family vacation included getting into the station wagon and driving to Wendover (the closest place to gamble from Salt Lake).  I was given a roll of quarters and sent off to the arcade for 3 hours.  When I tired of that, I'd hike around Wendover, or pull up a bar stool and sit at the entrance to the casino and watch my parents gamble.  I got good at looking sad so the cocktail waitresses would take pity on me and bring me cokes.

Dad and brothers lived their lives and died of old age, of course never having never hit it big, despite pursuing the dream for well over 4 decades each.  I figure they spent about as much on gambling as any middle class family wage earner would spend on their favorite passionate hobby that consumed all their discretionary income.

This sort of lifestyle used to be a lot more commonplace 50-150 years ago.  I can see why Brigham Young and the early Saints spent so much time preaching against it, whereas nowdays we don't hear much about it, except for threads like this where someone has been suckered into the lifestyle and wonders what's wrong with it.

[Guest MormonGator]

4 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

I was given a roll of quarters and sent off to the arcade for 3 hours

Sounds like Heaven.