Star Trek and Gambling

One thing I've noticed watching Star Trek: The Next Generation is the number of scenes depicting the characters engaged in some sort of gambling, usually Poker. The scenes are very entertaining, with the game being an outlet showing how the characters interact. Chips are won and lost, which seems a bit odd since humanity is a cash-less society by the 24th century. However, my theory is that, while not playing for actual money, they are playing for credits, which can be used in places where tender is still required (see Ferengi).

The first clip is from "The Royale" of Season 2 where Data plays Blackjack for the first time. The second is from the same episode with Data shooting craps, which enables the away team to get enough money to purchase the hotel and escape the planet (you'll just have to watch the episode).

The next couple of clips are poker scenes. The second features Data playing with famous "historic" figures. I put historic in quotes because they are all scientists, as though only scientists had some of the greatest minds. Message to Star Trek: there were many others.

This clip is with all the senior officers in the last scene in the Next Generation series (1994). Captain Picard had never played with his officers and it is touching moment (awwww) about friendship and a fitting end to the series.

And just for good measure, a creative youtube video featuring a certain pop star: