Yesterday I played free card games on the computer and had a lot of fun and it was also quite exciting. You know, I play different games: both paid and free. And sometimes, based on the fascination and the pleasure I get, I find it difficult to say which games captivate me more. But I would be interested in how you answer the question of whether free games can be considered gambling. Another way to put this is: can gambling be free? Do free games excite you as much as games that involve betting money?
It depends on what your motives are; if you're driven with an interest of getting some few bucks afterwards, you already know you'd have to fund and wager with real money. I know about an application that you could lunch and play real card games but then, the best part of it is that it's not a casino. For the fear of not getting enticed to try out with real funds, so many people could decide to avoid it completely - especially since they can't afford to lose a dime since all they just want is to have fun.
For the best part, IMHO, since it's totally free, it doesn't feel like it's a gamble.
Yes and no. Actually, card games without betting money, strictly speaking, are not gambling and people play very differently when they don't bet any money than when they bet money. But also many houses offer the possibility of playing with play money (fictitious chips without real monetary value) so that many people who at first do not dare to bet money, try to play with fictitious money and many of them end up depositing and betting with real money. So it is like an intermediate step, like a warm-up for real gambling.
I don't think he was really referring to any casino house games whatsoever ... I do have a good idea about the virtual funds though.