The Internet

There are good things and bad things associated with the internet. One of the good things is the amount of information there is available on just about any subject (this could also be a bad thing depending on your point of view). Also; you can communicate with people whom you may never ever had a chance of reaching. Today I read an editorial regarding the casinos that are going into Pennsylvania. Calling them casinos is a little bit of a misnomer because these casinos will only have video devices. I don't know if they will be strictly video poker or a combination of slots, video lottery terminals, etc.. Here is the editorial I read click here. It is a fascinating editorial because the writer's point of view is so strong. I sent an email to the writer of the article commending his stance and he replied to me with his 43 page proposal for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on how to make casinos "safer".

As it turns out I read through some of this report and it really isn't too bad. At first I thought he was opposed to casinos as a religious issue. Not so; he is a compulsive gambler that lost his family and his business to the casinos in Atlantic City. He wrote a book called "Comped" and his name is Bill Kearney. By the way if anyone is interested please email me and I will send out the report. He pointed out in this report on how casino executives aren't allowed to gamble in their own facility and Atlantic City takes it a step further stating they cannot gamble in any casino in Atlantic City. He found this to be a very "peculiar" rule.

When I was doing the interview for the Al Roker production on compulsive gambling the producer asked me this same question and I really couldn't come up with a good answer. I didn't think the Casino Gaming Control Boards or Gaming Commissions were "protecting" their employees by not allowing them to participate in gambling on their own property. I always thought it was a perception standard to keep employees from cheating or colluding with one another. I still believe this to be the case; however; there maybe a snippet of truth to the earlier point of not having the casino employees engaged in the activity of gambling as a way of protecting them. There is another however, casino employees are more susceptible to become compulsive gamblers than any other sector. I think this is fascinating because when I look at myself I always thought I was better and smarter than everyone else even when the signs of compulsive gambling were all around me. I would never truly look at myself and say I was a compulsive gambler I thought I could do it better than the whole world. Oh how wrong I was!!

Maybe being in the casino business had something to do with my years of denial. How could I be a compulsive gambler when I would see the signs in other people so clearly yet I couldn't look at myself. Only when the crap hit the fan did I finally succumb to the fact that I am and will always be a compulsive gambler. My self deception was so deep I had to have a building fall on me to finally realize I was delusional. Now I am no longer delusional I am finally doing something about it and no it is not too late no matter what happens to me I am breaking the chains of my compulsive gambling and most importantly I am being truthful with myself.