Mom, Grandma, Addict

Sharon is a 64-year-old suburban homemaker in Omaha, Nebraska. She was born and raised in Omaha and raised her three grown children there. She loves to travel, and makes five or six trips to Las Vegas in any given year. She usually takes her 30-year-old daughter with her, under the pretext of spending quality mother-daughter time.

When Sharon is in a casino, money flows from unknown sources. She takes along as much cash as she can quietly gather. She has several credit cards with cash advances available. She will never admit to losing money, although money always seems to be tight. She will sit at a poker or blackjack table well into the wee hours. When she leaves the hotel during the day, she shops for designer fashions.

Sharon has a place to get her gambling fix when she can’t get to Las Vegas. Omaha sits on the border between Nebraska and Iowa, which are separated by the Missouri River. There are two large Riverboat Casinos docked on the Iowa side. She picks up Interstate 480 near her house and is across the river in less than 20 minutes. She sometimes takes a friend, but is comfortable making the trip alone so she can gamble as long as she pleases.

Her adult children and her husband have known for many years that Sharon has a gambling problem. None of them has had the nerve to confront her, or even broach the subject. Sharon, a strong personality from the get-go, would not react rationally if approached on the subject. Her gambling game would go on indefinitely, except that Sharon developed a serious chronic illness. She can no longer travel or drive herself. Gamblers Anonymous would have been the kinder cure.

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Indian-Owned Casinos

Indian casinos have changed life for Native Americans more than any other development since the establishment of reservations in the 19th Century. Twenty-eight states now have Indian gaming.

Historically, tribes were placed on the most remote, unproductive land available for their reservations. There were few job opportunities and most families farmed or ranched on marginal land and relied heavily on government subsidies.

In 1979, the Florida Seminole tribe opened a high-states bingo facility on their reservation. The State immediately moved to close the operation and the tribe took the State all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In The Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Butterworth, the Court ruled that the federally recognized tribe, considered a sovereign nation within the United States, had a right to operate the bingo hall.

There are now over four hundred casinos run by 233 tribes. Twenty-four states allow all gaming; four allow only bingo.  The important news is that Indian casinos earned over $ 26.5 billion a year. This money has allowed tribes to establish scholarships, build roads, install electricity and provide safe water for tribal members. Tribes pay local, state and federal taxes on profits – over $10 billion in taxes in 2008 alone.

Casinos are often the largest employer on a reservation. They have allowed tribal members to receive training and the opportunity to earn a living for their families. Many of the tribes started their casinos under professional management and have gradually moved tribal members into leadership positions.

Indian gaming has allowed some of the poorest tribes in America to bring their members from poverty to employment. Tribal members have benefited by employment, education, and improved housing. Many tribes are able to provide for their elderly and children for the first time. And some of the tribes have used casino profits to preserve their language and culture for future generations.

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Casinos: What’s the Attraction?

The majority of people think casinos are just for gambling. While that’s at the heart of the concept, most casinos offer many types of entertainment. In fact, just walking through the door gets the adrenalin pumping, one way, or another.

Visitors are immediately bombarded with sights and sounds — bright, flashy lights and a cacophony of loud noises. Various sounds, most of them loud, come from so many directions it’s hard to determine the source.

Most of the bells, cheerful ditties, and “hurrah” sounds are coming from the slot machines. They make exciting noises on even the smallest wins and there’s a good reason for that. Casino operators want to make sure that everyone within earshot knows there is money being won. If a would-be gambler sees and hears a jackpot being paid out, it’s a strong motivation to sit down and play a few quarters. Since there is no particular skill involved in playing slots, anyone of legal age to gamble has the same chance of winning as die hard, habitual player. Some people do win money playing the slot machines – sometimes.

Casinos generally offer free or low cost beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. In fact, casinos strive to make patrons as contented as possible so they will be in no hurry to leave. Even smokers are welcome to puff away when they gamble, as casinos in most states are exempt from laws that ban indoor smoking. A riverboat casino in Illinois tried to enforce the smoking ban, and suffered the lowest revenue in a decade. Non-smokers who are sensitive – or allergic – to smoke will find smoke-free gaming areas in larger casinos.

Most gambling establishments have excellent restaurants with reasonable prices. Patrons are welcome to relax and enjoy the restaurants with no obligation gamble. Once you’re in the casino, you might as well play a bit. At the end of the day, there’s only one big winner – the house.

