GAMBLING

Casinos are very popular among the senior residents of any retirement center. If you doubt it, just visit any casino near or far and check out the patrons. They are glued to their stools at the penny and nickel machines with a cigarette dangling from the corner of their mouth and a drink on the machine. If their doctor has demanded they give up smoking and drinking they are sucking on hard candies and drinking free cokes. Now that they are old and broke, they plan to strike it rich.

In fairness to the vast majority gambling is just extended entertainment. Many set a limit and stick to it. On return from the outing results are reported only if they won. No one ever has any doubts about how things went at the casino. For most, it is fun and they won’t lose more than they can afford (which isn’t much). Many have a maximum casino donation of $20.00. However there are a few.

One of our residents went with friends and family and stayed overnight at the casino hotel. She played seventeen hours straight. I don’t even know how she stayed on the stool that long. She has a catheter so she may not have even need a potty break. You can order food and drinks right from your machine.

Not all play the one armed bandits. Some hit the tables. They play for bigger stakes. By the way, no local casinos have arms to pull. They have buttons to push. Boring. You get a quite noiseless ticket print out that you cash in. What happened?

I took a trip through the gold country of northern California a few years back and hit Tahoe, Carson City and Reno. Those were noisy machines. They were compulsive. The noise made you think everyone was winning except you. Even the elevator made a Ka-Ching sound when it stopped at each floor. Every noise said, come to me baby – you still have money to give.

Every gambler I know seems to always win – or so they say. I am reminded that the beautiful casinos were not built on government subsidy. They may have been built on welfare, but that is from the poor donating to their survival. I know it’s fun to play, but most may as well just make a donation at the front door and go to the lake instead.

There was a large party from The Home that spent five hours yesterday gambling. No one is discussing what a wonderful day they had. When asked, they won. The information is not forth coming. It must be pried out. That tells me the losses out weighted the wins. It does help if you are a smoker. They all have a no smoking sections, but in our area that is divided by a blue veil of smoke. Makes no difference where you are.

If you are going to go, I recommend the buffet. Good food, reasonable price. At least you can gain weigh thus winning something.