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Robert Nisbet thought that the rise of a fatalistic mentality, as expressed by the popularity of gambling and speculation, was a sign of our cultural decline. The ancient Greeks at their florit were not fatalistic, but they became so in the Hellenistic age. The Romans underwent a similar transformation as their culture began its decline.

Robert Nisbet thought that the rise of a fatalistic mentality, as expressed by the popularity of gambling and speculation, was a sign of our cultural decline.

Fatalistic mentality? It's not fatalism to make a decision to take a risk.

Lottery tickets are a means to have an opportunity of a great payoff, albeit with a very low chance of success. It seems to me that the purchase of lottery tickets is a signal of pessimism regarding the potential of reaching one's dreams via perseverence and non-gambling methods--and that is not fatalism, per se.

Actually, in medieval and early modern times, gambling was effectively a social requirement among the rich nobility. It was a matter of honor and a way of flaunting both bravery about risks and indifference to sums other men found "important". Along with "never take cover", and "never count the change". Kipling's "If" considers the mark of manhood and bravery "if you can make one heap of all your winnings, and risk them on one turn of pitch and toss, and lose, and start again at your beginings, and never breath a word about your loss".

The moral and prudential opposition to gambling is sound enough, but it is a bourgois virtue, along with thrift. Most high civilizations have not been dominated by ruling classes conspicuous for either. Modern capitalism is an exception in that respect - and quite an imperfect one, since its financial markets are the greatest casino of all time, whatever else they are - not the rule.