Hello, everyone.
Welcome back to another great lesson here at EnglishPod.
My name is Marco.
My name is Katherine.
Hello, everyone.
And today we've got a great lesson for you at the upper intermediate level.
We're going to be talking about an interesting topic, which is gambling.
Yeah, I don't know if you like to do this, Marco.
Go, you know, play some cards, play some poker, blackjack, throw the dice.
I'm actually a bit of a fan of the roulette.
You have to throw the ball under the wheel that's spinning and it lands into a little compartment in a number
Right.
So you can win based on the number and the color.
But it's interesting because if you get the number right, it pays you 35 times your bet.
Wow, that's a lot of money to win.
A lot of potential there, but there's a lot of numbers on that wheel.
But that's the thing.
Some people like gambling.
Some people don't like it.
And in some countries, in some states, it's illegal, right?
Exactly.
So today we're talking about a city that's looking to legalize this sport.
So we're going to take a listen.
Here at one time, we come back, we talk all about what's going on in today's lesson.
Did you hear?
The state is thinking of legalizing gambling in our city.
Soon we're going to have amazing hotels and casinos here, which will be good for business.
Are you serious?
Gambling is a vice industry built on deception and fed by the intentional exploitation of human weakness for the sole purpose of monetary gain.
It disgusts me.
What are you talking about?
How does it exploit people?
Well, to begin with, gambling is addictive.
It ruins marriages, destroys families and bankrupts communities.
Once you're addicted, it's very difficult to stop.
People have lost their houses, cars, and have been left out on the street after becoming addicted.
Secondly, it exploits, because men become addicted to gambling most often because of the action and risk.
Women gamble to escape, and senior citizens will start gambling for social interaction.
Underage gamblers often start gambling on sports with friends and then illegal bookies.
Geez.
Now that I think about it, maybe legalizing gambling isn't such a good idea.
Although, I have been to Las Vegas and I didn't become addicted or anything like that.
You cannot predict who will become addicted to gambling.
Now, excuse me.
I have a protest rally to organize.
All right, so very strong opinions against gambling, right?
Absolutely.
So we've got someone who hasn't really thought it through and another person who has thought way too much about what's going on.
Right.
And well, he did point out some very interesting arguments against gambling.
And so we're going to take a look at some of the language that person used today in Language Takeaway.
Language takeaway.
Well, this first word we've got here is a word that has to do with the topic of today's lesson.
So legalizing gambling.
What does it mean to legalize?
Right.
So to legalize, to make it legal.
So legal is the word that refers to law.
And so that means to make something okay.
It means to allow something in a state or country.
Exactly.
So in many countries, it's illegal to gamble.
So in this case, the city is looking to legalize it to make it legal.
All right, so many young people in America would like to see this law changed.
You're not allowed to drink until you're 21 years old.
Drink alcohol, that is.
So they would like to see the legalization of underage drinking.
Now, is it 21 in all states or in the majority?
Yes, all states.
I thought it was only in some of them.
No, it changed in the late 70s, I think.
But you absolutely cannot drink until you're 21.
Wow.
What do you think?
Is that okay or is that?
I think that it encourages young people to drink irresponsibly.
And so I believe we should legalize drinking at the age of 18, because it would make people learn how to be more responsible.
Right.
Interesting.
All right.
So we want to legalize underage drinking at English Fun.
All right.
No, let's not manipulate my words.
But this next word is very, very important.
He's saying that gambling or the gambling industry exploits people.
Okay, exploit.
You might have heard this in the news before.
We talk about often in the news the exploitation of people.
But in this case, we're talking about exploiting people through money and gambling.
Right, so to exploit basically is to take advantage of them, right?
Yeah, to use them for something.
Not to treat them as people, but to use them as a way to get something.
All right.
So we often hear about it as you say in news, about you know factories or companies exploiting their employees or something of the sort.
We can also exploit the earth for its resources by taking oil and taking diamonds and taking gold.
Okay, so to take advantage of.
Interesting.
So, to exploit is the verb, but exploitation is the noun.
Alright, that's the thing.
So we talk about the exploitation of people in this country or the exploitation of the earth.
And they're talking about how gambling exploits people and how it's a vice.
Ooh, vices.
So for those of you Christians out there, you might be very familiar with the sins, right?
The seven deadly sins.
Well, these are all vices, things that you do that are bad.
So drinking too much is a vice.
Right.
Or eating too much, right?
Right.
Or spending money without having money may be a vice for you.
So addictions are also a type of vice, right?
Like drinking, smoking, or drug abuse.
Exactly.
These are all vices.
So vice is a bad thing.
Now, we may remember this show, popular American show called Miami Vice.
So what is that?
Well, Miami Vice, it's in the city of Miami and it's about police officers.
So in the police, there's sometimes a group called the Vice Squad.
These are people who go out and try and stop people who are... doing things that are vices.
Oh, like drugs and gambling and stuff like that.
Yeah, exactly.
Vice squad.
Interesting.
All right.
And now for the last word on language takeaway, we have this interesting word, a bookie.
All right, so if any of you like to go to the horse races, you might be familiar with this one.
A bookie is someone who helps you make a bet.
It's his job to help you make a bet.
So we often see it in movies.
Maybe you are betting on a sports competition, right?
And you are... betting, I don't know, $10 against this team.
So you would go to a bookie to place your bet, because there's not really any legal place where you can do it.
Exactly.
Or if I want to say okay, tonight the Chicago Bulls are playing the sons and you want to put a hundred dollars on the chicago bulls, that means they're going to win.
