Gambling. A nasty habit, and one that I have visited before as a topic for columns. In those columns I was railing against those video slots that are “for entertainment purposes only” in every gas station in the state, so it seems. My contention was that the places that have them are paying cash as a prize, and we all know that it is a practice that is illegal. It still goes on. I have seen it with my own eyes.
After my last piece about the machines I received some very strongly worded letters from the dear readers of the JPA. These readers stated that gambling was an individual choice and that it was not the job of government to regulate those things that hurt no one. My contention was that, because I was once briefly associated with those machines in a seedy little underworld web that is constantly trying to evade detection by the police, I know of what I speak, and that the machines are programmable to only pay limited jackpots and are fodder for weak-minded individuals who have addictive personalities. Same response: “No harm, no foul”, as long as the laws are followed. Well, the laws are not being followed and are regularly broken with impunity. I saw it as recently as three days ago at a local gas station. But that’s not my battle here---the police do what they can against tricky proprieters who make payments in restrooms where video taping is illegal. My concern is that the very people who should not be gambling---the poor, those on public assistance, those barely able to feed their families---are seduced by the machines. And now medical evidence backs me up. A recent 60 Minutes piece on CBS detailed the fact that gambling is addictive and that the very worst facet of the addiction is those very gambling machines I have been trying to get outlawed.
What once was a casual activity, with big and very legal casinos in a limited number of states like New Jersey and Nevada, has now grown to a disturbingly large number. Casinos or gambling establishments are now in 38 states and looking to expand to even more. What once was an occasional entertainment is now pervasive and all too easy to have access to and people are losing money and their assets at alarming rates. Those on the side of the casinos say what some readers have said---it is a personal choice. Medical professionals say something else: the machines are indeed addictive and they have the studies to back it up.
Here is how it works: the machines, which used to be called One Armed Bandits, and had a lever on the side that you would pull, could only go fast enough to allow the player to pull the lever several hundred times in an hour. The new video slots, such as seen in gas stations, have no lever and are all button controlled. Money in, push push push. At a rate of up to 1200 games an hour! The combination of speed and the little rewards are exactly what creates the addiction, and the manufacturers of these machines know that. The machines are set to pay a little bit, small amounts, occasionally, giving the false impression that the player is winning, when in actuality they are losing and throwing their money in faster than they can count it out. This actually creates a chemical situation in the brain that is terrifyingly like that of crack cocaine addicts and when some players are in the “zone”, as it is known, they actually could not remember their own children’s names. They also suffer from similar shakes and other conditions akin to withdrawal from a chemical addiction.
The government has stepped in to regulate alcohol, tobacco, and medicine. It is time to do something to help hard working Americans to keep their money. Outlaw video slots now. Let the gamblers play legal lottery, or better yet spend their money on viable products and services that help us all to exist.
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