Is Working For the Gambling Industry a Black Mark? 467
An anonymous reader writes 'I'm a recent university graduate and I have been offered a software developer position in a company that supplies software to the gambling and betting industry. At first I was very excited about the opportunity, however, a few of my friends have told me that working for the gambling industry will put a permanent black mark on my career as a software developer. I don't know that many people in the industry with experience in hiring. Google has not helped, and everybody else I ask doesn't know. So I'm asking Slashdot. In your experience is this true? When you hire developers, is the fact that they worked for a gambling company a big turn off? Also, I'm currently in the UK, but would like the freedom of working in US or somewhere else later on in life. So experience from anywhere in the world is welcome.'
Not a black mark (Score:5, Funny)
More of a roll of the dice.
Re:Not a black mark (Score:5, Interesting)
If the company you work for is completely legal it shouldn't cause a big mark. If it's government operated it's as safe as it gets. And probably scores higher than if you have had a work for the IRS (or what it's locally called)
But if you work for a telemarketing company (Who doesn't love to hate telemarketers) or in the "adult entertainment" industry (the sexual harassment factor) you may have a harder time.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I worked for "the adult industry" - I had never heard the word flaccid or turgid in any company. That was 10 - 12 years ago. Never had a problem. .... ...
If the company is named "naked girl gash" you may have a problem but if it is "corkee enterprises" not a problem.
We did database stuff, dns, redundant services,
My wife didn't even really give me a hard time
Paid well, guys were funny and I never saw a naked person or any skin.
After 30 years of working ... it ain't the job or the company ... its the people
Re:Not a black mark (Score:4, Insightful)
I would think this depends a lot on what exactly you are doing. If you're writing a DB back-end for a Caribbean island company who specializes in selling what is likely to be illegal gambling services to americans, that might be a black eye for your resume.
Then again, if you're writing bleeding edge gambling software for video poker machines, that could be a huge positive mark on the resume.
Re:Not a black mark (Score:5, Funny)
I'm simultaneously very curious and very, very scared.
Re:Not a black mark (Score:5, Funny)
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I think that the reason a lot of people consider it a black mark is because of the mob connection to it from the "old" days. For whatever reason people associate the entire gaming industry with organized crime. When some potential employers (granted the older ones mostly) see that you worked for the gaming industry. They wonder if you are really trustworthy. Though I think today the corporations are starting to change that perception some.
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I don't associate the gambling industry with organized crime, but I consider it predatory. Still, gotta legalize it or it'll just be run by criminals again.
Re:Not a black mark (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Not a black mark (Score:5, Informative)
Having worked in this exact field, let me assure you - After implementing jurisdictional payout tables on a video lottery terminal (poker, slots, pretty much includes anything you'd find in a modern casino), you'll never want to play the slots again.
At least the old mechanical ones merely favored the house, but "honestly" spun the wheels. Modern machines decide how little you've won and then pick a configuration to match the take.
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Personally (Score:5, Funny)
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Personally, I've never heard of this. But do you really want to gamble with your career? /rimshot
I get the pun, but...
Realistically, whatever decisions you make regarding your career are made without foreknowledge of how they'll turn out.
No matter what you do, you're gambling with your career. Short of not having one, anyway.
Or, I guess you could say "You can't win if you don't play"
Uh, what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Seriously, as a hiring manager I care if you can do the job I am hiring you for.
Generally the amount of damage a new hire can do is much more than the amount of good. In most companies an intelligent employee can find ways to steal millions from the company or at least cause that much damage. You probably do this automatically, but if you think someone is lying or cheating in their interview process that should definitely rule them out, even if they are technically able to "do the job"
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Generally the amount of damage a new hire can do is much more than the amount of good. In most companies an intelligent employee can find ways to steal millions from the company or at least cause that much damage.