So you use a bookie and he helps you put the money down.
Now, usually this is illegal.
Right, generally it's illegal.
Yeah, it depends on.
I guess you can go to a bookie at the horse races and it's legal, but uh yeah, generally it's illegal, i think.
Okay, so a sports bookie, we would say a Interesting words.
A lot of words related to, as we said, addictions and vices.
But that's, I guess, kind of what the whole gambling industry involves, right?
Absolutely.
All right.
So now that we've seen those great words on Language Takeaway, let's move on now to Fluency Builder.
Fluency Builder.
Okay, Fluency Builder is where we get into some of this really exciting stuff, stuff where we hear some opinions from a person who is not very happy with the gambling industry.
So this first one, gambling is an industry built on deception.
Okay, so it's built on deception.
So, well, it's an industry, so it's not really tangible.
Right.
So this is a metaphor.
It's like saying that this industry is dependent on something.
And what is it dependent on?
Deception.
Deception.
So what's deception?
So to deceive, right?
That comes from the verb deceive, which basically says like a false appearance, right?
Not really being completely truthful.
Okay, this is really good.
So a lot of movies that we like to watch or theater is based on deception in a good way, because you get the idea that something is a certain way, but it really isn't in real life.
So deception is in the theater maybe a good thing, but in general, deception is a bad thing.
I could say, Marco, I'm sorry I deceived you.
You lied to me.
I lied to you.
Yeah.
So deception usually involves lies or trying to make something seem like something that it's not.
Right.
Okay.
So it's this industry is built on deception.
And he said that the sole purpose of this industry is to make money.
Exactly.
So this phrase, soul purpose, is very, very common.
You hear this a lot.
Soul, like the soul.
Like your human soul.
Like your human soul.
It's spelled differently.
S-O-L-E.
So you're talking about the one thing.
One and only.
Yep.
So my soul love.
Okay.
I only have one love.
My soul pair of shoes.
Mm-hmm.
I only have one pair of shoes, so it's one thing.
One.
But the sole purpose, so the only reason that this industry exists is what?
For monetary gain.
So monetary.
Monetary.
You might have heard of the International Monetary Fund.
Exactly, the IMF.
And so monetary refers to money.
Money!
As the door said, it's a gas.
And the gain, which basically means... Making it.
To get more money.
Yeah.
So that's the point that this person is making that the sole purpose of the gambling industry is to make money.
Ouch.
So he's saying there's no other reason to gamble.
People are in this industry just to make money.
It's greedy.
Well, I mean, basically, you could probably say that almost about almost all the companies, right?
What about education companies like ours?
That's different, right?
Education is very different.
Absolutely.
So what's another industry that has a sole purpose?
For example, non-profit organizations, their sole purpose is to help people.
All right, okay, I can get into that.
Yeah, cool.
So, sole purpose and monetary gain, very useful phrases.
But let's take another, listen to today's dialogue and put to you some of these great, great new words.
Did you hear?
The state is thinking of legalizing gambling in our city.
Soon we're going to have amazing hotels and casinos here which will be good for business.
Are you serious?
Gambling is a vice industry built on deception and fed by the intentional exploitation of human weakness for the sole purpose of monetary gain.
It disgusts me.
What are you talking about?
How does it exploit people?
Well, to begin with, gambling is addictive.
It ruins marriages, destroys families and bankrupts communities.
Once you're addicted, it's very difficult to stop.
People have lost their houses, cars, and have been left out on the street after becoming addicted.
Secondly, it exploits, because men become addicted to gambling most often because of the action and risk.
Women gamble to escape, and senior citizens will start gambling for social interaction.
Underage gamblers often start gambling on sports with friends and then illegal bookies.
Geez.
Now that I think about it, maybe legalizing gambling isn't such a good idea.
Although, I have been to Las Vegas, and I didn't become addicted or anything like that.
You cannot predict who will become addicted to gambling.
Now, excuse me.
I have a protest rally to organize.
All right, so gambling, what are your opinions about it?
Pro gambling or anti-gambling?
Okay, well, here's the thing.
Gambling is a sport.
Mm-hmm.
And it involves money obviously, but people also don't.
I don't think should have other people telling them how to spend their money, unless they have some kind of problem.
So the law doesn't get involved if you have a drinking problem until you're harmful to people around you.
So I don't think that it's right for the government to be able to say listen, you can't gamble because it's your own money.
If it makes you happy, it makes you happy.
Interesting.
Now, we've seen very specific cities or places where you can actually gamble in this way.
You have Monaco.
Or Las Vegas or Macau more recently, right?
So very interesting cities or countries that have been built on the gambling industry, which apparently is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Absolutely.
I don't know.
What do you think?
Are you against gambling?
Are you for gambling?
I mean, is it one of those things that you can really...
Or do you maybe even like it?
Maybe some people don't even really care for it.
They don't find it fun to play blackjack or play a round of poker or something like that.
Yeah, well, that's their problem.
I enjoy it.
I think it's fun.
I mean, as long as with anything, you do it in moderation.
That means you don't do it too much.
I think it's okay.
Okay.
All right so listeners, come to our website englishpodcom, to the comments section, where you can tell us well, what are your opinions.
If you do like gambling, tell us what game you like.
And also if you have any questions or comments, we're always there to answer them right, it can be kind of a big issue to talk about because some people are really against it and some people are really for it.
So curious to hear your opinions.
Yeah, we look forward to your opinions and we'll see you guys later.
Bye, everyone.
Bye.
