All or Nothing

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Why Gambling Addiction Is So Cool

Q?: You say that gambling addiction is so cool. Why do you say that?

P: First of all, I didn't say that addiction is cool. I said gambling is cool. I see alcoholics--addiction is not cool. I see smokers--addiction is not cool. I see over-eaters--no, addiction is not cool. But gambling, think about it. You take a little bit of money, you lay it on the line, and bang! Suddenly you're a millionaire, living the American dream.

Q?: Is that what happened to you?

P: Well, yeah. I laid it all on the line, and it paid off big. My life changed for the better. All my bills were taken care of. My kids were able to go to all the best schools. I was no longer tied to a nine-to-five job. Anything I wanted, I could have it. I could afford to live anywhere I wanted. I could drive the fanciest cars. I could date the sexiest women. I mean, you see these women in movies and on TV, those are my friends--some of them I dated. You know the woman in that movie where she drops the towel and gets into the pool, but you only see her from behind and everybody is going crazy about how tight her body is? You know the movie I'm talking about. Well, I saw her without the towel, and her body is tight, and I'm thinking while I am with her, man o man, my life is great.

Q?: It sounds great.

P: It is great. I'm just a guy from Miami. I'm nobody special. But here I am right now with this movie star, and I got more money in the bank right now than she does. I mean, that right there is the difference between gambling and alcohol addiction. You're not going to improve your life by drinking. You'll end up a stinking homeless wino in the street. But you can improve your life by gambling. You really can.

Q?: If you're lucky.

P: If you're lucky.

Q?: If you're LUCKY.

P: Yes, if you're lucky!

Q?: All I'm trying to say is that there is a dark side.

P: But that's not the point.

Q?: But that is the point, P. A hundred thousand people lose their homes every year because of gambling addiction. You yourself were in a tough situation a few years ago. Problems at home. Problems at work. Bankruptcy. I think it is kind of hypocritcal of you to paint this rosey picture of an addiction that almost destroyed your life.

P: I'm no hypocrite, and gambling didn't almost destroy my life. The American way almost destroyed my life. The American dream. Working nine to five all those years for what? To be barely able to feed my family and pay my bills. I took a risk. I gambled. And yes while going through the process of being lucky, sometimes my situation looked bleak. But see, the situation was bleak even before I started gambling. Dead end job. Money problems. I had all that before I ever started gambling. So why not risk it? Every successful person in America took a risk at some point in his or her life. That's what I did. I left my comfort zone. I took a risk. You have to be in it to win it, and I was in it.

Q?: Do you really believe that?

P: I am living proof.

Q?: So to improve my life, I should start going to the casinos right now and take a chance?

P: Why not? I did it. Look, I'm no fool. I'm not telling you to go throw your money away or anything like that. I'm just saying that in America in order to succeed you need to take a risk. My risk was the casinos.

Q?: If I were your child, your son or your daughter, would you still tell me to go to the casinos to improve my life?

P: Hmmm.

Q?: Would you?

P: Hmmm.

Q?: Aha. I got you! Would you?

P: No, I would tell my child not to gamble.

Q?: I got you!

P: I would tell my child not to, because the children of the rich in America have no need to gamble. And I am rich.

Q?: You are such a hypocrite.

P: No, I am a gambler.

Preston L. Allen is the author of Churchboys and Other Sinners (Carolina Wren Press)

He gambled, he won big, he lost big, and he lived to tell the tale.