This is actually very relevant to the original posters question. One of my friends recently went back to work in the gambling industry at a company he had worked for previously. Even though he had several years prior experience at the same company he still had to go through a mountain of security check including contacting all the employers he had worked for in the interim since he left the first place. Working at a company that runs a high value website involving large amounts of money is only going to hel
No. Its not a black mark. Its a bad industry (Score:2, Interesting)
I work in the Gaming Industry in Nevada. Its not a black-mark on your resume from any societal/value thing. However, its a boring, crappy, narrow-minded industry. get out now and do something more interesting.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
In Nevada. If you were to move elsewhere, though, you might be surprised.
(Might be. I personally don't know... I just think that perspectives might be a bit skewed in Nevada due to Vegas).
Re:No. Its not a black mark. Its a bad industry (Score:5, Insightful)
You've just described about 90% of all jobs.
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I work in the Gaming Industry in Nevada. Its not a black-mark on your resume from any societal/value thing. However, its a boring, crappy, narrow-minded industry. get out now and do something more interesting.
"These are tough times. Hard to find yourself work. A man can get a job, he might not look too close at what that job is."
(Firefly quote, but I remember it applying to me once before)
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This sounds like most jobs, in most industries. Face it, not that many jobs are really all that interesting. Software development makes a good career for me personally because it's a lot more fun than cleaning toilets or writing TPS reports and pays pretty well. But it's not that often I get to work on something really interesting to me, though I've definitely put a lot of work into maneuvering my career so I get to work with technologies I prefer and find interesting (i.e. Linux), even if the end applic
Isn't that a highly regulated industry? (Score:5, Informative)
Why would it be a black mark?
If anything, it shows that you can work in a highly regulated field that moves a LOT of money around at a LOT of locations with HIGH security.
As long as none of your references are named Guido, you should be fine.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Working on an online gambling site run out of the Cayman Islands is not.
I would higher someone from the first industry to work on something as important as electronic voting systems. I wouldn't hire someone from the second to mow my lawn.
Re:Isn't that a highly regulated industry? (Score:5, Informative)
The guys I know who have worked on Vegas slot machines are right up there with avionics programmers for writing reliably bulletproof code. And they're higher security. If one of them was ever looking for work I'd hire them in a second. If I could afford them.
Offshore Poker programmer? Meh. Not really a plus or a minus compared to most other web programmers. What else you got?
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IGT is one of the worlds largest suppliers of slot machines, and trust me, they hire just as many mediocre programmers as any other industry. The thing is that because releases of slot machines and other gaming devices throughout the US is so heavily regulated that they have better quality control and testing procedures than most other industries. The on top of that the gaming commissions from each state that allow gaming follow up with their own testing procedures and protocols. Even with all of that slots
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I've worked on both. I spent 6 years working on online gambling software and my former employer is very highly regarded, both for their software as well as their staff, benefits, etc.
I currently work on casino management software for land-based casinos - software that manages player accounts, points and rewards allocations and redemptions, slot and table accounting - pretty much everything to do with the casino. (I've also had other jobs and positive interviews for other jobs in other completely unrelated i
Re:Isn't that a highly regulated industry? (Score:5, Interesting)
In the gambling industry you're going to be around some people who rub elbows with some real cuthroat businessmen. You'll see things and talk with people who've been in low places.
Those people will be your managers.
Do it. Especially if you're young. You'll be learning so much from such a safe place.
I'd hire you just to hear your stories.
Re:Isn't that a highly regulated industry? (Score:4, Funny)
Coming soon!
A young blonde actress with big tits and a heavy lisp goes to Hollywood to make it big in film. Refusing to let corrupt producers have their way with her, her acting career is over before it began.
Faced with tough decisions, a choice between stripping or prostitution, she surprises everyone by falling into the seedy underworld of systems administration for the gambling industry... life would be simpler if she chose instead to work the streets...
Uma Thurman in ...
MAXIMUM ENTROPY!
... who said you coldn't fsck /dev/random.
Re:Isn't that a highly regulated industry? (Score:5, Funny)
As long as none of your references are named Guido, you should be fine.
I guess Python isn't used much in the gambling industry.
Re:Isn't that a highly regulated industry? (Score:5, Interesting)
Why would it be a black mark?
