She’s gambling away her fixed income, I surmised.
While at the counter I watched an elderly lady enter the store, shuffle to an ATM where she extracted some cash, and disappear into a back room lighted only by the glow of video poker machines. I saw it played out at a convenience store one Sunday morning, a block from a church where I was to preach. And with 44,000 video poker terminals statewide-the equivalent of 36 casinos-you don’t have to go to Las Vegas to lose your money. Our state is now number two in gambling revenues, right behind Nevada. Go Fish may not be the cause, but gambling is on the increase in Illinois. It wasn’t because there was something inherently wrong with pinochle, canasta, or Old Maid, but because overfamiliarity with jokers and aces might eventually lead to gambling.
In the days when Baptists didn’t “smoke, drink, or chew, or go with those who do,” our list of don’ts included playing cards.
