Letter: Casino doesn't show flip side of coin
The Firekeeper’s Casino is proud to brag about the positive impact it has had on the community. It has provided many full and part-time jobs as well as funding to local schools … blah, blah, blah.
However, what is less known is the negative impact the casino’s presence has had on the well-being of families due to the struggle with a family member’s gambling addiction.
Where are the statistics for the increase in gambling addiction in our community? I have witnessed the destruction of this addiction first hand. I watched my grandmother transform from a proud, confident person who was always there for me into a desperate, empty shell.
It is a family joke that we know where we can find her when she is not at home or answering her phone; a joke, in which no one is laughing. Family members have turned away from her one by one, tired of the arguments about overdrawn bank accounts, maxed out credit cards, and unpaid bills.
Friends and neighbors have turned away from her as well, all tired of the inevitable begging for money to pay a bill or to go “one last time” as the big hit is just one pull of the slot machine away.
The casino is quick to advertise the exuberant person who just won $20,000! But where is the advertisement with the desperate face of the gambling addict who just lost their last penny?
Katie Wade
Battle Creek
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20140125/OPINION03/301250002/Letter-Casino-doesn-t-show-flip-side-coin?nclick_check=1
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