It would around here, in a lot of places. One of the developers I used to work with interviewed at a company that had a banner that read "God Supervises This Office" in the lobby.
Outside southern red states including, ironically, one or two with a healthy gaming industry, it would probably be an advantage. It means you can work in high security areas around a lot of money, don't have any felonies in your background and can work in an environment that's not particularly tolerant of mistakes.
Personally, if a right wing, dogmatic, Bible-thumping company owner didn't want to hire me I'd consider that a badge of honor.
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Yeah I wouldn't send any resumes to the LDS church in Salt Lake City, Utah. You have to be a Mormon to work for them.
But IMO most places only care about relevant experience.
Re:Isn't that a highly regulated industry? (Score:4, Interesting)
You have to be a Mormon to work for them.
Re:Isn't that a highly regulated industry? (Score:4, Insightful)
Tax benefits AND the right to discriminate openly?
Hell, if I start a business, it's going to be a religion.
Re:Isn't that a highly regulated industry? (Score:4, Insightful)
I read that as "Moron"
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If anything, it shows that you can work in a highly regulated field that moves a LOT of money around at a LOT of locations with HIGH security.
I agree 100%.
Much like working in the porn industry (on the tech side, I mean), they [generally] use the latest and greatest of technologies and practices for security. The gambling industry was one of the first to utilize large deployments of quantum random number generators among other, similar technologies.
Personally, I think that when it comes to quality of experi
Not in the UK.. (Score:3, Interesting)
A lot of the British companies doing online gambling have British offices and employees but are actually incorporated in Costa Rica, Panama, Gibraltar, and various other countries with advantageous tax regimes and very little or no regulation. e.g. BetOnSports - Antigua / Costa Rica corporations with UK based holding company, Pokerstars - Costa Rica / Isle of Man; the Isle of Man company appeared after IoM enacted a streamlined deregulation of online gambling which explicitly states it's legal to offer such
Suppose you could go work for a porn site (Score:5, Informative)
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/11/26/1758210 [slashdot.org]
Not as bad as playboy / other porn fields (Score:2)
Not as bad as playboy / other porn fields.
and Gambling is bigger on security tech then most other places even most of the us gov.
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After working in that industry I disagree. Even some of the larger sites I've worked for have had some pretty hideous security practices.
A job is a job (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe if this, working for the gambling industry, is your concern, you don't really need a job.
Re: (Score:2)
Worst case scenario, he says he was unemployed during that period.
But you'll always offend somebody. I was turned down for a job with a company once, and someone I knew got in, despite having lower grades, aptitude test results and everything. Found out later the company was full of pacifists and I'd worked on military projects.
Re:A job is a job (Score:5, Insightful)
Try doing some research on economics before you speak next time.
The rich tend to lose the most during recessions, due to most of their wealth being in stocks. That's why it has been shown many times throughout history that the wealth gap shrinks after recessions because stocks lose so much value and many people sell what they had instead of holding it because they are worried about losing ALL of the money in stocks.
Secondly, as businesses lose money, they lay people off (or go bankrupt) which means less people have jobs and so on. When people stop having money coming in, they can't pay bills. When they can't pay bills (wait for it!) the person they owe money to loses money . That's why we're in this mess - people bought more than they could afford and then started defaulting on bills, due to the defaults companies laid people off, defaults increased - add to that people then being afraid to spend money due to fear of losing their job, and it spiraled to where we are now (though we are slowly recovering).
All you did in your post was show a complete ignorance of Economics.
Re:A job is a job (Score:4, Insightful)
Rich does not necessarily equal "powerful". Yes, powerful politicians stay in power at the expense of everyone else, but that's not how it is with business owners.
I know this will come as a shock to a collectivist who thinks that business owners are the enemy, but business owners create jobs. If Joe doesn't start his pizza company, there's no delivery boys, no waitresses, no cooks, no cashiers. Fact of life is that rich people are the ones creating jobs for most of the population.
Re:A job is a job (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually it's entrepreneurs that create jobs.
When they don't grow their business, business owners don't create jobs. At most they keep jobs since that keeps their business running (and often they destroy jobs when it's possible to replace the people with machines).
