Senior Gambling Addicts? You bet!

[ringmastery]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/8232840.htm

Senior gambling addicts? You bet

One out of every 20 seniors in Florida has a gambling problem, according to a survey.

BY KEVIN DEUTSCH

[e-mail]

Slot machines hypnotized Mary Cano.

For hours at a time, the 71-year old widow used to sit in front of the money-eating machines at casinos on the Seminole Reservation in Tampa, feeding them handfuls of coins, hoping she'd hit the jackpot.

The jackpot never came.

After taking out two mortgages on her house, gambling away all her savings and filing for bankruptcy, Cano finally gave up gambling in 1999. She hasn't touched a slot machine in five years.

''I lost myself in the casino,'' said Cano, who now lives in Belleair Beach, south of Clearwater.

``I lost all sense of responsibility.''

Cano's experience is not uncommon. A growing number of Florida seniors are gambling compulsively, experts say.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling, one out of every 20 Florida seniors has a gambling problem.

[burrowowl]

1. If only they would

expend their energies on birdwatching and then write to Sens and Reps that the environmental policies of Bu$h more than suck, cared about the world left to their grand and great-grand children ...
just goes to show how when young and now old, they swallowed the H. Alger myth and how starved they are of real relationships.
Gambling is going to become more and more of a problem as people can't hack it by having a decent job or pension ... gambling does increase in times of hopelessness.

[Systematic Chaos]

2. My mother was a big-time compulsive gambler

I have firsthand experience of just how insidious compulsive gambling can be by watching her behavior over the years. It's disgusting and it's a horrible problem, no doubt about it.

[gorrister]

3. sad

they have these bus tours that take seniors to Atlantic City. Most seniors barely have enough money to pay for the basics, let alone gambling. But I guess by going to the casinos and spending some money, they're helping to stimulate the economy (at least that's what Dubya might say).

[hang a left]

4. I suffer from multiple addictions.

You name it I've been hooked on it. Alcohol, drugs (as a kid)I am in recovery now though. Cigarettes, caffeine, food, DU. I am just obsessive and compulsive. I love to gamble. The thing about gambling is that there is a certain high that is produced while partaking, it is hard to describe. It is kind of like an adrenaline rush for those that are afflicted. It has never affected my life negatively like alcohol did, but I can totally relate to those who lose themselves in the obsession.

[ClintonTyree]

5. My neighbor..............

across the street. Her husband died a year ago and she is rapidly spending her inheritance at casinos and bingo parlors. Every day, she's gambling somewhere around here.
Maybe that's her way of coping with her loss, but I hate to see her go broke because of it. Florida preys upon Seniors with gambling problems, offering "Free" cruises offshore, Seminole casinos, and they just opened a new Hard Rock casino (on Indian land) near Tampa.
One more way to separate usually sane people from their money.