Gambling / Casino Horror Stories (single, fan, scene, Lost)

[k7baixo]

One of our older retired neighbors loves to go to the casino on the reservation. It's only about 6 miles away. He'll lose a couple of hundred before he comes home. Another neighbor helps him with his finances and says that he doesn't have enough to cover his living expenses and his gambling habits and is using a credit card to supplement his losses. He makes the minimum payment on it.

[galaxyhi]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

You have to view going to casino as entertainment, and have a set amount to gamble. I personally don't know anyone who is an excessive gambler.

Exactly.
There is a casino half hour from here.
We both went and applied for new jobs there ( didn't even get a call back, they were overwhelmed with applicants on that open application day). After doing so, we wondered into the spot machine room.

There were machine s as low as a nickel a shot.

Not a one of those machines...not at any dollar amount...spoke to us and said "play me! Play me!".

So we didn't even blow a dollar on 20 chances.

Left with all our wallets pockets just as full as when we left the house.

Good thing.

But we have a friend, who is a GC and finish carpenter. He will sell his tools to get money and go gambling with it. The next day he has to go buy new power tools to do his work before he can start work.
Sad.

[Mike from back east]

Two true stories.

1. True story of the parental inlaws of my late sister. The F-I-L retired from a steel company and took his pension as all cash. Within 18 months he had spent it all in the casinos at Atlantic City, NJ. Broke. The man called a "family meeting" and told his two kids that they needed to let him and his wife live with them. The son (my sister's husband) said no. The daughter and her husband took in the parents until both parents passed.

2. Neighbor woman married a chap who owned an auto salvage yard. After a couple of years things didn't add up as to why there was never money to replace the wall to wall carpets. Turns out he was a gambler and she was able to get documents from a casino showing he had spent over $100k there. Divorce followed, her second. Two years later she committed suicide in her garage.


Gambling is one of those "OCD" things, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. OCDs often travel in groups; walk into most casinos and you can see 3-4 OCDs all wrapped up in one man on a stool before a slot machine: smoking, drinking, gambling and often times promiscuity when he hits on the cocktail waitress. Four OCDs on one barstool. This human carnage affects millions of families. Howie Mandel's germophobia is a form of OCD, as is excessive hand washing, promiscuity, constantly cleaning house, shopping, spending, lying, shoplifting, hoarding, hair pulling, skin picking, nail biting, and several others.

[Lowexpectations]

I think you are confusing OCD and addiction to some degree

[bizcuit]

There is a very good movie about a compulsive gambler starring Philip Seymour Hoffman -- Owning Mahowny. It's based on a true story.

[mtnbkr5]

Don't feel sorry for the Casinos. The rest of the folks on that Bus probably blew Thousands.[/quote]


I don't.


My son was a mechanic for a while at the Bakken oilfields in No.Dak. Every weekend there would be numerous busses from the Indian Casinos up in Manitoba. If you had an oil co. paycheck.....


Free ride, free rooms, meal and drink credits...and 150% premium on your U.S. dollars.


Two guys would sign up every weekend, take the trip, redeem the money, and.........


Watch HBO in their rooms and get the other freebies until time to leave. Deposit the money in the bank at home. Very nice getting a 20-25% bump in salary.

[flyingaway]

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

Nah, I don’t know anyone personally like that thankfully. The worst I ever did was just a stupid mistake not a painful one. I was too drunk to be gambling frankly, way too drunk, and I had $200 playing a game I didn’t even understand just because I was curious. I managed to lose the money in short order, then headed back to my room. Really stupid but I’ve wasted $200 in probably dumber ways with ill advised purchases. It was still idiotic. I don’t like gambling, I play Texas Hold ‘Em when I can and I’ve won a good deal of money compared to what I’ve invested but it’s a game of skill not chance so I don’t mind that. Just have to beat the other players solidly enough to make up for the house rake.

So if you win with playing poker, then the people who lose are "stupid", right? Why do they keep playing?

I like playing slots in casinos, which is my entertainment. I just want to spend my money to have some fun, never expected to win.

[meo92953]

Originally Posted by flyingaway

So if you win with playing poker, then the people who lose are "stupid", right? Why do they keep playing?

I like playing slots in casinos, which is my entertainment. I just want to spend my money to have some fun, never expected to win.

I haven't gambled in a long time but, when a casino opened up 30 miles from me I would go once a month or so, just for fun. I'd take a certain amount of money and when it was gone, it was gone.

Then I was in a car accident and eventually had a settlement. A large portion went to drs and the hospital and the lawyer, but there was some left for me. Thankfully I bought a decent car and some new furniture and then invested most of it. But I did keep out a few thousand for a cushion. I started doing scratch offs and lost the majority of that before I came to my senses.

Now, once in a great while I'll buy a scratch off but not often. In fact, I bought $5 worth this past week. I lost on the $3 but won $15 on the $2 so I quit with money ahead.

Gambling is addictive. It's so easy to let it ruin your life. I think the only reason I quit was because I wanted to explore the US more than I wanted to gamble.

[flyingaway]

Are there any pleasant stories about recreational gambling?

For people who know what they are doing, it is even not gambling, it is called entertainment.

[txfriend]

I seldom go to a casino, but if I go, I play blackjack at the $10 table with $500. Most of the time, I walk away with more.