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PartyT
Administrator
USA
20996 Posts |
 Posted - 11/21/2010 : 06:57:40 AM
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Casino owner says he worries about problem gamblers, opposes Internet gaming
Compulsive gambling is a tricky topic in a town where casino operators are considered economic engines and icons of ingenuity instead of unsavory merchants muddying the water between entertainment and highway robbery.
This makes casino owner John Woodrum something of an enigma. He worries about those customers who can’t resist the slots’ siren call.
Woodrum, 72, owns the Klondike Sunset, a neighborhood casino that depends on repeat visits from nearby residents, including people, he says, who are perpetually broke.
“Nothing bothers me as much as seeing people lose more than they can afford,” he says. “I’ve told people, ‘Why don’t you just walk away and let it go for a while?’#8201;” But they don’t.
And so Woodrum is conflicted. He runs a casino but worries about his poor customers losing money. Does he feel so strongly about this that he’d close his business and retire? Well, no. Because even if he did, there are plenty of other casinos in town. And yet, he has seen plenty of lives ruined by gambling from his perspective — one that many big casino executives don’t have.
And now there’s a new threat to gamblers, he says: Internet gambling. No way, no how should that be allowed, he says.
Of course he would say that, right? Internet gambling would hurt his business by allowing his customers to stay home and gamble.
Woodrum understands that people may not believe his more altruistic motive in fighting Internet gambling.
By Liz Benston
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/nov/20/casino-operator-heart/ |
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Casino owner says he worries about problem gambler
