The Winning Hand: West End Times Article - November 21, 2009
Don’t think that for one second that when you’re in a different zone and all you’re thinking about is gambling, that you are not affecting your day to day job and how people see you.
I will always go back to the basic premise that the vast majority of gamblers lose money and that the vast majority of those people are not happy people when they lose money.
Be it tens of dollars, hundreds, or thousands, it is all relative.
Dr Pavlov once said that within 10 to 12 minutes of a person waking in the morning, their mood is pretty much set for the day. That was said many years ago and it still holds true today.
Simply speaking, when your coworker in the cubicle next to you had a bad night the night before at the local Brasserie playing VLT machines, it is clearly written all over their face when they show up to work the next morning. Sadness, grief, remorse, irritability, anger, guilt all exude as they try to work the day as best they can.
Companies have seen theft at the workplace, lying, cheating, forged checks, company credit cards have been known to be used for online gambling by people in the finance department (who have access to these cards), employees calling in sick the morning after or the night before a losing spree.
A gambler’s judgement becomes awfully clouded when all they have on their mind is ‘When to gamble?’ ‘Where to gamble?’ ‘With whom should they go gambling?’ and ‘Where is the money going to come from?’ What scheme does a gambler come up with when they are preparing for their next devastating bout with Lady Luck?
Companies should try their damndest to spot employees who may be in trouble. Realizing, of course, that not every company is large enough to have its own Human Resources Department, small-time owners and/or managers can learn, and should learn, how to spot problems at the office and be able to refer these people for help.
The loss of productivity at the workplace as a result of gambling and gambling problems is massive (as is any addiction that spills over to the workplace). This is why education is so very important.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Gambling Destroys Families...and Don’t Think Otherwise
The Winning Hand: West End Times Article - November 14, 2009
Fires destroy homes.
Gambling destroys families.
I have had the horrific task of watching, on a weekly, if not semi-weekly basis, families torn apart because of gambling; ripped apart because of gambling; destroyed because of gambling.
I suppose it is because of what it is that I do for a living that I see this happen so often, and with every family crisis I work with, a part of me is destroyed as well.
Mothers not talking to children.
Wives not talking to husbands.
Siblings not talking to each other.
All because of money, greed, grandiosity, and forgive me, dear gambler, stupidity.
I cannot tell you how often how often I become nauseous listening to families telling their gambling stories to friends, employees, employers, neighbours etc.
What starts out as an innocent card game or a pull of a slot machine turns into life-altering unhappiness.
The sadness in people’s eyes.
The greed in people’s voices.
The lying and cheating in people’s daily lives.
It is enough to make you sick.
Ripping the government apart is the easy part.
But the sad part...the very sad part...at the same time, is that I look into people’s eyes daily and see the sadness ooze from their facial expressions.
It is pathetic.
It is horrible.
It shouldn’t happen.
It is pitiful to the nth degree.
How can something that began so innocently ruin and sometimes end people’s lives?
I read stories from around the world and the story is always the same.
People, I beg of you, to take a step or 2 back and think ‘What are you doing?’ What the hell are you doing?
Is your marriage worth it?
Is your friendship with your buddy, worth it?
Is the relationship with your boss or coworkers, worth it?
Is the momentary high you get, worth it?
It is gambling. It is dice. It is machines. It is cards. It is paper. It’s a bloody lottery ticket.
It’s not worth it.
It is absolutely and categorically, not at all, worth it.
We spend our entire childhood, adolescence, and for some of us fortunate ones, our late teenage years and 20s in schools, high schools, colleges and universities.
We spend years and years learning and studying right from wrong.
Our parents or guardians spend so many waking hours working to give us the best, their best, and what do many of us do?
We screw it up.
I ask again, from my heart of hearts, what are we doing?
Families; your family; you; deserve far better than what any lottery ticket or casino could possibly give you.
At the risk of sounding like former vice president Al Gore, we live on a beautiful planet with so much to offer.
Allow ourselves, our children, and our families, to enjoy what life has to offer in one of the planet’s finest countries.
Gambling and family go together like Canada and separatism.
Fires destroy homes.
Gambling destroys families.
I have had the horrific task of watching, on a weekly, if not semi-weekly basis, families torn apart because of gambling; ripped apart because of gambling; destroyed because of gambling.
I suppose it is because of what it is that I do for a living that I see this happen so often, and with every family crisis I work with, a part of me is destroyed as well.
Mothers not talking to children.
Wives not talking to husbands.
Siblings not talking to each other.
All because of money, greed, grandiosity, and forgive me, dear gambler, stupidity.
