GIVE 'EM A NEW DECK......

Gambling is a billion dollar industry. Everyone knows about Vegas and Atlantic City whose economy is based on gambling. For those who thought it was based on Siegfried & Roy – Not!

Indian Casinos have been popping up around the country faster than acne on a teenager. Tell the truth, haven’t you ever said to someone, “I’ll bet you ten bucks that……” Everyone gambles. For most people getting married is the biggest gamble they’ll ever take. And, that’s knowing how lousy the odds are that you’ll win.

Television has certainly helped the growth of gambling with its World Poker Tour and the popularity of Texas Hold-Em competitions. Where else can you see old guys in dusty cowboy hats taking on Orientals in silk shirts open to their pupicks and with enough gold chains around their necks to make Sammy Davis, Jr., smile? See young women with eyes that would make a Mafia killer cringe competing against some math genius who wrote a book, “How to Win at Poker Without Counting Out Loud”? There are several popular Internet websites that exist just to allow ordinary people to play poker while dinner burns on the stove. Americans love to gamble.

Of course, there is a danger that some people take their love of gambling to the extreme. It can become an addiction. As serious as drugs and alcohol. Thousands of gambling degenerates lose their homes, families and reputations every year as they gamble away their lives. It’s a major problem with some. Gambling Anonymous meetings are held 24-7 all over the country.

Gamblers and gambling has taken a bad rap throughout history. Musicals like Guys & Dolls help foster the image of a loudly, dressed Nathan Detroit hustling innocent civilians. Movies like, The Hustler do the same. If controlled, gambling is no worse than throwing your mother-in-law off a cliff. Gambling might not feel as good but whatthehey…..Professional gamblers defend themselves by pointing out that what they do for a living is no worse than some store-owner who has a “Going Out Of Business Sale”, all year.

If the gambling industry didn’t have enough public relations problems with certain conservative elements they’re now in deep doo-doo. A new report from the Mayo Clinic claims uncontrollable gambling habits can occur in patients taking drugs widely prescribed to control the tremors and stiffness of Parkinson’s disease. Some patients who had never gambled before lost more than $200,000 at casinos while taking drugs like Mirapex.

Joe Neglia, 54, a retired government intelligence worker says Mirapex “hijacked my brain.” He lost thousands of dollars playing slot machines several times daily for nearly two years while taking the drug. He stopped immediately after finding an Internet report linking the drug and compulsive gambling. “Within three days all desire to gamble went away completely although I did have this uncontrollable feeling that I was being followed by Rumanians, named Julius.”

The Mayo Clinic study described 11 other Parkinson’s patients who developed the unusual problem while taking Mirapex or similar drugs between 2002 and 2004. California attorney Daniel Kodman, who filed a lawsuit last year, said he’s spoken to more than 200 Mirapex patients who developed compulsive behaviors, including excessive sexual activity – doesn’t sound like a negative to me.
Mirapex reduces tremors and the slow stiff movements that are a hallmark of Parkinson’s. Mayo doctors now ask patients using the drugs if they have suddenly taken up gambling. If they have the doctors give them even money that a switch to another drug will cure them.

I’ll bet you didn’t know any of this?