The actual state of "owning a business" does nothing to improve society or increase employment. Growing a business (preferably from the ground-up) is what makes a difference.
One needs to distinguish between those whose wealth is the product of their own efforts (typical example: Bill Gates) and those who inherited their wealth and made no effort to expand it (typical example: Paris Hilton).
That said even entrepreneurs do not deserve our gratitude - they did it for themselves, just like we would do in their shoes. Some of them even deserve our contempt, such as those that got rich during the dot.com boom by creating companies with no business plan, selling them (to the suckers, which included plenty of pension funds and old ladies) for millions/billions after which said companies dully went bankrupt, often without having made a day of profit during their existence.
I postulate that of the "contempt for wealth" that you sometimes observe here in /. comes from the observation that far too many individuals have gotten their wealth "as a gift" (inherited) or by deceit (no-future dot.com companies, CEOs getting fat bonuses for achieving targets of "not loosing too much money").
Why would it be? (Score:4, Interesting)
Admittedly I've never worked with anyone from that industry, but that's more due to location (I don't live near Vegas). Depending on what you're doing, some skills will be useful and some won't. I don't see any reason why not to hire someone because they worked in gambling. For that matter I know a lot of programmers who play poker.
I might stay away from internet gambling sites if you want to work in the US though- the US has arrested executives of them before. But it's not that gambling is a black mark, its that running an online gambling site is illegal, and they might decide to arrest you for helping to do so. The company that hired you is unlikely to care about that though.
Any different than Insurance/Actuarials? (Score:2)
Seriously, how is programming for gambling all that much different than programming for insurance or actuarial purposes?
Bet a dollar, bet your health, bet your life... it's all in the odds, no?
Big NO (Score:5, Informative)
My first job after college was in the gaming industry. It has NOT been a black mark on my record, in fact, quite the opposite, it led to my next three jobs and was a factor in the fourth and fifth because another programmer from the same company was also contracting there at the time.
What it did do, though, was set the start of a pattern for me that I've been unable to escape: 1 to 2 year positions at small companies contracting. I suspect that if you're going to work for Bally Midway or some other such big slot machine company, that wouldn't be a problem- but table gaming software even 10 years after the .com I first worked for is still very much in it's infancy, we're not about to replace dealers with robots and just about tech you put into the pit is going to be somewhat hackable or vulnerable to everything from card counting to spilled alcoholic drinks they insist on comping the players with to keep them playing, so it's kind of a tough business to get into. I'm glad I escaped.
Having said that- in this economy a RCG can't pick and choose- you MUST take the first thing that comes along- so go ahead and go for it. Vegas may be the suicide capitol of the US, but it isn't the worst place you could end up living.
Allow me to educate you about Vegas (Score:5, Interesting)
Showgirls.
If they're not Real Estate Agents/Mortgage Brokers/Daytime Call Girls, they're vampires. You never EVER see them during the day, they pancake on the make-up with a trowel for good reason, and most of them are either taken by large burly boyfriends, or not interested in anything with a Y chromosome.
Oh, to be a young college grad working in Vegas!
Been there, done that. Fought in the dating wars in Vegas from '01-'06. And the only way you ever got lucky was if you had money (to buy girls with), or were a "Vegas Boy", meaning you had no body fat, perfect abs, perfect tan, perfect teeth, perfect hair, wore polo shirts and khaki shorts, and generally sported more bling than most girls do. Oh, and driving a hot car. Just remember, Vegas is one of the few places left in the US where you don't have to have a high school degree to make 40K a year. Lotsa dim, good-looking young boys and girls come to Vegas to party, work crap jobs and make lots of money, which they then promptly spend on partying, and repeat.
And prostitution is legal!
Now this is a valid point. But prostitution is only legal in certain sections of the county, and not in Clark County. So you'd have to drive an hour northwest to Pahrump, where the brothels are at. This is what the smart guys do. Prostitution is NOT legal in Vegas itself, and Vegas Metro's Vice division has lots of fun arresting stupid young dicks trying to pick some tail up when they could have driven an hour away and had lots of tail for the same amount of cash LEGALLY. And then there's the stories of all the scams and robberies perpetrated... Oh yes, loads of fun. Couldn't leave there fast enough.