I cannot tell you how often how often I become nauseous listening to families telling their gambling stories to friends, employees, employers, neighbours etc.
What starts out as an innocent card game or a pull of a slot machine turns into life-altering unhappiness.
The sadness in people’s eyes.
The greed in people’s voices.
The lying and cheating in people’s daily lives.
It is enough to make you sick.
Ripping the government apart is the easy part.
But the sad part...the very sad part...at the same time, is that I look into people’s eyes daily and see the sadness ooze from their facial expressions.
It is pathetic.
It is horrible.
It shouldn’t happen.
It is pitiful to the nth degree.
How can something that began so innocently ruin and sometimes end people’s lives?
I read stories from around the world and the story is always the same.
People, I beg of you, to take a step or 2 back and think ‘What are you doing?’ What the hell are you doing?
Is your marriage worth it?
Is your friendship with your buddy, worth it?
Is the relationship with your boss or coworkers, worth it?
Is the momentary high you get, worth it?
It is gambling. It is dice. It is machines. It is cards. It is paper. It’s a bloody lottery ticket.
It’s not worth it.
It is absolutely and categorically, not at all, worth it.
We spend our entire childhood, adolescence, and for some of us fortunate ones, our late teenage years and 20s in schools, high schools, colleges and universities.
We spend years and years learning and studying right from wrong.
Our parents or guardians spend so many waking hours working to give us the best, their best, and what do many of us do?
We screw it up.
I ask again, from my heart of hearts, what are we doing?
Families; your family; you; deserve far better than what any lottery ticket or casino could possibly give you.
At the risk of sounding like former vice president Al Gore, we live on a beautiful planet with so much to offer.
Allow ourselves, our children, and our families, to enjoy what life has to offer in one of the planet’s finest countries.
Gambling and family go together like Canada and separatism.
Depression and Suicide...No Laughing Matter...
The Winning Hand: West End Times Article - November 7, 2009
Your faithful weekly gambling columnist, Howard Riback, must put down the joke book and the constant government-isms today, in lieu of a topic that is as horrible to write about as it is to hear about; depression and suicide.
I am not for one minute insinuating or pointing fingers, that depression and suicide ONLY stem from gambling losses, but let us not live in a fool’s paradise and admit that pathological and compulsive gambling have certainly helped drive the numbers of the depressed and suicide victims upwards. Depression and suicide are results of constant financial losses, family breakups, bankruptcies, overextended credit, and complete loss of logical human thought processes.
I will always go back to the simplest and easiest gambling-related comment ever made. The vast majority of players, be them of lotteries or casino games, lose. Of those people, again, the vast majority lose money they cannot afford to lose. Taking this statement further, all forms and all levels of depression kick in once gambling begins and losing money begins to mount.
There is a huge level of pressure in a person’s mind when the 250 dollars tucked away in their wallet whose original purpose was for grocery shopping now must be replaced.
Canadians have been losing their jobs by the tens of thousands for the last year or so, and his has never been so important to put away a few extra dollars here and there, if possible, for a rainy day or emergency. To have this money sucked out of the pants, wants and purses of Mr. And Mrs. Canadian, is itself a heinous crime that all of Canada’s lottery commissions should be terribly ashamed of.
There have been so many statistics given out by both the provincial and federal governments, who knows what to believe?
The casinos themselves put out statistics that are illogical and completely non-believable. People are killing themselves in Canada at a rate of approximately 1 every day and a half according to a Globe and Mail article published a few weeks ago.
The Canadian Safety Council estimates 200 problem gamblers kill themselves each year. An Ontario professor has said, ‘the less people know about gambling-related suicides- at least as far as provincial governments are concerned- the better for them, politically speaking. However, governments know their fingerprints are all over these needless deaths.’
Research has shown that there are no actual country-wide statistics by any of the provinces Lotto Commissions with regard to gambling and suicide, yet we hear of stories in every community that someone has jumped from a building after accruing massive gambling debt.
Unbelievable! Only in Quebec can you lose thousands of dollars at the casino, take a bus to a subway station, then jump in front of the oncoming subway, and our dear friends at Lotto Quebec don't consider that a gambling-related suicide. But if you hang yourself on the coat hook on the inside of the bathroom casino door, they do consider that a gambling-related suicide, hence the government numbers issued on gambling-related suicide are not remotely close to the truth. Far too many Quebecers take their own life as the ultimate loss.
Far too many Quebecers take their own life as a result of gambling.
The time has come, albeit way too late, that gambling should just be a game.
