I didn’t watch last night’s game against with the New England Patriots going against the undefeated Indianapolis Colts. We do not have a TV and neither does the family who invited my wife and me to a turkey dinner. I’m glad I didn’t watch the game as it would have given me heartburn and deprived me of more worthy conversation about the Faith and the best way to cook a turkey. Thanksgiving, I’m afraid, will be anti-climactic after that delicious meal. But wait, they didn’t have dressing. Yes, I can still look forward to that. Dressing (a la mashed potatoes and peppercorn gravy in the mix) is, or it certainly ought to be, a once-a-year only experience.
This afternoon I was reading a critical article by researcher, Maura Casey, about the devastating consequences that often result from an addiction to gambling. Her article can be found on the First Things website. I’ve known a few people who had this addiction, but somehow they managed to keep the lethal consequences (spiritual and physical) within their own family. This study of Casey’s was an eye-opener for someone like myself who thought little about this vice because it never entered into his own personal experience. I never lived anywhere near a casino or a racetrack, so the closest I came to games of chance was the local convenience store. Losing ten bucks on scratch tickets depressed me enough to keep me away from such things for a year. Not that I was “Mr. Frugality” — hardly — I mean, when I wasted money I’d waste it on other addictions, but giving it away to the state with such small odds of any profit made me shun the lottery more than I shun olives and anchovies. I hated the reality of losing money in the light more than I craved the unreality of maybe winning it in the dark. Besides, the only people who win when they gamble — and they are a small lot — are people who’ve inherited those particular genes. It’s not a matter of luck; it’s a matter of blood.
Seriously, this excellent article is a must read if you know anyone addicted to gambling. The writer is speaking about people she knew, about cases she’d read about, about demographics and associated suicide rates, drunk driving fatalities, broken families, lost careers, and lives spent in debt, being so many times more prevalent wherever there are such dens of mammon. She cites the onslaught of the slot machine, and how it accustoms people, especially women and the elderly, to blow it all away and waste their golden years sitting before this money-sucking vacuum. Yes, some folks win money, and go home happy, but not the addicts. Their losses are incalculable, and on many fronts.
Another myth is that it provides jobs for the unemployed. It doesn’t, not in the long run. Rather, local businesses more often go under wherever casinos appear. Why? Because the casinos provide all services within their own kachink-kachink empire — enter the indoor casino mall, goodbye local retailers and restaurants.
I will just mention one other of the corrosive effects of this vice, something I never would have thought of, hadn’t it come up repeatedly in the statistics. The crime rate grows commensurately, especially crimes of violent robberies, wherever there are casinos. Just as desperate drug addicts will pull a gun on a convenience store clerk to get drug money, so will a down and out debtor who gets himself in such a seemingly hopeless plight.
On a lighter note there is good gambling, the kind that goes with strategy in sports, especially football. Bill Belichick took a gamble in last night’s game. The Patriots were up by six and there was a little over two minutes left to play. They were on their own twenty-eight yard line. It was fourth down, and they had two yards to go for a first. Kick it away and deal with “Mr. Comeback,” Peyton Manning, with his three time outs left? Or, go for it; get the two yards; and seal the victory. Coach Belichick gambled and lost. The Colts won by one point 35-34. I’m a Pats fan, but, on the other hand, Manning is named after the Family Rosary priest, Father Patrick Peyton.
