Folks, if there’s something I want you to learn from Gilbert Arenas, it’s this: pay your gambling debts. Wait, let’s back up for a second. Let me change that: Don’t have gambling debts. In order to have gambling debt, that means you wagered with money that you didn’t have on you. You should never do that. Only gamble money you have and can afford to lose. That’s gambling rule #1 as far as I’m concerned.

For those who don’t know, Gilbert Arenas, the superstar Washington Wizards guard, and some other basketball player who I don’t know (turns out his name is Javaris Crittenton) allegedly drew guns on each other in the team’s locker room after the game. The dispute was supposedly over $60,000 that he owed Crittenton over a gambling debt.

This is stupid for many reasons, the main one being that two teammates allegedly drew guns on each other. Look at it this way. Arenas supposedly owed $60,000. He has a $111 million contract! That means he can afford to pay. And what about Crittenton? Is his electricity going to be cut off if he doesn’t get the money right away? Only if he wastes electricity like Al Gore. Crittenton will make $1.5 million this year.

Unfortunately for Arenas and Crittenton, they’re going to get in a lot of trouble. Washington, D.C. has the most fascist anti-gun laws in the country and even in states with lax gun laws, it’s illegal to point a gun at someone for a reason other than self defense.

I believe in the second amendment and support the right to bear arms, but you need to do so responsibly. Unfortunately, there seems to be a large number of NBA players using guns irresponsibly. In fact, sports books are currently placing odds on which NBA player will be the next to be busted for gun possession. Right now, Kobe Bryant has even odds, Lebron James is +500 and Allen Iverson is +250, to name a few. Is Iverson still playing?

Though I already said it, I’ll say it again to make sure my point is crystal clear. Never bet money you don’t currently have on you. Never bet money that you can’t afford to lose. Always make good on your bets. Also, if someone owes you money, pick a more civilized method of reminder than sticking a gun in their face. Thank you.

Seriously, people, I can’t make this stuff up. I’m not creative enough. A 52-year-old gambler, Terry Watanabe, is suing Harrah’s and Caesars Palace casinos because, he alleges, they took advantage of his gambling problem. Wantanabe lived at Caesars Palace six months and lost approximately $825 million at the casinos. He alleges that the casinos knew he had a gambling problem and took advantage of that, so he is suing to recoup his losses. Of course, he only sued after Harrah’s filed criminal charges against him for theft for leaving $15 million in unpaid gambling debts.

It is a sad day for advocates of personal responsibility. Let me get this straight, Wantanabe loses all of this money at the casinos, borrows money he can’t pay and thus ends up with a $15 million dollar debt, doesn’t pay it, has criminal charges filed against him for not paying, and then decides that it’s all the casino’s fault. Surely they knew he had a gambling problem! I mean, what kind of an idiot blows $825 million?

And there’s the problem. How exactly is it the casino’s fault that Wantanabe is an idiot? Anyone who walks into a casino and loses a lot of money has made a bad decision. Should the casinos stop them, refund their money and tell them to not come back anymore? I don’t think they would be in business long with that practice. Games in casinos have a house edge. The casino makes money off of that edge. Some people lose more money to the casinos than others. Those who lose a lot of money to them, the whales, are valued customers.

Following the logic of this lawsuit, McDonald’s should cut off anyone who comes in every day to order a value meal. Clearly, they have an eating problem and they will get fat if they keep eating that way. And it of course is the duty of the restaurant, not the customer, to make sure he doesn’t eat more than is healthy.

People need to be responsible for themselves. The number one rule for gambling, that I repeat over and over, is that you should never gamble money that you can’t afford to lose. If it would cause any type of hardship for you to lose the money, you should not wager it. Anyone who follows that rule is gambling responsibly. Anyone who doesn’t is being unwise; but it is the responsibility of the player to determine how much money to spend and how often to gamble.

Wantanabe only had an “addiction” once he found himself in jail. Until then, he was just a rich man blowing his money. Pretty convenient. Also, people love to talk about how problem gambling is a “disease.” I’ll bet people with cancer or Huntington’s disease wish they had the ability to decide not to have that disease anymore. A person can’t go to meetings, get a sponsor and refrain from activity that makes his disease worse and then cure his cancer. Calling gambling addiction a disease is simply another way of avoiding personal responsibility. Hey, it’s not his fault he loses money at the tracks. He has a disease. There is a psychological addiction to gambling that afflicts some people, but it is something that can be overcome through dedication, responsibility and perseverance. It is the responsibility of every gambler to spend their money wisely, or to give up gambling entirely if they find that they have a problem. The casinos’ responsibility is to provide games for the players and pay the players when they win. Never forget that.