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A friend of mine once described Las Vegas as "Grotesquely American".
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Prostitution is not legal in Las Vegas, which is in Clark county. It is, however, legal eight of the state's more rural counties.
It sounds like hyperbole or jealousy (Score:2)
Yes and No (Score:4, Insightful)
No personal experience, just an opinion (Score:2)
If you worked for an "established" company, i.e. a brick&mortar casino or a maker of slot machines, it should not be a problem. I'm sure that the gambling industry faces lots of interesting challenges (i.e. random number generation, security, following regulations...) Now, if you worked in the shadier side of the industry (online "casinos", "yOu already W0N 1ooo dollrs" emails and the like), well, that could be a problem with many potential employers.
It's all in how you present it! (Score:2)
That being said I was offered a job that was described as high volume video streaming over the web. When I showed up it was a porn video streaming company with multiple cubicles each with it's o
I doubt it would be a problem (Score:2)
I'm a manager in an engineering firm (think the pointy-haired boss, but less clueless) - although we don't do software development, we occasionally have the need for code analysts. I think it's highly unlikely that experience with a gambling firm would be disqualifying. If you know your stuff, you should be good to go. Just list the official company name (which probably doesn't scream "we do gambling") on your resume, and focus on the technology you actually use and are familiar with. You should be fine.
not for me (Score:5, Informative)
I rather doubt it (Score:2)
Whether it is porn or gambling or some other vice, there will be foes of course, but it shouldn't be difficult to deflect any negative questioning with remarks to the effect of the reason you exited the industry being conscience related.
I once worked for a free news publication with a great deal of "adult services" advertising and was asked about that. I simply said that it was a bit of a surprise, a shock and was distasteful at times, but eventually I found other work and exited the business. That seemed
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Yeah, that 'I found it objectionable' might work if you only worked for a company a year or two. If you try that and you worked for the company for 5 or 7 years, I'm gonna think your less than honest. Although, in the first place, I wouldn't have any problem with someone programming in the gambling industry. If anything, I know that gambling software must be *correct* because it is a highly regulated industry. Anyhow, it's a legal business, so why should it be a black mark?
However, some people will have a p
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I tend to favor matters of doubt in the other direction. I once questioned a person who was invited to return to work building military weapons. They are used for the purposes of killing people and destroying things. They are used to intimidate people both foreign and domestic. The will of a few are pushed onto the world through the use of these things. I asked him how he felt about working for such a thing. "I'm okay with it" was his response. I get only the sickest of feelings about working for tha
I don't think so (Score:4, Interesting)
Not for me... (Score:5, Informative)
Oh, and if you're getting into a highly regulated area such as slots or table games, you'll find that you'll have no choice but to gain skills in careful attention to detail in areas like version control, configuration management, hardware control, and security. That sort of rigour in those important things will serve you well no matter what your next role.
No - you'll be fine. (Score:2, Interesting)
The Value Proposition (Score:2, Insightful)
We seem to get a lot of these sorts of questions at /. -- and as someone who interviews and makes hiring decisions, let me tell you about the number one factor for making the call:
The Value Proposition
At the end of the day, what I'm doing is entering into an agreement where I give you money (and things that cost money, ie. benefits), and you give me your labor. Your skills and experience and a few other factors (ie. culture fit) alter your "productivity", or how much "labor" I get for my money. In other
Maybe... (Score:2, Interesting)
Otherwise, why would you ever think it to be bad? They have high security and confidentiality concerns, what employer would see your experience and involvement with a high-security job as a bad thing?
Black Mark (Score:2, Insightful)
great experience (Score:5, Funny)
The way banks and other financial services companies operate these days, working in gambling would be a GREAT introduction to the world of credit default swaps and mortgage-backed securities. Next stop: WALL STREET!
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Nah, oranges and apples here: the gaming is much more tightly regulated.
