The Oldest Addiction Grabs The Elderly

The Winning Hand: West End Times Article - September 5, 2009

Never mind about the Kings and Queens...what about the Bubbys and Zaides?

Never mind about the Jacks...what about the Yunkles?

Never mind about getting a Straight??...what about standing straight?

And never mind about getting a Pair??...what about eating a pear??

Last week we talked about Youth Gambling.

This week, let’s talk about Senior Gambling.

Seniors are the fasting growing groups of gamblers...even ahead of students and/or teens (according to CNN). Between 1974 and 1994, the percentage of seniors grew from 20% to a whopping 50%. According to the same sources, gambling, all and any forms such as bingo, horse racing, or going to the casino, beats out shopping and golf combined as a preferred social activity.

How could Loto Quebec and its Montreal Casino have the audacity, the shame, the nerve, to actually arrange shuttle buses to pick up senior citizens from Montreal area senior citizen homes and take them to the casino for ‘hours of fun and excitement’. If the senior citizen homes work amicably with Loto Quebec to arrange for these outings, they too, should be embarrassed and in total shame. I can tell you first hand, categorically and without a doubt, from speaking to local bank managers, that seniors on a regular basis, have been cashing out RRSPs, taking out RIF money, and withdrawing cold hard cash so that they are ready when the shuttle bus comes a calling. Once again, Loto Quebec and its casino marketing team are in brilliant high gear. They provide transportation to and fro, free and/or discounted meals, special rewards and assorted prizes that attract the older individual.

The seniors live in a world of isolation, loneliness and boredom. The casino provides a distraction to these said people.

Imagine certain casinos send birthday cards as if Loto Quebec really cares when it’s their birthday.

Seniors, as a whole, do not understand addiction, and more often than not, are shy and/or ignorant to seek help.

Again, as with any gambler, the tell tale signs of seniors with gambling problems may be loss of interest or participation in the homes’ activities, boredom, blocks of time unaccounted for, possessions missing, or a general change in their attitude and personality.

What seniors fail to realize is that when their money is lost through gambling, it is almost impossible to replace, as they are no longer, as a rule, in the active work force.

Our federal and provincial governments have a public responsibility to prevent seniors from losing their life savings, as they have a responsibility to be public watchdogs against adolescent smoking.

Gambling can easily become a problem to some people later in life as a result of losing a loved one or a drastic change in health. The senior relies on gambling as a way of dealing with any and all problems and instant gratification.

All of the above makes for, in my opinion, a horrible cocktail, as a way to pass one’s remaining years.

Quebec Government Running our Casinos akin to Pedophiles Running a Babysitting Service

The Winning Hand: West End Times Article - August 29, 2009

What’s next Virginia? Santa Clause really does exist?

Wake up, people, wake up!

Our government...your government...the people’s government, care about gambling addiction as much as the SAQ cares about how much you drink. (Another government-run department)

Our kids don’t have the right books in school. Our kids don’t have enough books in school. School room ceilings have paint falling on the floor. There are potholes in Montreal the size of Rhode Island. There are pieces of bridges that fall more often than leaves in September.

Come on people...wake up...

We are a province of 6 million people with only 1.3 million of us working and paying taxes; the same province that does just over 4 billion at the Loto Quebec level.

Where is the money, people? Where is the money?

And we, as a society, keep on going to one of Quebec’s 4 casinos? We keep buying Loto tickets week after week after week.

We play Mise-O-Jeux with the hopes of winning a whopping 32 dollars.

Wake up, people, wake up...

I have dreams (perhaps nightmares) that the billions of dollars being taken in by our government must be in a massive war chest tucked away somewhere in Quebec City.

Truth be told, chances are, I bet it’s being wasted on bureaucratic nonsense.

I have travelled the world, and there is no greater place to live and raise a family than right here in Montreal. However, if our politicians weren’t as useless and crooked as they are, Montreal could be the best city on planet earth, and Quebec could be the greatest province.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on a department they call L’Office Québécois de la Langue Française is acceptable, but a 4 billion dollar lottery intake can’t open beds in hospitals or man the operating rooms without having patients wait months and months.

If somebody, if anybody, could tell us where every dollar goes from Loto-Québec, and explained to Mr. And Mrs. Taxpayer what the real story is, I would love to listen.

Here is my idea to gamble for free: Drive along The Boulevard and try not to hit a pothole. Drive under bridges for hours at a time and hope that nothing falls on your car. Take yourself to the Emergency Room at any of the Montreal area hospitals and see if you can get in and out under a couple of hours.

