To Whom It May Concern

Roll The Dice

Council Bluffs, Iowa is just on the opposite side of the river from Omaha, Nebraska. Awhile back, I won’t speculate on how far back it was, because I’m not sure, but awhile back, Iowa legalized gambling, so the intelligent folks in Council Bluffs put their casinos right on the river, so that it would be very convenient for the half a million or so good people of Omaha to cross over and drop their dollars into the till in Iowa.

Now, Nebraska’s bible beaters work feverishly to keep gambling out of Nebraska, each time there is a vote to allow gambling within the state, it seems that they are out in force, screaming about all hell and damnation and how gambling leads to divorce and sodomy and cake and who the hell knows what else? But for crying out loud, if people are just going to cross the border and gamble anyway, it’s probably a damn good idea to keep that money within the state by offering Nebraskan’s casinos to gamble at.

Life itself is a gamble. Each day we get inside our cars and drive down the road, there is a chance we get broadsided by a cement truck, there is even the slightest chance a burning meteorite comes in from the sky and smashes the car to bits, killing everyone inside. Farmers gamble when they plant their crops, what sorts of insecticide to use, short term or long term corn and beans, that sort of thing. Everything we do is a gamble of some sort, but for some reason, when the gambling involves outright laying our money on the table for a chance to get more money, oh god no, we can’t be doing that at all!!!

There is one form of gambling allowed in Nebraska, horse racing and betting on simulcasting of horse races around the nation. I guess that is because betting on horses is usually a rich man’s folly and to take that away would be to take away something from the power elite within the state, something that certainly wouldn’t ever be allowed.

I myself don’t really care for gambling, I would never work in a casino after seeing the heartbroken people sitting on benches outside the buildings with their heads in their hands. But I have to face reality and the facts, and the big fact that all that money is rolling into Iowa instead of staying here in Nebraska is what makes me feel that it’s time to change the laws here and allow gambling within Nebraska. Not only that, but Iowa pays for gambling treatment for their residents who end up with addictions to gambling, but Nebraska is stuck footing the bill for our own residents, without a casino to even help pay for the treatment, and that is ludicrous.

The best way to look at casinos is to treat them like a movie, or a dinner, or both together. Think of it this way, “I am going to take 25 dollars to the casino tonite to spend, and if I win with it, so be it, but if I lose all 25 bucks, then I’m done. I’ll go to the buffet or catch a washed up country singer who is singing in the lounge, but I won’t EVEN try and convince myself that I will actually win big bucks and go on easy street.” That is the best attitude to have about gambling.