Your faithful weekly gambling columnist, Howard Riback, must put down the joke book and the constant government-isms today, in lieu of a topic that is as horrible to write about as it is to hear about; depression and suicide.
I am not for one minute insinuating or pointing fingers, that depression and suicide ONLY stem from gambling losses, but let us not live in a fool’s paradise and admit that pathological and compulsive gambling have certainly helped drive the numbers of the depressed and suicide victims upwards. Depression and suicide are results of constant financial losses, family breakups, bankruptcies, overextended credit, and complete loss of logical human thought processes.
I will always go back to the simplest and easiest gambling-related comment ever made. The vast majority of players, be them of lotteries or casino games, lose. Of those people, again, the vast majority lose money they cannot afford to lose. Taking this statement further, all forms and all levels of depression kick in once gambling begins and losing money begins to mount.
There is a huge level of pressure in a person’s mind when the 250 dollars tucked away in their wallet whose original purpose was for grocery shopping now must be replaced.
Canadians have been losing their jobs by the tens of thousands for the last year or so, and his has never been so important to put away a few extra dollars here and there, if possible, for a rainy day or emergency. To have this money sucked out of the pants, wants and purses of Mr. And Mrs. Canadian, is itself a heinous crime that all of Canada’s lottery commissions should be terribly ashamed of.
There have been so many statistics given out by both the provincial and federal governments, who knows what to believe?
The casinos themselves put out statistics that are illogical and completely non-believable. People are killing themselves in Canada at a rate of approximately 1 every day and a half according to a Globe and Mail article published a few weeks ago.
The Canadian Safety Council estimates 200 problem gamblers kill themselves each year. An Ontario professor has said, ‘the less people know about gambling-related suicides- at least as far as provincial governments are concerned- the better for them, politically speaking. However, governments know their fingerprints are all over these needless deaths.’
Research has shown that there are no actual country-wide statistics by any of the provinces Lotto Commissions with regard to gambling and suicide, yet we hear of stories in every community that someone has jumped from a building after accruing massive gambling debt.
Unbelievable! Only in Quebec can you lose thousands of dollars at the casino, take a bus to a subway station, then jump in front of the oncoming subway, and our dear friends at Lotto Quebec don't consider that a gambling-related suicide. But if you hang yourself on the coat hook on the inside of the bathroom casino door, they do consider that a gambling-related suicide, hence the government numbers issued on gambling-related suicide are not remotely close to the truth. Far too many Quebecers take their own life as the ultimate loss.
Far too many Quebecers take their own life as a result of gambling.
The time has come, albeit way too late, that gambling should just be a game.
Governments Spend Millions to Make Losers Feel Like Winners
The Winning Hand: West End Times Article - October 31, 2009
Coupons belong in supermarkets...not in casinos.
Rolls of quarters belong in your glove compartment for parking meters...not for casinos.
Free t-shirts belong at concerts...not at casinos.
Shuttle-buses belong at the airport...not shuttling between the casinos and Old Age Homes.
Altogether now, let’s have an Oprah ‘Aha’ moment; what are these government-run marcasinos doing to us seemingly bright people?
Oprah moment #2, ‘They’re taking us for dummies!’
It has been said time and time again that all casinos make 2/3 of their revenues from 1/3 of the pathological gamblers. Why then, would any casino not want to have their regulars remain regulars? It is not in their best interest to help or deny the compulsive gambler from walking through the casino doors. Wouldn’t restaurant buffet owners prefer skinny people with small appetites to frequent their buffet? Would Second Cup embark on an ad campaign to those that love tea?
Marketing, people, Marketing!
There are reasons, and good ones at that, that casinos offer all kinds of incentives to frequent their building.
Ignite the gambler’s soul....from smoked meat to limos, from t-shirts to losing your shirts...
The casinos spend millions in trying to strike the right chord to catch and reel in their next vulnerable customer.
Does Provigo need such marketing ....no, because you have to go anyway...we all need food.
Marketing used to mean ‘Things go better with Coke’.
Marketing used to mean ‘Panasonic, ideas for life’.
Marketing used to mean ‘G.E., We Bring Good Things To Life’.
Nowadays, marketing has hit new and ugly heights which prey on the educated, uneducated, the old, the young, the wealthy, the poor, men and women, and people of all races.
It is a race and a life-threatening contest, to see who will get your hard earned money quicker and consistently. And the casino business...God love the casino business...has given the marketing industry a whole new meaning.
If America’s 3 big car companies had the marketing ingenuity of the casino world, Obama wouldn’t have had to bail the car industry out.
Casinos and the gambling world itself, sells dreams...dreams of money, of wealth, of homes, boats and cars.
