I've never really understood the powerful pull of gambling.

For some reason it just doesn't pull me… at all.

I asked someone who loves gambling to steelman it for me as a deeply meaningful activity.

They described it to me as "pulling you inside the game."

You go from an outside observer, watching from the balcony, to being on the dance floor, in it.

You now intrinsically care how it turns out; you're bonded with it.

If there are other people who are also bonded with it, cheering for the same outcome, then you are instantly, inextricably bound to something larger than yourself.

In that moment of loving yourself you can find a moment of transcendence.

… Although obviously the insidious parts are hard to ignore.