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fr0bert t1_j05bazj wrote

Reply to comment by dreww4546 in Will restricting convenience stores make Richmond safer? Policing expert says no. by ety3rd

Gambling machines are a fucking scourge. It's crazy coming from the uk/ireland where they're trying (and succeeding slowly) to outlaw them and seeing Virginia just go all in and see them popping up everywhere.

I used to work in a bar and would watch guys put their entire weekly wage into these things every Friday.

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AlreadyShrugging t1_j05p26a wrote

“Let’s go gambling at a gas station.”

It just feels sad to say out loud.

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autotelica t1_j06bftn wrote

It is sad.

My parents are upper middle class Boomers. Retired professionals with advanced degrees and everything. And also deeply religious. I believe both are addicted to gambling. Their favorite semi-monthly treat is to dump tons of money into a casino. They rotate through three or four different ones.

Sometimes I will be talking to my mother on the phone and in the background I will hear beeping noises. I know that means one of two things. The two of them are at a casino playing slots. Or she is at the gas station up the road from their suburban subdivision full of McMansions, playing the machine there. I have learned to keep mouth shut and not ask where she is. I tell myself that we all have our vices so who am I to judge.

So...it isn't just poor and working-class people wasting money on these things. It also (supposedly) well-to-do people. If my parents weren't addicts, they wouldn't have to borrow money from their kids. To be fair, they are awesome in that they always pay us back when their pension checks come in. But it is still sad to me.

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jeb_hoge t1_j06phu4 wrote

The last time I went to a casino was one of the Tunica ones on a Sunday afternoon with my wife when we were bored. We figured we'd go pop $20 in quarters into the slot machines and get a drink or two or maybe some dinner. I don't think we made it through the $20 before we realized how many of the people around us looked like they were trying to salvage something out of what they'd lost over the weekend, and we were so depressed by it, we just left and went to a fast food place before driving home.

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deenda t1_j06qf2q wrote

That's basically always Tunica any time of any day

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jeb_hoge t1_j06rrpv wrote

I don't disagree, but the reason we went that one time was because I did have a fun time there with some old classmates on a Friday night, but I wasn't the high roller, either.

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GaimanitePkat t1_j076mvk wrote

My husband and I got out $200 to play slots with at the MGM casino. We dressed up kinda fancy and wanted to feel like ballers.

It was gone in about ten minutes. Stupidest $200 we'd ever spent. Also depressing to see the people staring into the machines like they were looking into the face of God.

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Frosty48 t1_j07mvok wrote

>>also depressing to see the people staring into the machines like they were looking into the face of God

Congrats on writing the most soul crushing thing I've seen all week

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munkeybub t1_j06cqcf wrote

I'll regularly see guys in there going hard at 6am

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One_Win_6185 t1_j08e2g0 wrote

It’s a thing in South Dakota. Gas stations would have mini casinos in them behind a door in the back—like the adult room on an old video rental place.

Live out of VA now, sad to hear that’s popping up there too.

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AlreadyShrugging t1_j08ii31 wrote

I’m from Oregon where slot machines are ubiquitous in bars and restaurants. Even Denny’s there has “poker rooms” filled with slot machines.

For some reason that just doesn’t hit nearly as sad as having them in gas stations. The machines in Oregon are tightly regulated and run by the state lottery. There’s rules in place that prohibit the machines being displayed visibly from the street among other regulations. There’s no “skill” legal bullshit either.

I don’t even like the machines in Oregon, but they’re worse here.

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albertnormandy t1_j067yts wrote

Ah, but it's not gambling. Gambling is essentially glorified coin tossing, where pure luck determines the outcome. These are "skill games", totally different. It's ok to fleece poor people of their money when you call it a skill-game.

There's an old gas station up here by my that has been half-hollowed out with a dozen of these things sitting along the empty walls, where people just sit and feed their money into it. Who are we helping by allowing these things? Shitty gas stations? Shady "skill game" machine companies? Sure, the additional tax revenue is nice, but that revenue comes from the poorest segment of society.

This is an example of where a dogmatic adherence to principle, in this case free market capitalism, leads to a net negative for society.

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FalloutRip t1_j06nisu wrote

Fwiw many of us never wanted them legalized in the first place. Gambling machines and casinos in general are a scourge on the poor and individuals with addictive personalities.

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Tylerjb4 t1_j075hqj wrote

Why shouldn’t people have the right to gamble?

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