Hello Friends And Welcome New Visitors,
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I happen to get my weekly email a few days ago from the good people who keep MANY HONEST about “Predatory Gambling”….
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When I read this report PDF from Les and “Stop Predatory Gambling” I knew I needed to share IT! Many of our Seniors are now being preyed upon by the MANY Casino’s popping up in all States. And I’m sorry but it’s not FAIR, and Cruel! Many Seniors these days really don’t have the extra money to be gambling with to begin with, but I understand it is a form of Fun & Entertainment for them, and something to do to get out of the house. OK,…I get that, but then many become Problem Gamblers, or worse addicted and end up in a BAD WAY. So if you have loved ones who may like to gamble, please share this report with them and urge them to “Gamble Responsibly”……
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“Report Shows How Casinos Affect Seniors”
Senior citizens are becoming more and more prone to problem gambling due to casinos, according to a new report by the Institute for American Values. Seniors are particularly vulnerable to slots and similar electronic games, some of the most highly addictive and highly profitable for casinos. – See more at: http://stoppredatorygambling.org/blog/new-report-shows-how-casinos-affect-seniors/#sthash.2vHzm77E.dpuf *PLEASE CLICK TO VIEW THIS PDF REPORT*
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Here is just a little Preview of the REPORT….
A Casino Land Report…
IAV and its partners are conducting a series of investigations called “Casino Land: America in an Age of Inequality.” The goal is to understand the meaning and role of casinos in American life—how they work and what they do, the values they embody and transmit, their impact on civil society, their connection to government, and their relationship to the rise of American inequality. This report is a part of that series.
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Seniors in Casino Land Tough Luck for Older Americans….
Introduction:
As with many adventures, I didn’t know I was on one until I was deep in the belly of a south Louisiana casino where thirty-five-cent bets flowed faster than the free Diet Coke. My elbow rested on the walker of a silver-haired gentleman as I craned my neck to hear him over the sounds of the Lucky 7s slot machine. He worried I was going to waste all my money, and I thanked him for his grandfatherly concern. As our attention returned to the screens before us, we sank into silence, enveloped in waves of pulsating sound and light.
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As a parish pastor and a hospice chaplain, connecting to the lives of older Americans had led me to kitchen tables, hospital bedsides, and even prisons. I am no stranger to those literally facing death or to those thinking about how deadly their lives have become. In every place, my role is not to give answers but to listen and help those around me find sources of hope in the midst of despair. My work often serves the most vulnerable populations, especially seniors, and has resulted in my fervent belief that everyone deserves to age with dignity and grace on their own terms, connected to places that give their lives meaning: homes, neighborhoods, favorite restaurants, places of worship, local parks, even shopping centers.
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Should casinos be added to this list? I had never thought much about casinos, in part because frequenting one never appealed to me personally. As a pastor, I had heard passing mention of bus trips to the casino, but when I started doing some research into the topic, I was shocked to learn that seniors often name gambling as their favorite form of entertainment.1 According to the American Gaming Association’s State of the States annual report, casino gambling has become one of the country’s fastest growing industries: commercial casinos in the twenty-three states that license them earned more than $37 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2012 alone. 2 One-third of the U.S. population visited a commercial casino in 2012 and more than half of those people were aged fifty and older. 3 Little research was done on trends in geriatric gambling until the late 1990s, when the National Gambling Impact Study Commission reported that the number of older adults who had ever gambled in their lifetime had more than doubled from 35 percent in 1975 to 80 percent in 1998. 4 A flurry of studies soon followed, focused mostly on compulsive and problem gambling.
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When I did a search engine query for “seniors and casinos” on the Internet, I found that almost every casino website offers special marketing incentives and identifiers for the over-fifty-five crowd. 5 Some promote breakfast and lunch deals for the “golden grays,” 6 and dub the niche market of senior women “the blue hairs.” 7 The “third of the month club” is a come-on for older adults who head straight to casinos after receiving their social security checks.