Marketing and gambling go hand in hand like Bonnie and Clyde (but look what happened to them.)
Coupons belong in supermarkets...not in casinos.
Rolls of quarters belong in your glove compartment for parking meters...not for casinos.
Free t-shirts belong at concerts...not at casinos.
Shuttle-buses belong at the airport...not shuttling between the casinos and Old Age Homes.
Altogether now, let’s have an Oprah ‘Aha’ moment; what are these government-run marcasinos doing to us seemingly bright people?
Oprah moment #2, ‘They’re taking us for dummies!’
It has been said time and time again that all casinos make 2/3 of their revenues from 1/3 of the pathological gamblers. Why then, would any casino not want to have their regulars remain regulars? It is not in their best interest to help or deny the compulsive gambler from walking through the casino doors. Wouldn’t restaurant buffet owners prefer skinny people with small appetites to frequent their buffet? Would Second Cup embark on an ad campaign to those that love tea?
Marketing, people, Marketing!
There are reasons, and good ones at that, that casinos offer all kinds of incentives to frequent their building.
Ignite the gambler’s soul....from smoked meat to limos, from t-shirts to losing your shirts...
The casinos spend millions in trying to strike the right chord to catch and reel in their next vulnerable customer.
Does Provigo need such marketing ....no, because you have to go anyway...we all need food.
Marketing used to mean ‘Things go better with Coke’.
Marketing used to mean ‘Panasonic, ideas for life’.
Marketing used to mean ‘G.E., We Bring Good Things To Life’.
Nowadays, marketing has hit new and ugly heights which prey on the educated, uneducated, the old, the young, the wealthy, the poor, men and women, and people of all races.
It is a race and a life-threatening contest, to see who will get your hard earned money quicker and consistently. And the casino business...God love the casino business...has given the marketing industry a whole new meaning.
If America’s 3 big car companies had the marketing ingenuity of the casino world, Obama wouldn’t have had to bail the car industry out.
Casinos and the gambling world itself, sells dreams...dreams of money, of wealth, of homes, boats and cars.
Marketing and gambling go hand in hand like Bonnie and Clyde (but look what happened to them.)
It's a Crime-ing Shame
The Winning Hand: West End Times Article - October 24, 2009
Fact: Until mid-year 1993, gambling in any public forum was illegal and punishable with jail time under The Quebec Criminal Code.
Miraculously, in September 1993, when the Casino De Montréal opened its doors, not only was gambling suddenly legal, it was glorified, sexified and was touted as sheer entertainment.
How can gambling have gone from a criminal offense to a legalized pastime?
Simple; the government, our elected officials, found a way to make money off its already overtaxed population.
Since Bugsy Siegel got Las Vegas going in the 40’s and 50’s, it became no secret that gamblers ‘lose’. Now, if gamblers lose, one must deduce that casino operators (government) ‘win’.
One cannot possibly think or believe that our government has its citizen’s best interests at heart. Let’s face it, we all know that, sooner or later, prostitution and/or legalizing drugs is not too far away once the same government figures out a way to make money.
The mere fact that since the first Loto Québec prize was handed out in March 1970, until today, lotteries and the casinos have blossomed into a 6 billion dollar industry in our province alone.
According to Quebec statistics, there are almost 60 000 compulsive gamblers. Of that number, the vast majority of pathological gamblers lie, cheat, steal and commit crimes to feed their habit.
Crime itself has been on the rise in this province with much of its growth due to loan-sharking for the purposes of gambling and gambling debts. These crimes can include passing bad checks, embezzlement, forgery, insurance fraud, robbery or assault, office theft, credit card theft, Ponzi schemes and credit card debt (people borrowing money with no intention of ever paying it back).
Gambling often leads to destroying families, which, of course, is the biggest crime possible.
To gamble, one needs money. And when a pathological gambler finds himself without funds, he’ll resort to anything, including crime.
Prosecutors and the judicial system in general, are getting tougher and tougher on white collar crimes committed for gambling reasons, which is somewhat hypocritical seeing as how it is the same provincial government that allows the lotteries and casinos to have it in the first place.
Here’s a crazy thought: Loto Québec loves taking pictures of its winners and use them for advertising promotions. Why don’t they take pictures of all the losers and hang them up and see how business will flourish. Does Kodak make enough film?
Gambling; the art of losing money legally.
I rest my case.
Fact: Until mid-year 1993, gambling in any public forum was illegal and punishable with jail time under The Quebec Criminal Code.
Miraculously, in September 1993, when the Casino De Montréal opened its doors, not only was gambling suddenly legal, it was glorified, sexified and was touted as sheer entertainment.
