Seniors Losing Savings to Slot Machines

Years ago it was different, there were penny or nickel slots and you would get together with a group of friends for a couple of days and get a hotel room, play the slot machines, etc. Reno would have “fun busses” that would pick you up at the bus station, and all it cost was $99 and included the hotel room. You could play the slot machines, and it was entertaining – nothing more.

However, slot machines are everywhere now, and the American Indian tribes have helped make gambling an opportunity no matter where you were with no regard to time or place. The problem is who is playing them now are those that really cannot afford to. Those that used to play with their “mad money” are now working off of fixed incomes, and cannot really afford to lose all that much at the casinos.

However, that does not stop the casinos from targeting that specific age group that can ill afford to go. Recent studies have shown that the amount of 65 and older patrons at the casinos had jumped to more than 50% of the gambling population – a number up by more than 30% over the previous 30 years.
But the casinos are not listening, they don’t care that their money is coming from those that cannot afford to pay it. Story after story is in the papers, etc. about people on fixed incomes, and how older Americans have fallen prey to this type of “entertainment” and it is causing them financial ruin. The casinos continue to target them, however, so it is up to seniors to see the error of spending all of their money at the slot machines. For if they don’t start looking out for themselves, no one else will.

Back to Monthly Archive // Main Slot Machine News Index