When we go to our local casino to play, we hope to win a little, but we expect most times our luck will not be so good, and occasionally we'll lose a bit instead. It doesn't upset us too much - our gaming comes from our recreation budget and we expect to have to pay a little for our fun. But what if we had to depend on income from the casino to live? That's what hundreds of people who ride the buses to the casino are doing every day, according to an article my son emailed me from ABCNews 7NY dated December 1.
CeFaan Kim, reported to NY readers that large groups of Asian American seniors are riding the casino buses not to gamble but to make enough to live. According to that reporter, these senior citizens pay $20 to ride the bus to Sands Casino in Bethlehem PA each day. When they arrive the casino gives each of them $45 in casino play which they then sell to other gamblers for $35 - $40 making a little money for themselves while starting the buyers off with a little extra cash to play. The journalist says that on each of the buses more than half the travelers are selling their tickets, every day, just for a little extra cash to help make ends meet. Each day 300 - 400 seniors take the long 4 hour bus ride each way to the casino, sell their vouchers, and wait another 5 hours for the next bus ride back according to the news story.
Some are homeless, according to the article. All of them live below the poverty level. Many share small one bedroom apartments with other impoverished elders because none can afford a place of their own. Is this happening in our community? I don't know. I hope not. I have never witnessed the exchange myself, but I have seen people sleeping at the machines rather than playing them. I have seen people with stacks of TITO's convert them to cash at the machines. I have had people ask me for a little money to buy something to eat. $5 means nothing to most of us - we drop that in a machine, spin the wheels a few times, and if we make nothing we shrug our shoulders and move on. We might even drop a $20 or more without thinking a thing about it. Some don't get upset losing a hundred. It's just the cost of play and it's hard to imagine these bus riders enduring these long trips for such a small amount of cash. It's hard to imagine being homeless or living in poverty.
Studies on addiction show that the nation's poorest citizens are the most prone to gambling problems -- but these seniors are not gambling, they have no money to gamble. They are just trying to make ends meet. Not everyone who rides the casino bus does it to make money, but some evidently do. This Thanksgiving/Christmas season let's all think about those elderly poor and what we might be able to do to help.
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