C-difficile really stands for ‘Casino-Difficile’. And we, as an educated city and province, day after day, give them more business? After-taxed dollars? Nacht

Look, we have to buy gasoline. We know we’re getting screwed. We know there’s collusion between oil companies. But we have no choice. We know how much money per gallon (litres to you young folk) is taxes. But to spend after-tax dollars at the casino is utterly and completely ridiculous.

Let’s use Loto-Québec (casinos, 6-49 etc.) for the real purpose for which it exists: simple fun. A few dollars here and there, to the average Canadian who can afford it, is fine.

Compulsive gambling isn’t. Addictive gambling isn’t. Pathological gambling isn’t.

We need programs to help these people.

We need money to help these people.

We need people to help these people.

The lottery business in Quebec, or anywhere in the world, for that matter, should be privately run, and pay its share of taxes based on profit, with the understanding that ‘X’ percent of revenues goes toward helping the addicts of their industry.

We have heard for years and years how much smoking has cost the province in lost productivity and what it has cost our healthcare system. Do we ever hear that about Loto-Québec or the SAQ?

If the government has the right to meddle into the tobacco industry, then why doesn’t private industry have the right to meddle into the gambling industry?

(Pretty good point, huh?)

Certainly, with a 4 billion dollar intake, there must be money, more money, available to help those that can’t help themselves. The SPCA does it...

You 'Bet' There Is A Problem

The Winning Hand: West End Times Article - August 15, 2009

Gambling: An ugly word that conjures up images of smokey underground poker rooms, guys that haven't changed their clothes in days, warm beer and loan sharks abundant.

Gaming: A new, and glamorous word that conjures up images of fine dining, beautifully appointed casinos and a new and acceptable lifestyle of the millennium.

The truth: We as a society continue to chase the elusive dream to make money, and to live a life of fantasy, which, may, in fact, find us in trouble. We are, in fact, too smart o subscribe to those theories. Gambling is, and should be, a harmless pastime strictly for enjoyment.

Gaming/Gambling is a heinous, horrifying and addictive pastime that has ruined peoples’ lives, killed the family unit, helped the rate of suicides climb drastically and have put people’s dreams and hopes on hold, possibly forever.

You CANNOT win at gambling.

When this statement resonates with one’s mind and is clearly understood, we as a society will be in much better shape mentally, physically, morally and certainly, financially.

Sure, playing poker with the guys (and women) and buying the odd 2 dollar 6/49 Loto ticket is fine. It’s like buying and snacking on the odd chocolate bar. But it’s not OK 5 at a time!

Moderation is the answer. Everything in life is about moderation.

Your greatest strength is you. Use it. Don't abuse it! Know what you are doing and the end result of what may happen.

Gambling is as old a pastime as playing cards themselves. When fun turns into destruction, lying, cheating and night-time sweats, there is a problem.

Anxiety and all that comes with it, isn't worth the temporary high that is associated with gambling. It just isn't.

There are no windows in casinos so you don't know what’s doing outside. There is a cooler than average temperature inside the casino to keep players more awake and eager to play. There are garish and plain, old, ugly, and busy carpeting to ensure people don't look down but see the tables and machines continually and make you want to play. There are slot machines (VLTs) that make a sound in the musical key of "C" which is scientifically known as the most pleasing sound to the human ear. There are coupons for dining that cost players 50 bucks to play and lose so they are entitled to a 4 dollar free hamburger. The "high-roller" (definition: those who risk far more than the average and who inevitably lose far more than the average) who is given a "free" weekend valued at anywhere from $1000 to $2000 providing he/she plays a couple of hours a day, and drops $3000 to $5000 or more. Great!

Six hundred dollars for a diet coke. Does this make sense?

Truth is, I am jealous. The marketing and sales team for worldwide casinos do a fantastic job of getting bodies into their buildings. The only problem is, among many, is that families end up losing their homes, children go unfed, marriages breakup and college funds go depleted. But hey, isn't gambling fun?

Gambling isn't going anywhere. It’s an approximate 30 billion dollar industry in Canada alone. Stop pointing fingers. Stop blaming. Stop the bleeding hearts. Start educating, the gambling uneducated population. What we have learned about cigarette smoking the last 25 years, we must learn about the pros and cons of gambling.

Do Canadians like to gamble? You bet.