Yesterday, I saw an interesting article on the BBC News. The title is "Rats play odds in gambling task" (2009). I thought it was interesting because it shows how gambling problems in people can be caused by brain chemistry. The researchers did experiments using rats. They learnt that rats gamble the same way as humans. Some rats gamble sensibly and don't have a problem, but others gamble badly and have serious problems. They found that the different rat behaviour is caused by the chemicals in the brain, and when they change the chemicals, the rats' behaviour also changes.
I think this research is important because it helps us understand people who have problems with gambling. It might also help us to treat people with gambling problems by fixing the problems in their brains. That would be better than making gambling illegal. Most people who gamble, like most rats, do not have a problem, so the law that makes gambling illegal in Thailand is a bad law. It punishes everyone, but actually, only a few people have a problem, and the law that makes gambling illegal does not help the people who do have problems! That is not a good law, it is an unjust law.
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References
Gill, V. (2009, June 17). Rats play odds in gambling task. BBC News. Retrieved June 18, 2009 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8105963.stm
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