How Casinos Enable Gambling Addicts

OrbitalDawn

OrbitalDawn

Ulysses Everett McGill
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Modern slot machines develop an unbreakable hold on many players—some of whom wind up losing their jobs, their families, and even, as in the case of Scott Stevens, their lives.

On the morning of Monday, August 13, 2012, Scott Stevens loaded a brown hunting bag into his Jeep Grand Cherokee, then went to the master bedroom, where he hugged Stacy, his wife of 23 years. “I love you,” he told her.

Stacy thought that her husband was off to a job interview followed by an appointment with his therapist. Instead, he drove the 22 miles from their home in Steubenville, Ohio, to the Mountaineer Casino, just outside New Cumberland, West Virginia. He used the casino ATM to check his bank-account balance: $13,400. He walked across the casino floor to his favorite slot machine in the high-limit area: Triple Stars, a three-reel game that cost $10 a spin. Maybe this time it would pay out enough to save him.

It didn’t. He spent the next four hours burning through $13,000 from the account, plugging any winnings back into the machine, until he had only $4,000 left. Around noon, he gave up.

Stevens, 52, left the casino and wrote a five-page letter to Stacy. A former chief operating officer at Louis Berkman Investment, he gave her careful financial instructions that would enable her to avoid responsibility for his losses and keep her credit intact: She was to deposit the enclosed check for $4,000; move her funds into a new checking account; decline to pay the money he owed the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas; disregard his credit-card debt (it was in his name alone); file her tax returns; and sign up for Social Security survivor benefits. He asked that she have him cremated.

He wrote that he was “crying like a baby” as he thought about how much he loved her and their three daughters. “Our family only has a chance if I’m not around to bring us down any further,” he wrote. “I’m so sorry that I’m putting you through this.”
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Rest in link. Scary stuff.
 
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What an inconsiderate idiot. Firstly, why would you waste your money on slots when poker is an actual game of skill. Secondly, go to rehab rather than put your family through hell.
 
Need to shut down liquor stores...they enable alcoholics.

Need to close restaurants...fast food places, hide the utensils...they enable over eaters.

Need to cancel all sports as they enable sports betters :)

/s

Not the casinos fault. The guy is solely responsible for his actions
 
crackersa said:
Need to shut down liquor stores...they enable alcoholics.

Need to close restaurants...fast food places, hide the utensils...they enable over eaters.

Need to cancel all sports as they enable sports betters :)

/s

Not the casinos fault. The guy is solely responsible for his actions
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and yet cigarette commercials and advertising are banned, go figure, if you think that any thing you have mentioned is less hazardous then you really need a reality check.While 6 million die a year from smoking related complications, 2.5 million people die from alcohol related complications this is according to WHO.
 
Bryn said:
What an inconsiderate idiot. Firstly, why would you waste your money on slots when poker is an actual game of skill. Secondly, go to rehab rather than put your family through hell.
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Clearly you have no grasp of what addiction can do to a person.
 
Casinos are designed to be money pits, look at the design. Loud flashy lights, no clocks, oxygen pumped in, incentives like free drinks, quick easy places to get chips etc...
 
I heard once that addiction programs have more success rehabilitating alcoholics than gamblers. Its a serious addiction that I have seen destroy many lives. Personally I think the whole industry should be banned as they prey on people who have addictive personalities and low level of self control. If they where only destroying themselves it would be one thing but gamblers often end up causing a lot of calleteral damage in the form of family, employers they rob, etc.
 
crackersa said:
Need to shut down liquor stores...they enable alcoholics.

Need to close restaurants...fast food places, hide the utensils...they enable over eaters.

Need to cancel all sports as they enable sports betters :)

/s

Not the casinos fault. The guy is solely responsible for his actions
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+1

Not sure why some like to shift the blame so the people that made bad decisions don't have to take responsibility for their actions.
 
Bryn said:
What an inconsiderate idiot. Firstly, why would you waste your money on slots when poker is an actual game of skill. Secondly, go to rehab rather than put your family through hell.
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This. Never gamble with money you can't afford to lose.

Never assume you can beat the house.

Also it should be common knowledge by now how slots are programmed to take advantage of people psychologically. They pay out a little every now and again to give you false hope.
So you spend more and more.

As for poker being the only game of skill I'd like to add black Jack to that list too :)
 
Cius said:
I heard once that addiction programs have more success rehabilitating alcoholics than gamblers. Its a serious addiction that I have seen destroy many lives. Personally I think the whole industry should be banned as they prey on people who have addictive personalities and low level of self control. If they where only destroying themselves it would be one thing but gamblers often end up causing a lot of calleteral damage in the form of family, employers they rob, etc.
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LOL. So alcohol, smoking and every single other addiction doesn't cause collateral damage??

People need to take responsibility for their actions.
 
No different to the people who play the stock market or speculate on currency.

From the article:
A significant portion of casino revenue now comes from a small percentage of customers, most of them likely addicts
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Which actually means the vast majority of people who gamble do not have a problem.
 
Slots are actually a perfect example of something called a 'skinner box'.

Extra Credits on Youtube did an excellent episode on skinner boxes if anyone is interested.
 
I think the casinos doing everything legally possible to increase usage of their facilities is simply good business, no?
 
Not and opinion but a little story.

A good few years ago I worked as a paramedic at a large casino. In the wee hours of one morning we (two of us) were called to the smoking slots for a collapse. We arrived to find a lady, in her 50's, lying on the floor. We did the basics, moved her to the sick bay and did a few other tests (ECG, HGT etc.). Nothing out of the ordinary was found, she was awake (bawling her eyes out) and wanted to go leave.

Her spouse wanted nothing (He had some colourful words as to what she must do) to do with her as she had just been paid and blew her paycheck once again (He had recently been retrenched as well). Eventually a family member came to fetch her.

According to the casino it happened quite often.

~fin~
 
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