Fitzgerald: Revere will lose if voters bet on casino
Monday, February 24, 2014
They came from Roxbury a generation ago and they’re among many who have shared their own victim impact statements here, never-forgotten tales of how gambling traumatized their childhoods.
Now here we are again, same story, different populace, with timid pols and high-rolling speculators licking their chops in anticipation of receiving a green light from the people of Revere, who’ll decide tomorrow whether to embrace casino gambling when they go to the polls.
The great majority of gamblers at a Revere casino would lose. That’s no bulletin. The house has to win, or the game is over.
And who do you think those losers might be? Sure, some players know their limits, and others can afford their losses, but here’s a truly safe bet: There’d be monies needed for family budgets squandered in those pots.
“Four of us were raised by my mother, supported by public assistance,” a woman from Mission Hill, now a successful lawyer, recalled. “She had such an addiction to gambling that most nights our supper consisted of one can of tomato soup mixed with three cans of water. To have a piece of bread for dipping was like having dessert.
“Shoes and sneakers were replaced only when the nuns complained.
“We had a bad enough time with her going to Bingo every night, or betting on the Spanish and Irish street numbers. You can imagine the impact on our family when the Lottery was born. It meant she could waste more of the little money we had with the greatest of ease, thanks to the state.”
Anecdotal? Please. What’s more anecdotal than the occasional story of someone you know hitting it big? That’s the exception, not the rule.
Another woman, who lived near old Jackson Square, shakes her head at the way gambling gets a free pass whenever public scourges are discussed.
“My father had a good job with Hood Milk, but loved to gamble. If he saw two cockroaches on the floor, he’d want to bet you which one would reach the wall first. He took money customers gave him, receipts that should have been brought to the plant, and gambled them away. When he was fired we went on welfare.
“I can still hear my mother calling out the window, crying, telling him we needed that welfare check for food, and he’d holler back, ‘Don’t worry; I’m going to double it for you.’ In the end he lost her, too. That’s what gambling does; it destroys whole families.”
Here’s hoping Revere, a city of families, will bet with its heart tomorrow, saying, “No, thanks.”
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/joe_fitzgerald/2014/02/fitzgerald_revere_will_lose_if_voters_bet_on_casino
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment