Today’s ‘List Friday’. Melbourne’s Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex (pictured) opened in 1997. And, I’m glad to tell you, in the 13 years since then I’ve not set foot in it let alone gambled there. (By the by, isn’t it wondrous how the derogatory word ‘gambling’ has shed its ‘bl’ to render it more palatable.) I work too hard for my money to squander it. And I think gambling’s evil. Every punter loses in the end. I don’t care that casinos separate the wealthy from their money; high rollers deserve it. But I’m concerned about people who aren’t well off, and who gamble aiming to improve their financial position. Their gambling losses are a tragedy, often a catastrophe, for them. High rollers are few in number, but I reckon the biggest contributors to casino profits. Thus the A$212M upgrade Crown Casino announced yesterday, is going on VIP facilities. But whether rollers are high or low, casinos work to entice them in and not let them out. Todays list – ‘10 Tricks Casinos Use On You’ – is from the marvellous Listverse website. None of its 10 items – Listerverse calls them ‘factlets’ – is surprising. Though I’ve never entered Crown, I’ve been in other casinos – not in VIP areas, of course – which I found desperately sad places. Or desperate and sad. If governments were sincere about reducing gambling’s ill effects, they’d legislate to eliminate all the factlets in today’s list. But I won’t hold my breath until they do. Ho hum.
