home
second series
first series
other materials
second series 1: gambling troubles
supplementary
problem gamblers
discussion activities
story
gambling supplementary
 annotated version

Problem Gambling: discussion activities



(1) s
hould gambling be legal? (informal debate)

INSTRUCTIONS
- in groups of three or four discuss one or both of these topics
- after fifteen minutes send someone to another group to report on your discussion
- invite a 'reporter' from another group to visit your group

(a) If gambling is legal then more and more people will become problem gamblers.

This is because there are many people who are susceptible to developing gambling problems but who would never do anything illegal. If gambling is legal however, they will not be able to resist the temptation.

Therefore governments should make gambling illegal.


(b) Whether or not gambling is legal, there will always be gamblers.

If gambling is illegal, than the gamblers’ money will go to the criminals who control illegal gambling and society will not benefit. But if gambling is legal, the money will go to the government and it will use the money for the benefit of society.

Therefore governments should legalize gambling.

(2) story exchange


INSTRUCTIONS
- In groups of three or four, take turns telling stories about your own gambling. (The stories should be between two and four minutes long.)

- If you have never gambled, tell a gambling story about someone you know.
.
- When the first person has told a story, a second person repeats it. After the second person has finished, a third person corrects any mistakes the second person made in repeating the story. Then the second person becomes the ‘first person’ and the process is repeated.





• something that is 'legal' is not against the law


•people who are 'susceptible' to becoming problem gamblers are people who will likely become problem gamblers if they have the opportunity.

• 'illegal ' is the opposite of 'legal'; if something is illegal it *is* against the law

if you 'resist a temptation,' you stop yourself from doing something that you want to do but which would be bad for you. [the verbal form of 'temptation ' is 'tempt. ' If you tempt someone, you try to get them to do something they know they should not do; the noun form of 'resist' is 'resistance.']


• 'criminals' are people who commit 'crimes.' In other words, they are people who do things that are against the law.


• 'society' here means the citizens of the country where gambling is illegal

• a 'benefit' is something that is good for a person or group of people ['benefit' is both a noun and a verb]

•when something that was illegal in the past is made legal, it is 'legalized'




• if three people, for example, 'take turns' at some activity, the first person does something; then the second person does it and then the third person. Then it 's the first person's 'turn' to do it again