Anything but telemarketing is kind-of ok :-) (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't see experience with a gambling site to be an instant disqualifier. Maybe if that's the only kind of site you were involved in it would be, but if it's one of various projects, it shouldn't be big deal.
The only time a resume gets thrown into the trashcan right away is if I see "telemarketing" in any fashion that doesn't involve stopping them or hunting them down. It's something you try to hide, not something to put on your resume. I want someone with some brains.
Also, as an aside: try to avoid going into detail about any activities that are trivial compared to the job you're applying for. Some people seem to think that if they have a 10 page resume padded with irrelevant history, they'll look better. Nope, doesn't work.
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Talent is not in short supply, ethics are. Given that you dismiss my resentment of one of *the* most annoying activities as mere "personal bias" shows that you have neither.
Don't Worry too much about it (Score:5, Informative)
The experience I got was very worthwhile. I got to travel to interesting locations to setup the servers. Places like Curacao in the Caribbean, Malta, Ireland, the netherlands (we did work for the government casinos there, in fact), etc. I started out in a very jr position, but moved up extremely quickly because I was capable and they had a hard time finding good people who were willing to work for them. This gave me Sr-level quality within 2 years. I've since moved on, but I would do it again in a second. It's not been a black mark on me at all and people are usually curious about it. Because of complex legal and national regulations, the accountants also were in a similar position. They had a lot of trouble getting quality accountants, so they had to get more Jr. ones who moved up fast.
The executives had far more trouble after leaving, though they also ran the company rather poorly. In fact I'd say that the worst part was having to work with/for some people that I would consider less than high caliber. Because of this, I became the go-to guy to fix poor decisions made from incompetence at the CTO and director level.
I never noticed any stigma attached. (Score:2, Interesting)
Having spent close to 10 years working in Gaming Systems (back end accounting, marketing & reporting systems, real time concurrent data collection for 4-5k+ nodes), I don't think there's really a stigma attached at least here in the us. I've never worked at casino property directly though, staying more with the companies that provide them software/hardware.
I've worked as an FTE and as a contractor for a couple of the larger international players in the space and I think overall it was good experience, c
Black mark? Pffft. (Score:4, Funny)
I haven't worked in the gambling industry myself, but based on what I've read about its extreme computing requirements, I'd be very interested in seeing a resume from someone who had worked in it. The same goes for parts of the online porn industry for much the same reason. Both are very technically challenging environments and are often leaders in innovation. Their achievements aren't lauded as much as they might be if the subject matter wasn't so unseemly in the minds of many, but at the end of the day, data is data.
I'd recommend going for it. Even at its worst, it's nowhere near as disreputable as, let's say, being on the development team for MS Access.
Questionable Opportunities (Score:2)
You are on the very edge of controversy with such a job. While people in Las Vegas might not think bad, try getting a job in Salt Lake City afterwards.
OK, suppose Playboy wanted to hire you? Would you go? Playboy being somewhat respected, how about Hustler? They all need IT gurus too. The fact is, they get them, and some of them stay in those industries forever. I also know VCs who will fund "pornographic" businesses, but they don't want as little public connection as possible. It's the whole image o
It could be worse (Score:3, Interesting)
you could be working for a bank !
Joke aside, I don't think it would hurt you any. I've been part of the hiring process at one of my ex-employers, and we definitely didn't care where the experience was coming from, as long as it was there.
Furthermore, if a future prospective employer is idiot/bigoted enough to blacklist people who once worked in the gaming industry, regardless of what they did there... will you really want to work for them anyway ?
On the other hand, don't get suckered by the flashing lights and bling-bling sounds ... is the actual job any good ?
Oh hell yeah! (Score:4, Interesting)
At least in all of Europe. You already know it, when you find out, that all of them are on some small island with specific tax rules. They are very close to the whole fraud industry.
Here in Germany, they were caught more than once, fixing all bets. Even on huge events like soccer & co.
I think of it as the legal arm of the criminals. And if you are in contact with them, soon you end up doing other things where you have to bend your moral values to the breaking point.
I bet if you dig, you can put half of them straight to jail.