How can gambling have gone from a criminal offense to a legalized pastime?
Simple; the government, our elected officials, found a way to make money off its already overtaxed population.
Since Bugsy Siegel got Las Vegas going in the 40’s and 50’s, it became no secret that gamblers ‘lose’. Now, if gamblers lose, one must deduce that casino operators (government) ‘win’.
One cannot possibly think or believe that our government has its citizen’s best interests at heart. Let’s face it, we all know that, sooner or later, prostitution and/or legalizing drugs is not too far away once the same government figures out a way to make money.
The mere fact that since the first Loto Québec prize was handed out in March 1970, until today, lotteries and the casinos have blossomed into a 6 billion dollar industry in our province alone.
According to Quebec statistics, there are almost 60 000 compulsive gamblers. Of that number, the vast majority of pathological gamblers lie, cheat, steal and commit crimes to feed their habit.
Crime itself has been on the rise in this province with much of its growth due to loan-sharking for the purposes of gambling and gambling debts. These crimes can include passing bad checks, embezzlement, forgery, insurance fraud, robbery or assault, office theft, credit card theft, Ponzi schemes and credit card debt (people borrowing money with no intention of ever paying it back).
Gambling often leads to destroying families, which, of course, is the biggest crime possible.
To gamble, one needs money. And when a pathological gambler finds himself without funds, he’ll resort to anything, including crime.
Prosecutors and the judicial system in general, are getting tougher and tougher on white collar crimes committed for gambling reasons, which is somewhat hypocritical seeing as how it is the same provincial government that allows the lotteries and casinos to have it in the first place.
Here’s a crazy thought: Loto Québec loves taking pictures of its winners and use them for advertising promotions. Why don’t they take pictures of all the losers and hang them up and see how business will flourish. Does Kodak make enough film?
Gambling; the art of losing money legally.
I rest my case.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Chips are for dips...Not for casinos!
Rant 3: October 21, 2009
We walk into casinos and we exchange paper for plastic (money for chips). When is enough enough? When does the brain convince the rest of your body that it's time to go home?
Like the stock market, if people actually saw real dollar bills being lost, not paper, it would hit them on the head quicker about what they were doing. When casinos first opened, paper money was used to gamble and people went absolutely ballistic when they would lose the money they just took out of their pocket. Using chips to gamble at a casino or holding lottery tickets instead of money, takes away from what gamblers are really doing; LOSING THEIR MONEY!
One of the simplest and most effective ways of not going into gambling debt is oh so simple; like your speed on a highway, set limits. If you stick to the aforementioned theory, you can't get into trouble. When we start coming up with excuses such as 'a few more minutes', 'a few more dollars', 'a few more spins', 'a few more shoes'...the trouble is on its way. Make a limit, and stay within it. As an idea, as we have designated drivers, we should somehow appoint somebody to enforce the limiting rules you and your gambling colleagues have set forth.
Like the stock market, if people actually saw real dollar bills being lost, not paper, it would hit them on the head quicker about what they were doing. When casinos first opened, paper money was used to gamble and people went absolutely ballistic when they would lose the money they just took out of their pocket. Using chips to gamble at a casino or holding lottery tickets instead of money, takes away from what gamblers are really doing; LOSING THEIR MONEY!
One of the simplest and most effective ways of not going into gambling debt is oh so simple; like your speed on a highway, set limits. If you stick to the aforementioned theory, you can't get into trouble. When we start coming up with excuses such as 'a few more minutes', 'a few more dollars', 'a few more spins', 'a few more shoes'...the trouble is on its way. Make a limit, and stay within it. As an idea, as we have designated drivers, we should somehow appoint somebody to enforce the limiting rules you and your gambling colleagues have set forth.
Gambling...it's a killer...
Rant 2: October 21, 2009
Unbelievable! Only in Quebec can you lose thousands of dollars at the casino, take a bus to a subway station, then jump in front of the oncoming subway, and our dear friends at Lotto Quebec don't consider that a gambling-related suicide. But if you hang yourself on the coat hook on the inside of the bathroom casino door, they do consider that a gambling-related suicide, hence the government numbers issued on gambling-related suicide are not remotely close to the truth. Far too many Quebecers take their own life as the ultimate loss. Far too many Quebecers take their own life as a result of gambling. Gambling causes suicide at unacceptable rates! It is killing people daily, weekly, monthly...young people, old people, everybody! Everyone must be educated before they spend money on gambling. Like a drug, gambling brings out the worst in people, and sometimes, the ultimate...suicide.
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