Our Casino Economy

Crossposted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

It doesn’t matter that the house always wins because hey, you might get lucky.

The Casino Next Door

How slot machines snuck into the mall, along with money laundering, bribery, shootouts, and billions in profits

By Felix Gillette, Business Week

April 21, 2011, 5:00PM EST

Jacks is about the size of a neighborhood deli. There is a bar next door and a convenience store around the corner. Inside, jumbo playing cards decorate the walls. The room is filled with about 30 desktop computers. Here and there, men and women sit in office chairs and tap at the computers. They are playing “sweepstakes” games that mimic the look and feel of traditional slot machines.

With most of these pokies now being played online instead of at traditional land casinos, it is easier for players to get their hands on some potential earnings. Rows of symbols-cherries, lucky sevens, four-leaf clovers all tumble with every click of the mouse.

There are no doubts about it, the range of online gambling opportunities for gambling enthusiasts has soared over the past few years. Nowadays, whether you are a poker fan or a lottery lover, there are so many amazing games out there to suit every ability. Moreover, as there are so many of these online gambling websites, users have to do some research beforehand to make sure they’re using a safe website that has all the best features.

However, it is no secret that finding the right games for your needs can take a long time. With this in mind, if you are a lottery fan, why not take a look at some of the reviews over at Hethaobet. Reading reviews of a few unique lottery games might be all it takes to find the best online gambling website for your needs.

Tempted to give an online casino a try for yourself? A friend of mine recently recommended www.neuecasinos.de to me. My friend lives in Germany and is a keen gambler, so if you are looking for some fun new online casino games, you might want to take a look too.

Gambling is a high-margin, cash-rich business. According to Mecham, each terminal at a thriving cafe typically grosses $1,000 to $5,000 per month. A medium-size business with, say, 100 machines would therefore gross around $250,000 a month, or in the ballpark of $3 million a year. All of which would suggest that in less than a decade, Internet sweepstakes cafes in the U.S. have grown into a collective $10 billion to $15 billion industry.

Customers are easy to find. Mecham says sweepstakes cafes cater primarily to two demographics: the old and the poor. “Lower-income customers are coming in because they’re bad at math,” he says. “It’s like the lottery. The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math. They’re coming in to try and catch a big break.”

Are you sure this place is honest?

Honest? As honest as the day is long!

2 comments

  1. …and a reason to get out of bed in the morning. This couple is what Robert Rubin, Timothy Geithner and Jeffrey Immelt see as ideal Americans. They are one of 100’s of millions of individual hosts being sucked dry by the immense parasite.

    It’s almost noon, and she’s down $5. Not bad. Her husband, Tony, sits a few feet away. “This is the most fun we’ve had in 20 years,” says Joy, who is 78 and retired. “At our age, we can’t hike. You can’t pay him to go to the movies. This gives us a reason to get up in the morning.”

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