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people visit this desert city each
yea r. F irst-time visitors are often
hypnotized by its plush hotels and
casinos. What must be the ultimate
in spinning wheels and card shuf–
fling is the MGM G rand Hotel in
Las Vegas.
It
opened in late 1973 as
the world's largest resort hotel, cost–
ing over 100 million dollars to build.
The most expensive suite costs $800
a night. There is a prívate casino on
the 26th ftoor for gamblers willing
to lay out a t least $25 to $2,000 on
each bet. Americans, Mexicans and
even wealthy Chinese from Hong
Kong fty in for the prestige and ac–
tion on the 26th ftoor. Roulette,
blackjack a nd 1,000 slot machines
keep the average gambler busy in
the main casino on the ground ftoor.
It is becoming increas ingly easy
for people to " be where the action
is." But what of the lives of sorne of
those who return from the land of
whirring slot mach ines and clacking
dice?
The Compulsive Gambler
For sorne, gambling involves the
occas ional $2 bet. But for the person
who becomes a compulsive gambler,
life is a world of bookies, loan
sharks, bad checks, embezzlement
and sometimes suicide.
In the United Sta tes alone, the
Ja test estímate is tha t nearly 10 mil–
Jion people fa ll into the category of
compulsive gamblers. In addition,
another fi ve people a re alfected in
one way or another by each com–
pulsive gambler.
The magnitude of the problem
became so appa rent tha t on Sep–
tember 13, 1957, Gamblers Anony–
mous was established to help those
addicted to tbis habit. Anyone who
attends a mee ting of Gamblers
Anonymous* will hea r stori es of
wrecked Jives, broken homes, huge
debts and assorted tales of misery.
Incredible stories are told of the
hold gambling has had on people's
lives.
A typical Gamblers Anonymous
*Gamblers Anonymous, National Service
Office, P.O. Box 17173, Los Angeles, Ca li–
fornia,
U
.S.A.
PLAIN TRUTH
September
1974
meeting starts in this manner: "My
name is Jim. I am a compulsive
gambler. " His comrades in misery
applaud . Jim tben relates a heart–
breaking story of a broken home,
$ 15,000 in debts and a hopeless fu–
ture. Loan sha rks were seeking bim
out, and his wife ended up in the
hospital wi th a nervous breakdown.
Tbe rest of bis story has a familiar
ring. He tells of being convinced
th at the " big score" was coming to–
morrow. Then he would buy his
wife everything she wanted . There
would be a world tour, the best
clothes, etc. But as is true in most
cases, that tomorrow never carne.
A second compulsive gambler
According to the Family Service As–
sociation of Boston, gambling ad–
diction figures prominen tly in one
out of every twenty marriage-coun–
seling cases it handles. Sorne of
tbese m a rri age break ups ha ve
started a t the racetrack.
Though horse raci ng has been
caBed the sport of kings, it has made
many paupers. Despite the odds, the
gambler continues to bet the long
shot hoping for that miracle - not
admitting that tbe odds are stacked
against him. He is convinced tha t he
will wi n
j ust because he wants to.
Many bet a great deal more than
they can alford. Comedian and
borseplaye r
loe
E. Lewis made this
"During a desert rain storm it /ooked /ike the Showboat
[gambling casino] was going to float downstream. But people
continued to gamble while standing in water two feet deep.
lt was unbelievable. In any other business, patrons might
have panicked trying to get out. We cut the power when water
began reaching electrical outlets
. ..
but sorne people
stayed and played the s/ot machines, which
were not electrical/y operated.
. . . "
-
A Las Vegas casino executive
told of selling pints of his blood so
he could bave one more fting at the
dice. Anotber recalls how he ab–
sconded witb tbe money for bis
father's funeral and blew it on the
horses. One man even sold the door
off his car for $3 to continue to
gamble.
A man named Ha rry relates this
account o f his battle with gambling:
" In one day alone, I lost $2,000 on
horses and dice. I didn' t care
whether my wife and kids lived or
died . I had to make my bets." When
Harry finally joined Gamblers
Anonymous and had quit gambling,
bis $ 100,000-a-year business had
just $200 in the till.
To the compulsive gambler, the
comment made sometime ago by
odds-maker Nick tbe Greek says it
all : "The next best tbing to playing
and winning is playing and losing.
The main thing is to play."
Personal ruin, both fina ncially
and in fa rnily life, is widespread in
the sphere of a compulsive gambler.
comment : "1 bope I break even
today.
1
need the money."
Few gamblers, however , have
achieved that goal of breaking even.
Most end up trying to put their sha t–
tered lives back together aga in.
But What
lf
You Win?
In Brazil, a thriving sports lottery
has taken the country by storm. This
get-rich-quick appeaJ has made the
Brazilian Jottery one of the fastest–
growing gambling operations in the
world . Surveys reveal that the aver–
age bettor spends an astonishing 8
percent of his income on Jottery
tickets. People sit glued to thei r ra–
dios to hear the results of a soccer
game. A few win, but it has often
proved to be a rnixed blessing.
One example of a big winner was
a laundry woman in a Sao Paulo
slum who won more than $ 100,000.
She then found herself so besieged
by friends, salesmen and thieves
that she turned over the cash to a
bank and d isappeared.
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