The gambling industry makes tens of billions of dollars every year, robbing the pockets of the willful degenerates. Nothing new in it.
But, have you ever wondered what kind of people visit the casinos and what excessive and abusive approach to gambling can do their lives? I mean how it ruins them as people. For example, a few believe that betting higher per spin can help one win, which it doesn’t.
What better way to find out than from the horse’s mouth.
There was a popular thread a few years ago on Reddit that asked people working in the casino industry to share the horrible stories of their patrons. You’d be surprised, how much drama it entailed. It had replies from both the professionals and the regular casino goers.
So, I chose a few stories and am summarizing them below. But, I recommend you go ahead and read that thread as much as you can. It has over 4.2K comments. It’s massive.
Warning: These stories are heavy. So, don’t read them if you can’t handle such topics.
We can’t take your pants, Sir
A guy goes to a casino with his Uncle, who seems to have little control over his emotions. He started playing Blackjack, only to lose everything he had in his savings account, plus he maxed out his credit cards too.
Once he realized it was over for him, stood up and went to the bathroom. Few minutes later returns with no pants on. Throws them right on the table and says “The Pant Plays.” The dealer probably flabbergasted, says “We can’t take your pants, Sir.” His Uncle replies back saying “Why not, you took everything else from me!”
The floor manager comes about and asks both guys to leave. Not sure if he went back to the same casino again.
My mom passed away so I’m going to double her inheritance
A truck driver’s mother died, leaving him an inheritance of $30,000 in cash. This is actually great news for him because this man has 4 kids, a lovely caring wife, and now they have the money to put down on a house, they always wanted to buy. This $30K gift would come a long way.
But wait a minute. Big things come for people who take great risks. So, this genius decides to triple her money fast. Because a.) why not? and b.) he can probably buy the house outright. Yep, this happened over 15 years ago, so purchasing a nice home for $100K wasn’t out of the question.
Here’s a small thing though. The only plan he had to achieve this monumental task was to head out to a casino and lay it all out. After all, when would his self-proclaimed super Blackjack playing skills come to fruition.
He sits at a Blackjack table, and immediately starts showing the world his skills. Along the way, he keeps remembering the great time he had with his mom, occasionally tearing up a bit during play (emo much). He’s also got a big heart, tips the cocktail waitresses $25 each every time they bring him a drink. Gets unrecognizably wasted.
Two hours or so later; he loses the entire $30k.
Well done son.
He’s mega nervous now.
He didn’t tell his wife; so she has no idea the money is gone. Then, he gets up and walks out towards his car, but someone in the casino informs the police about his intoxication, which gets him arrested for DUI right outside the casino.
Now, his mom died, he lost all her money, probably would be getting divorced and also stamping his record with a DUI charge.
All in a matter of a couple of hours.
The Parking Garage Jump
A man walks into a casino, not overly happy about his life. But, he hasn’t got it too bad either. The wife still loves him. He’s got money in the bank. Just that he can’t control his habit of non-stop gambling.
He goes to the casino, plays for a few hours and then heads back to his car, that’s parked on the 4th story of a Parking Garage. About 30 minutes later, he jumps off the floor, ending his life.
The police find a note in his car, that states that he lost everything, all his money in the bank, all the savings he and his wife had, even the college fund for his kids.
Stealing wallets to play poker
A man works security at a casino. He sees an elderly lady play poker every day. He doesn’t know whether she wins occasionally, or what her status is financially.
Then one day she comes in happy. Sits at a poker table. About an hour or so later, gets up completely depressed. Apparently she lost everything.
And also lost her mind (due to the shock of it all) during the process.
Instead of walking out of casino, she just passes by random people and starts stealing their wallets and purses.
The security obviously caught her on the camera. Went straight up to her and asked for her ID, which she refused to provide. Then the police arrived asked her to comply. She wouldn’t and began threatening them, telling them off too.
Then the police gave her one last chance to walk out or they’d be doing this the hard way. She chose option B, the force. They had to carry her, while she was kicking and screaming.
Later they found out that she was 63 and had lost everything to gambling.
Gas Station Beat Down
A man comes out of prison after many months. Decides to have a good time with his homies and goes out for the night. They all end up at a casino.
The guy decides to play some Blackjack. So they all sit at a table. Initially things goes smooth, as he wins a few hundred dollars. Then, like always he begins to lose. And lose bad. Not only him, but his prison buddies too.
They are seriously pissed off at the dealer, as if it was all his fault and that he was rigging the cards in the house’s favor. They walk out, instead of creating a scene and wait for him to finish his shift.
The poor guy comes out after work, drives his car off to a nearby gas station. The goons follow him there. As he’s filling up the gas, he gets jumped by these guys, nearly beaten to death.
Luckily a beat down was all these prison mates were looking for and as they sped off.
Seems pretty unlucky for a dealer who’s always lucky at the tables.
Cruise ships and life boats
So this man worked at an Asian cruise ship frequented by the Chinese tourists a lot. As a Casino Host, he was sort of in charge of the floor, as an added responsibility.
One day he saw a young Chinese woman playing the slots. It all started out well, she was talking to other guests and she played on. The guy just went about his business. When he returned a few hours later, he spotted her again (many hours had passed and she was still at it). He began monitoring her, only to find out that she would talk to random strangers sitting next to her, then for some reason start crying, and then spinning again.
This scene disturbed him a lot, so he went straight up to her, and asked her what was wrong. The answer wasn’t a surprise. She told him that she had completely emptied her credit cards and even the cash she had on hand for the cruise trip.
The guy then immediately banned her from the casino to stop her from doing any further harm to herself. She was escorted out, as she was crying, thinking about what she’d just done. How she blew all her life away within a few hours.
Later his own peers informed him that the Chinese cruise ships always tend to keep their life boats half lowered because many of their Asian guests have the tendency to jump overboard, after going through heavy losses on the slot machines.
Right I better stop now.
I know it’s depressing, but it’s important for you to read such stories to get a wider perspective on the horrors of having a bazooka-like attitude towards gambling.
Remember, you can always play another day. Don’t let a $100 loss turn into a $10,000 fiasco.
You must crush your ego to zero, if you want to enjoy gambling as a mode of entertainment once in a while.
Stay chill, else you’d go nil.