I know this, because I worked with them. And I would keep as far away from them, as you'd do with the mafia.
I work in the gaming industry (Score:3, Insightful)
I work in the gaming industry for the last 8 years currently as a programmer, just like you at a place where gambling operations are legal. Before working as a programmer I worked as a sysadmin and for a year as a manager (with technical duties too). I have a formal college degree and I pay taxes and report my income. So does the company where I have a full time consultant (oxymoron??) deal.
What I see this far is that there are good and bad guys in the industry. While I consider casinos a total scam (even the honest ones) sports betting operations are usually a lot better. Also credit vs post-up operations differ a lot from each other post up ones being more problematic (charge backs, books does not want to pay, legal problems with US gamblers, etc).
About the US concern: our company does not accept US bettors' money, is completely legal here and so writing programs (or maintaining them) is not illegal by any standards. I see more contacts and work in the industry than at any other workplace this far. Everyone knows everyone and if you are willing to do and can take a little stress here and there you will have people wanting to hire you left and right. Mostly from the gaming industry though.
There is a movie with a quote "Where there is gambling there are criminals", and take this as an advice. There are people in the industry I do not want to talk to, do not want to be seen with, do not want to know and feel extremely uncomfortable around. Not necessarily criminals, but people whose behavior is not compatible with my standards, but then again I saw upper management at the largest computer manufacturer's IT/Middleware division who did not behave much better than that.
So... my bet (pun intended) is that you have to look at the environment and the people you will have to work with/for and make a decision. Also find out about what sites/services they run and google the hell out of it. If you see that there are payout complaints and similar issues; RUN.
I once worked at a place where it became evident that they were ripping people off, I quit after the next paycheck.
Oh, consider that at gaming operations you might have to deal with extreme paranoia if you are anywhere near their data (financial or player info). You do not want to steal and email out their player list or do something similarly stupid. Be clear about not wanting to see any data or make sure you follow protocol near data. If you are tempted to "prove that their security sucks" either make sure they know your are about to demonstrate something or do not do it. Trust me on that one.....
Soooo.. this is my 5c of advice, just use common sense and if you see something wrong just pack your stuff and go somewhere else.
Cheers
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Gambling, pretty much by definition, has to work with people who don't know what they are doing.
Are you talking about Vegas gambling or Wall Street gambling?
Re:porn? (Score:4, Insightful)
Sadly, they are similiar in that people cheat either way.
Whether it's loaded dice or insider data, someone is always happy to rip someone else off.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Gambling, pretty much by definition, has to work with people who don't know what they are doing. That makes it, if not always worse, at least more clearly bad.
While gambling is generally a tax on people who are bad at math, some people gamble for the entertainment value, and can easily afford to cover their losses.
I'd be interested to see an analysis of different types of gamblers.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Making choices based on your future career prospects is bad. Making choices based on magic is good! Great advice!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
There is one and only one way of winning in gamling. Luck.
I don't know about gamling, but gambling is different.
It all depends on the type of gambling involved. If you are playing against the house, then the only path for success is to attempt to exploit short term variance, because the long term odds always favor the house.
However, if you're playing against other players - that is, if you're playing poker or you're a parimutuel player, then you can succeed simply by being more skillful than your opponents.
Hint: The object of poker is not to win or lose the pot at
Re:porn? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not entirely sure how you managed to arrive at this conclusion.
People gambling aren't always idiots that think "Ima go win a million bucks". Often times they are people that do it for recreation or fun knowing full well that they're loosing money. For example, you can gamble at a slot machine for many hours on only $20-$50. Some people have fun watching the wheels spin and lights flash. For them, it's worth the money. Other people enjoy the social aspect of gambling such as in blackjack where the players aren't competing against each other. Or in craps, where the players are all competing against... the shooter... or the house.. unless they roll a 7 and it's the third tuesday of the month.... anyway, there's a lot of people cheering for someone so someone is having fun.
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For example, you can gamble at a slot machine for many hours on only $20-$50.
