Senior Gambling

[mikefixac]

Took a motorcycle ride from SoCal to Flagstaff AZ. On the way back, I spent the night in Laughlin, NV.

Laughlin is the gambler's mecca for senior citizens. So as I'm strolling around in one of the casinos, I notice an older man pressing the button on a slot machine. But he wasn't just pressing the button  waiting for the game to finish and get the results, no, he just kept pushing the button incessantly.

I might be wrong, but I assume the man had some form of dementia. I walked up to the desk near where the man was playing to speak to the woman there, but she gave me this look and I walked away.

I was there for only a few minutes witnessing this spectacle, no telling how long he continued banging away on the machine.

[DocCyane]

It's a sad story but not uncommon. People who play the slots often don't wait for the results before pushing the button again. It's kind of twisted, but they want the constant endorphin hit.

And he may have been drunk, on meds, or as you suggested, in some state of dementia. I'll be in Vegas on Tuesday for work. It's never pleasant. The people seem so desperate.

[SMMcP]

It is very sad to witness these things and some people seem to be very vulnerable to gambling addiction.  My ex-husband, who died last year, had a form of dementia and really got into gambling during the last few years of his life.  He once lost $10,000 in one night playing blackjack and had to borrow money to pay bills.  He also spent about $1000/month on lottery tickets. There is almost nothing families can do about this kind of thing.  During our married life, his peak earnings were about $200,000/year but he was unwilling to save anything. He even refused to contribute to a 401K even though his company had a 7% match.  He was really into off-road racing (baja 1000 type) and this is where most of his excess earnings went.  He was fortunate in that during the 10 years he was disabled his income was about $10,000/month.  This came from long term disability and loss of license insurance (he was a airline captain).  Even with that, he left this world in debt.  It is a very, very sad story.  That is why, now that I have control over my own finances, I am trying so hard to maintain financial security for myself.  Thank goodness for sites like MMM, where I have learned so much.

[Jamesqf]

Laughlin is the gambler's mecca for senior citizens. So as I'm strolling around in one of the casinos, I notice an older man pressing the button on a slot machine. But he wasn't just pressing the button  waiting for the game to finish and get the results, no, he just kept pushing the button incessantly.

Yet another good reason I don't want to retire.  If at that age, I'm reduced to having to push buttons on an electronic device to entertain myself, I'd rather do it in a cubicle and get paid :-)

[Nords]

Laughlin is the gambler's mecca for senior citizens. So as I'm strolling around in one of the casinos, I notice an older man pressing the button on a slot machine. But he wasn't just pressing the button  waiting for the game to finish and get the results, no, he just kept pushing the button incessantly.
I might be wrong, but I assume the man had some form of dementia. I walked up to the desk near where the man was playing to speak to the woman there, but she gave me this look and I walked away.

Maybe you're witnessing a frugal version of senior daycare or caregiver respite.  $25 in a penny slot machine can take a long time...

Having seen what Alzheimer's has done to my Dad and to family caregivers, I would completely understand a caregiver choosing to do this for an hour or two.  It might not be a good thing to do, but I can completely understand it.

[mikefixac]

Nice perspective Nords.

Never thought about it that way, but does make sense. I didn't look to see what the bet was on his machine.

At the Mirage in Vegas their High Slots room have a couple of $500 slot machines. I remember a story of my Dad being in that room with my Uncle. My Uncle said, "Can you believe it, they have $5 slot machines?". Funny thing is, he could have actually afforded the $500 machine.

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

I see it all the time.  My side income comes from playing poker, so I'm in casinos a lot.  The people there gambling away their govt checks are like zombies. 

And then the casinos' promotions departments will mail out coupons for free money, free meals, etc.  As well as having regular contests and giveaways designed to lure repeat customers back. 

For the most part, gambling is a tax on people who are really bad at math.  It is possible to make money gambling over the long run if you pick the right games and have the skill to beat those games (like poker, sports betting, horse betting, blackjack with card counting, certain machines, taking advantage of certain promotions, etc). 

And even though some games can be beaten, many people do not have the ability to beat them.  In order to beat gambling over the long haul you need these skills:

1)  you need to know the correct strategy for beating your games

2) you need to exercise proper bankroll management.  If you can beat football betting, but you only have a bankroll of $1000 and are making $100 bets, the likelihood of you going broke is very high because you are risking 10% of your BR on each bet.  If your bankroll is $10,000 or more, your chance of going broke is close to 0 assuming you have the skill to beat football.

3)  You need to have superior emotional control.  You can get on the wrong side of variance.  You can lose a lot of bets in a row, even when you have a mathematical edge.  You need to always make the correct mathematical play, no matter if you are up or down.  If you are down, it is easy to start chasing losses, or start getting the % wrong.  You could see a horse is getting 8-1 to win, but it really is a 10-1 type of horse, but you might handicap it incorrectly and think it is really a 5-1 horse and bet on it, even though if you were thinking correctly, you wouldn't bet on that horse.   Or you could be playing poker and someone puts you All In for your last $100.  You have a drawing hand to win the pot.  20% of the time, your draw will hit.  The pot is $300.  So if you win, you win $300, if you lose, you lose that $100.  You would need to win 25% of the time to break even on that bet.  The 20% is less than the 25% you need, but you are on tilt and call.  That is a losing play over the long haul. 

[kisserofsinners]

Laughlin is the gambler's mecca for senior citizens. So as I'm strolling around in one of the casinos, I notice an older man pressing the button on a slot machine. But he wasn't just pressing the button  waiting for the game to finish and get the results, no, he just kept pushing the button incessantly.
I might be wrong, but I assume the man had some form of dementia. I walked up to the desk near where the man was playing to speak to the woman there, but she gave me this look and I walked away.

Maybe you're witnessing a frugal version of senior daycare or caregiver respite.  $25 in a penny slot machine can take a long time...

Having seen what Alzheimer's has done to my Dad and to family caregivers, I would completely understand a caregiver choosing to do this for an hour or two.  It might not be a good thing to do, but I can completely understand it.

More or less what my Grandfather did with Gma when she started to go. Not gambling, but the lady sure liked to drink and she's easier to catch when she's stumbling or asleep. :-/ Doctors would get pissy about it, but it ended up be way cheaper than in patient care.

[KidneyBeansMD]

At least half of slot machine players in casinos are chain smoking senior citizens on Rascal scooters with supplemental oxygen. I'm not even talking penny slots; I was recently at a casino and saw a woman playing the $5 slots. What a waste of retirement savings and Social Security benefits...

[Grigory]

We don't know all the details here... A lot of times, casinos organize slot tournaments. Basically, you're supposed to hit the big button on the machine as often as you can because you can only do so many spins in 5 minutes. (The person with the highest score wins a cash prize, so you need to pound on that button like there's no tomorrow.) It's entirely possible that there was a slot tournament under way - some of them are stretched out over several hours, so it's not uncommon to see just 1 person standing there.