Hi, my name is Natalie Mizrahi. I was born and raised in midwood, Brooklyn. Since everyone always asks I might as well mention that I have not yet declared a major. My family origin is from Syria and I am an orthodox, modern Jew. My favorite hobbies include dancing and figure skating 🙂
This past week, my friends and I took a trip to Aruba. We stayed at the Marriott hotel where the Stellaris Casino can be found. My feelings towards the Stellaris Casino were pretty neutral at first. This could be because I’ve only gambled in a casino once before and happened to have won. However, no casino is the same and after witnessing many of my friends lose money to this business in Aruba my attitude quickly changed.
While there, I began to focus on how this business thrives and makes money. For instance, I noticed that they offered free drinks to players, which ultimately caused players to throw around their money irresponsibly and make unwise decisions in regards to the game they were playing. I also noticed that there was no clock on the wall in the entire casino; therefore, many people would lose track of time and stay there even longer than intended. In addition, the vents were constantly blowing out cold air in the casino as opposed to other parts of the hotel that were mainly warm – this could be because they want participants to be up and have their adrenaline pumping, which causes them to remain in the casino and ultimately give up more money. I believe the casino utilizes these three strategies in order to gain money and enhance their business. Afterall, all these things cause people to remain in the casino and to continue taking out money from their wallet.
After witnessing many fall victim to the certain tactics the Stellaris Casino uses to make money, I realized that It’s a cruel business. I understand that gambling within itself is a compulsion, however, the Stellaris Business not only fosters this addiction, like many other casinos, but it blatantly encourages it and manipulates people’s minds and thought processes by giving them alcohol and by trying to prevent them from realizing what time it is. Overall, the odds are in the casino’s favor and that is how they manage to be a flourishing business. However, the way they go about it frankly repulses me. Yes, it is a wise business strategy; however, a part of me feels as if it is somewhat inhumane. People are going to gamble simply because it is addicting and because people like to take risks, but what the Stellaris business is ultimately doing is abusing this and taking advantage of people’s compulsions by robbing them of certain things and messing with their mind in a state of vulnerability.
Walking away from this experience I believe that the Stellaris Casino should have a policy that does not allow a person to gamble more than a certain amount of money and win more than a certain amount in the same night.
