DailySusan Humor Blog

THE $200,000 LESSON
(Second in a special series on gambling this week. Please forward this story and direct people to www.DailySusan.blogspot.com for more. Thanks!)

She’s a gorgeous 40-year-old woman. But her gambling counselor thinks she may wind up as the 70-year-old bleached blonde at the end of the small-town bar. You know, the one with a drink in front of her and three failed marriages behind, pulling pickle tickets and being a lesson for all who see.

She lost a 23-year marriage and custody of her two beautiful children to a gambling addiction. Her life sank on the casino boats in Council Bluffs. And now her ex-husband is begging Nebraskans not to OK expanded gambling in the big vote this November. “Don’t go through the hell I had to,” he said.

They lived in small-town Nebraska, about an hour away from the casinos. He made a good living, so she didn’t have to work. She had all the comforts of life. But it wasn’t enough.

Her ex-husband said she craved excitement and attention. She got it by lying about her whereabouts, sneaking to the boats, plugging slots, and occasionally winning. Everybody would look at her. She felt important, for those few seconds. It was an adrenalin rush.

But eventually, the addiction took charge, and things got ugly. The total tab of her gambling addiction, counting two attempts at rehabilitation, exceeds $200,000, her husband said.

The addiction was stronger than the love of her family. She lied about where she was, and secretly took out credit cards in her own name using her husband’s salary to show creditworthiness. She hid cash. She left the children alone for days at a time when he was out of town and she couldn’t resist the pull of the boats.

Her sister once was sitting at work in Omaha when she felt like something was going through her chest. She was struck with the impulse that something was wrong with her sister, and it must have to do with gambling. She drove to the boats. She found her sister’s car, and called her brother-in-law from her cell phone: “You won’t believe it, but I’m standing here in the casino watching your wife play the slot machine.”

The wife stormed out, drunk and staggering. The sister sat on the hood of her car, pleading with her to get help. The wife cursed, “Go to hell!” and laid scratch, spinning her sister off onto the pavement, ripping open the skin of her knees.

When the two rehabs didn’t work, and she continued to lie and gamble, he felt he had no choice. He divorced her. Now he is raising two children all by himself, on top of his challenging job. He sought counseling for the children and himself. But the pain is still enormous.

“I was a basket case,” he says. “I still cry once in a while. I get spooked about raising them. It’s a load. It’s a load. It’s OK, though. We’re going to make it.”

He just doesn’t want anybody else to go through it.

“If we’re doing this (legalizing casinos) just for more income for the State, then just charge us more taxes or better yet, cut our expenses. But we don’t need any more divorces, or kids growing up without both parents, or crime, or homelessness.

“Let me tell you: we don’t need it.”

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Prayer request: Lord, thank You for faithful public servants like State Sen. Mick Mines of Blair. He is circulating an anti-casino email this week that points out the deceptions in the pro-gambling ads. They lead voters to believe that, with casinos in Nebraska, we could keep $300 million here in our economy and get bigtime tax relief, instead of losing it to Iowa’s casinos. Sen. Mines writes, ‘’That is absolutely not true!’’ The $300 million represents gambling LOSSES at Iowa’s boats. Only a small fraction of that money ever makes its way to tax funds. So gambling would NOT be some sort of a tax relief solution -- not in the least. Gambling legislation doesn’t even MENTION funding schools, either, though pro-gambling ads imply that. Bless Sen. Mines for sharing this truth, and spread it far and wide, Dear Lord. (Psalm 57:3)