I'm fine with your examples. A good way to get good cheap food is to dress up in a proper tux and go to pretend to gamble. There are lots more examples; but mostly those aren't the people who are making money for the gabling industry. That's basically two groups. The first is "high rollers" who are losing money at a rediculous speed but are sometimes able to afford it. The second is the "idiots" as you called them. The slow gambling people are tolerated, even encouraged, mostly because they give a goo
sorry, nope look at the numbers (Score:3, Insightful)
How many of those people are the "slow players?" There are a few high rollers in any given casino and the fact they are treated well is simple logic - but those high rollers can also win and the house has to cover it. How do they cover it? On all those "slow players."
Why do you think casinos have player's clubs? There's not a casino around that doesn't offer perks of some sort and there are scads of people who exchange info on these perks and use that info in selecting their next vacation destination. Retir
Re:porn? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:porn? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:porn? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
"Other people enjoy the social aspect of gambling such as in blackjack where the players aren't competing against each other. Or in craps, where the players are all competing against... the shooter... or the house.. unless they roll a 7 and it's the third tuesday of the month...."
Exactly. Last night was spent with my wife and a friend up at Blackhawk (Casinos outside Denver in the mountains).
I ended up $175 down for the night playing craps (8pm until about 2am ... ::shrug:: It was fun, and the drinks are fr
Re:porn? (Score:4, Interesting)
I just don't buy it, I don't see how it could be fun without the suspension of disbelief. The only way I could see it being fun is dreaming about winning big and fooling yourself into thinking it might happen. Dichotomy of the mind, part of you knows better and part of you wants to suspend disbelief. I can buy the social aspect of it though, no doubt. Congratulating winners can give you part of the rush they feel. Either way, I don't think its because gamblers are any stupider than I am. I just think it might be a common problem in our species.
Re:porn? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:porn? (Score:5, Interesting)
Craps is the only game I've ever played, at Star City in Sydney. I went into the casino flat broke one night with my housemates and scored two non-exchangeable $10 betting vouchers (one for signing up for some members' card thing I've never used, the other a prize from the free scratchie that came with it). After 20 or 30 minutes being taught how to play craps I quit with $30 cash, which kept me in food and nicotine until I got paid two days later. Then I got to watch one of my housemates drop almost $100 in a minute on consecutive dumbass $5 and $10 yo bets. No surprise, we found out soon after that he was a compulsive gambler and had lied about his employment, and shortly after that he skipped the state, owing us around $5000.
I love bright colours and flashy lights as much as the next person whose life ambition is to work their way through Erowid in alphabetical order but dammit, there are so many better places to see them. Buy yourself some holospex [3dglassesonline.com] and come to a rave or something.
Re:porn? (Score:4, Insightful)
How is it so hard to understand that playing a game for stakes can be simple, recreational fun? Going into an evening of gambling with only the money you are prepared to lose is no different than going to a fair or holiday holding only the money you are prepared to spend on rides, gifts, foods, and frivolous purchases.
Fantasy boss much? (Score:2)
He wouldn't fit on your team anyway. Unless he's a cuddly toy, a Star Wars figurine or an inflatable woman.
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"Gambling is about screwing money out of stupid, statistically illiterate and not entirely mentally stable people."
So is marketing.
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So how's this different than working for, say Microsoft?
At least if you work for the gambling industry, your customers have an infinitesimal chance.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Seriously, I think that porn and gambling are excellent proving grounds for a programmer. In the case of websites, these are extremely high demand websites that process a large number of financial transactions, where uptime is vital to revenues, and where there is a high level of attempted cracking and DoS activity. In the case of embedded systems for casinos it's an extremely precise, highly regulated practice where the product must be hardened against attack and must provide a high level of reliability wh
Troll? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Please explain, how is it trolling to point out that several British men (there have been others, e.g. Peter Dicks) were are/were involved in the online gambling industry - activities which are completely legal in the UK - have been arrested and prosecuted by US authorities? There is no legal guarantee that being based in the UK would make you immune to prosecution in the US, and now it seems that the British government are happy to extradite citizens to the US for actions that aren't actually a crime in th