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Compulsive Gambling

Jerry King has a secret. He goes to lunch and doesn’t go back to the office. He tells his boss he is meeting clients, but he is really at a casino. He may be at a blackjack table, playing poker, or in the Sportsbook lounge betting on college or professional sports. His family doesn’t know he has emptied the kids’ college accounts and has borrowed money. Jerry is a compulsive gambler.

Most people can gamble without becoming addicted. A few risk family, friends, home, financial ruin, and their job to gamble. How do you know if you are a problem gambler? Do you lie about how much or how frequently you gamble? Once you start to gamble, can you stop before you have spent all the money you have? Do you risk money you know you shouldn’t spend, in hopes of winning big? You can be a compulsive gambler even if you do not gamble every day. The binge or periodic gambler – can still be out of control. Compulsive gambling seems to be a progressive condition and cannot be cured, only arrested. Once your gambling is under control, you cannot return to gambling.

There is help for compulsive gamblers. Gamblers Anonymous, based on Alcoholics Anonymous, is a 12-step self-help organization based on spiritual beliefs. Anyone can join and membership is strictly confidential.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy also works in treating compulsive gambling. This therapy uses a four-step program that helps the individual concentrate on a program that re-labels, reattributes, refocuses, and revalues their compulsions

No addiction happens in a vacuum. A compulsive gambler’s family is almost always harmed. Gam-anon offers support groups for gamblers’ partners. They help define the problem and help the person survive their partner’s addiction. Compulsive gambling is an emotional problem that endangers a gambler and his or her family. It can be treated, but like all addictions, the addict has to be willing to admit the addiction and follow through treatment.

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Poker is Fun, Play Casino Games at Home

People will gladly save up for years to be able to go play the casino games in Las Vegas and Reno. The truth is, they’re fun games to play and they’re entertaining. But, who can afford to make a long trip, pay for rooms and meals, and then have enough money with which to gamble? Why can’t you just play the games back at home?

There is a way to bring the casino into the house for a night of poker fun. It’s getting even more popular these days to have casino games at home with friends and family. Great food and fun for everyone can be had for very little money, compared to the trip.

Custom poker tables can be expensive but one has to consider that it’s furniture meant to be used forever. Even if the living room furniture changes, a good poker table will stand up to time and last longer. Plus, it will have the chip wells and all the markings of a game table, making it more fun.

Take the Casino Home

After getting a poker table, consider which games to play and what kind of decorations will be needed. Holiday lights indoors are good to imitate the bright lights of Las Vegas. You can set up an entire casino room in your own home and invite some guests over for some fun.

Make festive finger foods and choose upbeat music. Use a general theme so it’ll have a more polished appearance. Get cow bells for each person to ring every time they win a game and switch up seats often so opponents change every game. Get out several decks of cards and some dice.

Serve colorful drinks with fruit garnishes and straws. Paper coasters aren’t very expensive and neither are plastic reusable disposable cups. It should be a great time for all.

Filed Under: Genaral

Online Casino Bonuses, Part 2

The advantages of online casino bonuses are worth mentioning as they can really help increase your income as you play at online casinos. Therefore, the best strategy you might want to consider is to sign up for a casino that offers a large casino bonus. With some matched bonuses ranging from 50 to 100 percent of your deposit, this is the time to search for a casino that can help you profit. A bonus might help you get the winning advantage on a casino. By using one that offers a large bonus scheme, you can see the money you deposit almost double in its amount.

Therefore, a bonus can be used to more effectively carry out a strategy as you will have more money to do so. This translates into being able to better understand the game as you will have a longer time to play as you now have more money to play with. However, do not think that you can just withdraw the casino bonus straight away. It must be used to play the casino games, but after using the bonus, any winnings can be withdrawn to your account. Therefore, you can really spend time getting to know a casino web site by first using the bonus. Therefore, if the online casino is not to your liking, you would not have lost out large sums of money. Using this strategy, you can wait to find a casino web site that is ideal for you, before you deposit a large bank roll.

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Online Casino Bonuses, Part 1

In a effort to increase the amount of players at an online casino, quite a number of them have started offering online casino bonuses. These bonuses are used to encourage more people to come and play online at the casino. Many people think that there must be something wrong with these cash bonuses or that they are not actually free money.

However, just as other companies give out freebies, online casinos allow players to sign up and try them out by giving a bonus. This is a very advantageous marketing scheme by the Internet casino industry and it is a great way to try out a casino using bonus money given to you. Therefore, even though it might seem to good to be true, it is possible to make use of these bonuses and there are many advantages to doing so.

