Wanna Bet?

The big media scrum around these parts lately has been about the VLT', aka the video lottery terminals. "Fruit Machines" some call them. There's a big hue and cry to ban them from the bars and pubs because of the rising problem of gambling addiction. And yes, it's a problem. Families are torn apart. People are in financial ruin. The provincial government is starting to bend to the will of a small group of lobbyists and is purporting to make steps to reduce the numbers of terminals an establishment is allowed to have. No outright ban. They won't do that. See the government gets the major cut of the profits from the machines and the bars get the rest and for some, that's all that's keeping them open. Supposedly. All these lives ruined by gambling addictions. Don't get me wrong, i do sympathise. But is the government doing anything about the addictions? Providing education and support? Are they heck as like! There are stickers on the machines with a toll free number for Gamblers Anonymous. And bars have brochures on the evils of gambling if anyone asks for them.

Did you know that the "Stop" button on a VLT or on a slot machine has no effect on the outcome other than to stop the spinning earlier? The winnings are all done by a computer chip inside the machine. Making it stop earlier or later isn't going to affect whether you win or not. It's all illusion made to enhance the excitement and suspense.

Ban the machines? You don't see them banning alcohol, which, when abused, is responsible for a much larger number of rack, ruin, health issues and deaths (personal and from drinking and driving) than gambling. Smokers are endangering their lives and others by second hand smoke. You don't see them being banned. The government makes huge amounts off the taxes on those two products and banning them doesn't make it go away, it just makes it go underground. And you know, they may reduce the number of machines and they might even ban them from pubs and bars but what about the casinos? Never get rid of them. You know they won't do that. Not here. Our government gets a lot of income from them and then there's all those jobs involved. Do your governments get a cut of casino and gambling profits or is it all privatized? And then even with a ban, it doesn't get rid of them all, because the First Nation reservations can still have them. Ok, there aren't too many around, granted. It's far easier to walk out your door and go to a neighbourhood bar than get in the car and drive to the casino or a reserve.

Then there's the smoking issue. Now that NS has banned smoking in the bars, unless they have specially closed off rooms, what have the establishments done? Put the machines in the smoking room! Even with ventilation, it's got to be like a smokehouse in there. So not only are you going to lose all your money and rack up huge debts, you're going to be at a higher risk for lung cancer even if you don't smoke. *sigh*

And inevitably.... A poll
( go on, take a chance )