<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>zazen</author><text>&amp;gt; some of this money will make it into hands of other people, but most of this is just removing value from society.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not an economist, but... surely near-as-anything 100% of this money is going to other people?  Some tiny fraction is paid to the electricity company to keep the lights on at the casino, and some tiny faction of &lt;i&gt;that&lt;/i&gt; is the cost of the fuel that is literally burned for that purpose.  I think basically the same goes for the various luxury consumables the casinos are comping to these guests.  The actual cost of the base raw materials that are consumed is going to be tiny (relative to the huge sums being gambled, anyway).&lt;p&gt;Sure it would be &lt;i&gt;better&lt;/i&gt; if these gamblers gave their money to science&amp;#x2F;charities instead.  If you think you know how to convince them to do so, then go for it.</text><parent_chain><item><author>yetihehe</author><text>I think that if they gave those fortunes for something more worthy like progress of science or charities, it would be much more positive for society. Squandering is just spending money on unimportant things, which DO NOT give benefit to society. Yeah, some of this money will make it into hands of other people, but most of this is just removing value from society.</text></item><item><author>mjfl</author><text>I think you&amp;#x27;re looking at it the wrong way. I think it&amp;#x27;s an extremely positive thing for society that people who are dumb enough to squander their fortunes are given an opportunity to squander it, especially if those fortunes are unearned. It&amp;#x27;s very meritocratic. I hope Las Vegas is filled with the children of billionaires.</text></item><item><author>aresant</author><text>&amp;quot;Almost all of the clients are men, ranging in age from millennials to 70-year-olds, and they stick around for three to five years before going dark—usually due to bad investments, dips in the economy, or divorce.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;This entire article made me sick to my stomach, money can be so terribly corrupting and empty.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Things I Never Knew About Las Vegas Until I Ran a High-Roller Suite</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-09-04/secrets-of-las-vegas-s-exclusive-high-roller-cosmopolitan-sweet</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>de_watcher</author><text>Well, it&amp;#x27;s just transferred from one bank to another with some taxes&amp;#x2F;salaries&amp;#x2F;products paid. Nothing has really happened or disappeared. Maybe that second bank got bolder in giving loans for science or whatever.</text><parent_chain><item><author>yetihehe</author><text>I think that if they gave those fortunes for something more worthy like progress of science or charities, it would be much more positive for society. Squandering is just spending money on unimportant things, which DO NOT give benefit to society. Yeah, some of this money will make it into hands of other people, but most of this is just removing value from society.</text></item><item><author>mjfl</author><text>I think you&amp;#x27;re looking at it the wrong way. I think it&amp;#x27;s an extremely positive thing for society that people who are dumb enough to squander their fortunes are given an opportunity to squander it, especially if those fortunes are unearned. It&amp;#x27;s very meritocratic. I hope Las Vegas is filled with the children of billionaires.</text></item><item><author>aresant</author><text>&amp;quot;Almost all of the clients are men, ranging in age from millennials to 70-year-olds, and they stick around for three to five years before going dark—usually due to bad investments, dips in the economy, or divorce.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;This entire article made me sick to my stomach, money can be so terribly corrupting and empty.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Things I Never Knew About Las Vegas Until I Ran a High-Roller Suite</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-09-04/secrets-of-las-vegas-s-exclusive-high-roller-cosmopolitan-sweet</url></story>