One of the first advantages to using casino bonuses is the ability to have more money to try out a casino. The most common way a bonus is given is as a match bonus. A match bonus is when you are required to deposit a certain minimum amount of money and then the casino will give you a bonus to match the amount you deposited. This bonus can be anything from 20 percent of the amount you deposit to as much as 100 percent of the amount you deposit. There will be certain rules that apply to your casino bonus, but usually you can use it to play almost any game that the online casino has.

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Finding The Best Poker Training

There are various methods that you can use to find the best poker training possible. There are so many people that actually use poker as a full-time career. This is a great way for someone who understands the game to make money that is equivalent to working part-time. The popularity of poker has increased substantially in the past couple of years, and with this more people have started playing it online. Now it is possible to sit at home and play online poker at a number of casinos on the Internet.

Even though there are now more ways to play poker, this does not mean that everyone will instantly improve his game. For some people it can mean the opposite. Therefore, just as there is an increase in the amount of sites that offer the ability to play poker, there are also increased occurrences of the amount of sites that will teach you how to do so. Yet it is still necessary for you to find the best sites that will train you to play poker to the best of your ability.

Some of these sites that teach you to play poker charge a fee. Thus if you enrol in an online poker training program and later discover it is not a good one, you would have lost out on the fee that was charged. Instead if you are serious about getting the right teaching in poker, start your search by reading reviews of training sites.  There are a vast amount of people who have taken poker training and will now like to share how they felt about each program with the rest of the world. Read these reviews for the best poker training program.

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Which Sportsbook is for You?

What is your favorite sport to bet on? Football? Basketball? Darts? Regardless of what sport you are interested in and want to bet on, you can rest assured that there are sportsbooks for that sport. But there seems to be so many online sites where you can place your bet, that you are almost paralyzed with indecision. How do you know which sportsbook is for you and how do you know that you can trust it?

One of the best ways is to read sportsbook reviews. These reviews are readily available online. Make sure that you are reading reviews from reputable people. Some places pay for reviews. You know that if someone pays for a review that the review will be all positive and glowing and won’t give any negative comments. So, avoid any reviews that have been paid for by the sportsbook.

You can find good reviews in forums. This is where people who are avid users go to share their experiences and where newbies can ask questions and get information. This can be a treasure trove of information for someone who is just learning the ropes of sportsbooks.

Another way to find good sportsbooks, is to pay close attention to their options and policies. If they seem to offer the world to you in bonuses, back off and stay away from them. Places that offer spectacularly good bonuses are generally unstable sportsbooks and should be avoided.

Check out how quickly you will receive your money. Some places take two to three months to send out payments. Avoid these places if at all possible.

You can tell a good sportsbook by the quality of their customer service. Do they offer it 24/7? Do they have a live online chat? Do they have a telephone number where you can call someone and talk to them in person? You want to make sure that you can easily get answers to your questions.

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Gambling and the Odds

People gamble because they want to win. They want to get rich quick. However, in reality, the chance of winning a lot of money is pretty slim. That’s because casinos and lotteries have probability in their favor.

The kind of chance that explains why casinos win is a kind of statistics categorized as independent versus dependent events.

Independent Events

Independent events are a kind of probability that means past events do not impact future events. For example, when you flip a coin, you have a 50 percent chance of getting heads and a 50 percent chance of getting tails. It doesn’t matter how many times you flip a coin, your chance of heads is always 50 percent. So, if you flip a coin three times and get heads each time, your chance of getting heads on the fourth try is still 50 percent. That is because the first three flips have no influence on the fourth flip.

This type of probability comes into play when people play the lottery. Always picking the same numbers doesn’t mean they will eventually come up because each lottery is independent of the preceding one. So, if you always pick 40, getting 41 doesn’t mean you are “close.” Getting 41 is no closer to 40 than is 5 or 85.

Dependent Events

Card games are dependent events if the discarded cards aren’t replaced in the deck. In this case, the probability of being dealt a certain card changes with each discard. For example, the chance of getting a king in a 52-card deck is 1/13. But if the first person is dealt a king, the likelihood of getting a king changes to 3/51. This kind of probability is significant in Poker, regardless of the type of Poker.

The best hand in all types of Poker is a royal flush – 10, jack, queen, king and ace in the same suit. A royal flush has the lowest probability of occurrence. In a five card hand, the probability of a royal flush in any suit is 1/649,740 but the probability for a specific suit is one fourth of that or 1/2,598,560.

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