Most lose. That's how these businesses make money. In the long run, the house always wins.
However, my concern is that young people are much more likely to become addicted to gambling than older people. Their neuropathways still have considerable plasticity. This means that highly stimulatory activities will physically build those connections in the brain by increasing the thickness of the myelin sheath. This is how learning occurs but it is also how addiction occurs. A more physically developed myelin sheath in a neuropathway allows the electrical conduction to occur more rapidly and sends a stronger signal. The more this neuropathway is activated, the more it is developed and becomes something that does not require conscious thought.
This is what the casino is designed to do. It gives sensory overload with sounds and visuals and they even pump in higher concentrations of oxygen to ensure that your wins (when they do come) provide heightened sensory feedback and dopamine release. This is all more pronounced on a younger person with a highly plastic brain and not fully developed prefrontal cortex to provide any breaks to the speeding response. It becomes automatic.
And young people are already hooked on sports betting. Last year at a PSU basketball game that sent us into the NCAA tournament, my buddy and I sat in front of a row of college kids or very recent grads. The entire game they wouldn't shut up about how the odds were changing and the new bets they could jump on. Meanwhile my friend and I are sitting there excited about the possibility of making the tournament and actually enjoying the moment.
A casino in State College is bad news. And it isn't just bad news for the kids while they are in State College. It will set many of them on a bad path.
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