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8 Well-stocked with wheelchairs and scooters, casinos often provide more handicapped spots than are required by law. Casino bathrooms are supplied with disposal boxes for diabetic needles and attendants keep a stash of adult diapers on hand. 9 One casino in Nevada even introduced an in-house pharmacy where 8,000 slot club points cover the $25 co-pay. 10 Writing about casinos, Gary Rivlin coined the phrase “day care for the elderly,” 11 a description that quickly caught on with other journalists. Could this be true? Is fifty-five considered elderly? If so, are casinos becoming day care for the fifty-five and older set?
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Both the casino industry’s definition of elderly and the concept of casino-as-day-care offended me. Still, I had to admit, I had never been to a casino, let alone in the middle of a weekday when most seniors visit. 12 My IAV colleagues encouraged me to find out—to visit casinos, eat at the buffets, play the slot machines, and talk to as many seniors as I could—so I checked out local casinos in four different communities: on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, in the farm country of northwest Iowa, and two big city venues in Yonkers and Queens, New York. I met gracious seniors at every turn, most well past their fifty-fifth birthday, many with mobility and health challenges, all looking for a meaningful way to pass the time. They told me about their lives and helped me to understand what drew them to the casino.
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I discovered an artificially constructed world: Casino Land. However, unlike Disneyland, coined the “happiest place on earth,” I came away from my four visits to Casino Land feeling deeply sad. On first glance, I discovered positive aspects, for instance the level of accommodation made for those with physical disabilities. But on further inspection, questions arose. Why are casinos so friendly? Why take such pains to make those who struggle with basic necessities like an affordable meal, toileting, even walking, feel welcome?
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The answer always came back to the slot machine. The mesmerizing design of the ubiquitous electronic gambling machine absorbs the time and money of many seniors, while exploiting their loneliness, idleness, and boredom.
When seniors wonder, “What else do I have to do?”casinos answer, “Sit here, put your money in until it’s gone, and maybe you’ll be ‘lucky’ (wink, wink).” Casino advertisements show exuberant couples nestled at slot machines, laughing and cheering one another on. This is not what I found. I met solitary individuals who often came back to life, happy to engage in conversation only after I broke into their slot machine-induced trance. Casino proponents may claim that the “fun” and “conversation” I experienced is normal, but it is not.
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I had to work to engage people. Nothing in the environment—from the dim lighting to the level of machine noise—encouraged conversation or interaction with other humans. Sitting at a slot machine felt like being stranded in the ocean in a small inner-tube, trying to connect to other isolated swimmers against the persistent undertow. I spent about three to four hours visiting each of the four casinos on my list, arriving around 11:00 a.m. and leaving around 3:00 p.m. Although I cover more detail about the two casinos in New York, all of my experiences were fairly interchangeable. In retrospect, my excursion felt like one long casino trip that started in Baton Rouge and concluded in Queens. I did not formally recruit participants, but simply sat down next to strangers, asked questions, and listened.
This is my report from the glitzy, senior-filled world of Casino Land…..
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IS THAT NOT the most “insightful, powerful, and frightening” Introduction you have ever read? So I encourage you to click on the link above provided and read the rest of the Report. It will blow you away! Like it’s not bad enough that new stats out recently, that 1% of the US population are addicted or problem gamblers? WHAT??? And that not only is our Seniors becoming problem gamblers, our College Age Young Adults are as well to the tune of 6% of College adults are problem gamblers too!……
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So please, if you care about your elderly parents, grand parents, friends, and NOW your college young adults, please take the time to read the report. As I just celebrated my 7th year in Recovery from “Addicted Compulsive Gambling” myself, I worry about others who may become addicted. It’s why I have 2 blogs here. I want those who are know that they are NOT ALONE, and there is HELP and Recover is Possible!
God Bless Friends,
Author, Catherine Townsend-Lyon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984478485 “Addicted To Dimes” My Story.
