This week, my fellow Observers, I had to remind myself (again) that I have been instructed all my life to respect my elders. Although my wife points out continually that I am not all that far away from joining those ranks, I'm not quite there yet and still have demonstrate a certain amount of restraint when it comes to the geriatric generation. Especially when they're in front of me on line at my local gas station playing Lotto. We've all been there, haven't we? Waiting patiently just to put our twenty on pump 2 while the cryptkeeper in front of you is playing their 10 Lotto cards, 15 Powerball, 20 Mega Millions, rattling off numbers at the cashier (that your amazed is keeping up) for Cash 5, Play Three, Play Four, (daily and nightly, mind you) and Lucky for Life, straight, dollar backup and boxed. Is it just me or is this just as annoying (if not more) than the parent with the screaming kid at K-mart that didn't get the La La Loopsie doll she wanted? Or maybe that guy ahead of you that picked up twenty items out of six different department's clearance bins with nineteen of them missing their price tags?... Price check on.... infinity and beyond! Whatever the case, your in it for the duration. Might as well pick up that pamphlet for the local farm market/ church social/ meet and greet coming up this weekend and have a good read while you wait your turn.
Back to the gambling granny. Has anybody else noticed that our senior citizens seem to make up most of these line stopping offenders? Not only at the local convenience store but every butt in the bucket seats, sipping on a Seabreeze at the casino slot machines seems to be of the elderly persuasion.... and their smoking too! How is this possible? We constantly hear about how financially hard our seniors have it. We've all been told through ads and news reports how the elderly have to choose between their prescriptions and food, heat or rent or medical care. So where is all this extra money coming from for scratchies and smokes? Slots and Seagram's? Maybe it's just me, but you might be able to afford your blood pressure meds if you didn't take a bus trip with your Canasta club once a week to Ledyard. I could be wrong though.....
Now, although I have been picking on our Centrum silver generation, gambling problems are not limited to Ma & Pa Kettle from the local assisted living community. Plenty of twenty-somethings and middle aged people have been bitten by the "get rich quick" bug just as bad. I've known quite a few of the fore mentioned in my life that have blown their rent or mortgage on a card game, casino, or lottery because they actually thought they would win. I have to admit that I, myself, have been guilty of spending some of my last few dollars on a scratch ticket chance to win a few more bucks and make getting to payday a little easier. But alas, we find out the hard way that hope turns to loss more often than not with the scratch of a coin, the pull of a lever or the turn of a card. But we do it anyway... for the chance... the possibility of becoming rich.... or at least better off than we were a minute ago. That's why it's so easy to get hooked.
According to most studies, gambling is right up at the top of the addiction list with smoking, alcohol and drugs. If the data is correct (and we all know it is) then where are all the public service ads helping us to understand the ongoing problem? We've all seen the "truth" ads along with Terry with her missing jaw and voice box, Ruth with her lung tube and the new one telling us that although most of us find flatulence humorous, colostomy bags are no joke. All to warn us of the dangers smoking. How about the one where guitars and cars are burning up and turning to ash to inform us of the cost of smoking. Then there are the ads with camouflaged cops coming out of building walls and landscapes telling us we won't get away with drinking and driving because they'll see us before we see them. The endless MADD spots we endured making us feel guilty for the senseless loss of life on our highways and byways. And who could ever forget the unforgettable "This is your brain on drugs" campaign that taught all us adolescents how to fry an egg while "just saying no" to make Nancy Regan happy. Why don't we ever see an ad with Larry "The Loser" taking out a second mortgage on his house just to drop it at Foxwoods? Or maybe Lucy "The Luckless" selling her blood to get her daily scratch ticket fix? You never see that, do you? You never will either. The reason you ask? One word, my loyal reader. Money. Gambling is a pretty big money maker for the states that have some form of legalized gambling. Be it at the Dairy Mart or the casino gambling brings in billions every year to the general fund and pays out very little to the gamblers. Although the lottery organization in Connecticut claims that 61% of every dollar brought in goes to prizes and only 28% goes to the general fund, what they don't tell you is that a lot of prizes go unclaimed. Just last year over 800 million in unclaimed prizes was reported and guess who gets to keep that money. With that information in mind you can see how that 61% figure is vague at best.
Another thing that all these potential millionaires in the lotto line, waiting to slap down that one dollar (or more) bet, don't get is how much the odds are stacked against them. For example: Winning the Powerball jackpot is 1 in 176 million, Mega Millions is 1 in 259 million and Lotto is 1 in 7 million. That's just the state lottery. The state of Connecticut claims it's taken in over 8 billion dollars for the general fund since the lottery started in the seventies. That figure doesn't include the state's cut from the casinos, high stakes bingo games and off track betting. Always remember and never forget that if you want to take your vices out for a stroll, your gonna have to pay the state to let you. With all this cash willingly sacrificed to the gambling gods in hopes of a miracle windfall in return up for grabs, it doesn't take a financial genius to figure out that the states want us to keep gambling. Pay attention to your TV or radio during the commercials a little more and you'll see that the only ads for gambling are the ones promoting it. I will give the state a certain amount of credit (very little though) that at least they provide the gambling addiction hotline information at every Lotto agent kiosk. As well as reminding us to "please play responsibly". Problem is that it's usually after we just watched a 30 second ad hawking their new scratch game or telling us how much the Powerball jackpot is up to this Saturday. I guess the message they are trying to convey is that we should all play Lotto, but don't get carried away... but if you do... call this number... but have you played today?.... well... have you? At least it's more than the casinos are doing. The only thing that I get out of their commercials is that I'll end up making friends with the five strangers in the elevator that's taking me to the gaming floor. Who cares if your addicted to Keno? Bring your new friends with you the next time you play.
We all have the desire to have enough money and not have to worry about our day to day expenses. To stop living paycheck to paycheck like so many of us do, provide for our children, own a home, a reliable car.... to simply not want. Most of us plug along in our careers, scrimping and saving (if we can) to get to the day that we can stop working and enjoy our remaining years without worry or need. But some just can't resist that instant one in several million chance that will provide security in a second and give them all they could ever hope for with a single bet. They live for the chance... obsess for the win and believe that it will happen to them if they just risk a little more.... just a little more. What they don't realize in their obsession is that the risk can wipe out a savings account or a college fund in as much of an instant as the tickets they buy. Big lottery or casino winners are few and far between, but we just can't help but think that it could be us. "Hey, you never know" "You can't win if you don't play" "Are you in?". Slogans like these play on our desire to slap our money down in order to hit those numbers and collect that big cash we all deserve. This scenario is a nice dream we all would like, but the hard reality of it coming true is not very like and most of us realize this. Unfortunately this realization is not sufficient enough incentive to allow our mind to stop our body from reaching for our wallets. Strictly an Observation. If you'll excuse me, I got a hot tip on a horse in the fourth.
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