This past Friday, I took a trip (my first one) to a local casino across the border. I had to drop something off at my friends house and we went to the dinner buffet at the casino. Now for those of you who don't know me, I am not a gambler. I prefer to spend my money on constant things like shoes, clothes, dinner, etc. Well, I must admit, the food is good. I am now a believer when the "saints" say they go for the food. I know some of them eat and play the slots, but the food is worth the trip.
When we arrived at the casino, it was around 5p. As we walked through the casino, I looked around and saw many people who looked like they had just gotten off work. It didn't seem like these people were leaving corporate jobs. I also saw many seniors. Some of these seniors were in wheel chairs, had oxygen tanks and other debilitating conditions. Now, I got to thinking, you are sick and in a wheel chair and you are at the casino playing the slot machines.
This visit got me to wondering, how many people in this casino have lost their homes due to foreclosure or are in the process of losing their homes? I know many of these people probably have past due bills. It really saddens me to see these poor people (and I mean poor) throwing money away. I know a lot of these individuals probably just got paid and took their entire paychecks to the boat. It looked like some of these people were/are living paycheck to poor check. I am confident many of them probably took the shuttle bus there. You do know that a lot of these casino's send buses to nursing homes and designated bus stops to pick up patrons. I know they used to charge a fee (maybe $5) but I'm sure if you don't have it they'll let you go through.
My friend won a few dollars and after that occurred, there was a lady who sitting at the machine to the left and she got right on that same machine trying to win some money. I guess these people don't know that these machines are designed for the house to win. I remember watching one of the news shows some years ago (20/20 or Dateline) and there was a man suing a particular casino for his gambling addiction. When it came down to it, it was discovered that the agency that was supposed to monitor the makers of the slot machines was working together to rig the machines. If a machine was supposed to pay out 1:10,000, they might fix it where it was 1:100,000. Towards the end of the segment, the host made a comment about this flawed system and posed the following question: If this is taking place in the gaming industry, what other industries are affected by this? I guess one will never know.
My hope and prayer it that these people wake up and smell the cocoa beans before it's too late and they are sitting on the curbside.
