Gamblor’s World

from Canadian Press, Globe and Mail, 15/02/07

WINNIPEG — Two Ontario firefighters who were in Winnipeg to attend the memorial service for a pair of fallen comrades are being credited with helping save the life of an elderly man who was attacked with a cleaver at a local casino.

Geronimo Ramos, 78, was playing blackjack Wednesday when he was attacked from behind by a man wielding a cleaver, said police and witnesses.

“The guy had a small kitchen meat cleaver, the blade about four inches long, the handle wrapped in clear tape,” said Eli Beardy, a mental health counsellor from Thompson who was playing poker at a neighbouring table.

“He chopped him right over the top of the head, right in the middle, chopped at him about five times.”

….

Teresito Santos Saqui, 44, of British Columbia, is charged with aggravated assault, possession of a dangerous weapon and breach of bail conditions.

Police and his lawyer said Mr. Saqui was a long-time Air Canada mechanic who has been on disability for several years and may be suffering from mental health issues.

Court documents indicate Mr. Saqui had been out on bail pending a trial of charges of smuggling cocaine from British Columbia.

….

Const. Blair Good said it appears Mr. Saqui had been spending plenty of time recently at the casino, but there had been no prior complaints about his behaviour.

Mr. Ramos’s wife, Linda, said she had gone to the casino to pick up her husband when she saw the ambulances outside and “got a bad feeling.”

Her heart sank as she watched her husband carried out on a stretcher.

“There was so much blood,” she said. “I can’t believe he lost that much blood.”

Security has been increased at two Winnipeg casinos as a result of the attack.

“This is unprecedented in our history,” said Susan Olynik, spokeswoman for the Manitoba Lotteries Corp.

“We want to express our sympathies to the victim and his family.”

The story below indicates how reliance on slot machine revenue has such a strong hold in Blackpool.
About 30 drivers admit they are losing most of the £30,000 a year lost on the slot machines in their staff canteen.
Many pubs and working mens clubs, would also go bust, without their slot machine income, but who cares about the addicts???
Bus drivers in gambling row

BLACKPOOL bus drivers could go hungry in a row over one-armed bandits.
Transport bosses have told more than 400 workers they will lose their staff canteen if they vote to get rid of a pair of fruit machines.
Around 30 disgruntled workers have approached union bosses saying they are spending too much money on the machines – some reportedly pumping as much as £80 a week into them.
Fearing they are becoming addicted, they have asked for the “bandits” to be removed from the Blackpool Transport canteen and at the main bus depot at Rigby Road.
Bosses have agreed to let the workers decide and a ballot is being held tomorrow.
However, Rigby Road chiefs today warned that money generated by the machines helps fund the privately run staff canteen above BHS on Market Street.
If the machines go – so does food and drink for the workers.
One bus driver, who did not want to be named, told The Gazette: “We’re basically being told by management ‘If you want to eat, you will have to gamble!’
“That is not on and many people here are very unhappy by this. They’ve given us a hard choice because people want the machines to go and the canteen to stay open.
“Why should it be that if you don’t want a fruit machine in your canteen they will close the canteen – how can they treat people like this?”
The canteen is subsidised both by Blackpool Transport and earnings from gambling. It is believed the two fruit machines raise around £30,000 a year.

Transport, said the decision rested with the workers’ vote.
He explained: “This is a matter which is entirely up to them.
“It’s very simple. If the workers choose to vote to get rid of the machines the canteen facilities will go, but the rest room will remain.
“There are a minority of staff who have spoken to the unions saying they have a problem with the gaming machines.
“We’ve told them for the canteen to stay open there needs to be some money coming in from the machines which are based at Market Street and Rigby Road.
“We cannot afford to subsidise the facilities on our own.
Ballot
“The staff have advised us they wish to hold a ballot in which they wish to ask whether or not to keep the fruit machines. At the end of the day, the decision is up to the workers.”
Today, union leaders said workers were being given a tough choice over the future of the canteen.
Ray Curtin, union representative for the Transport and General (T&G) workers union, said: “We were approached by a number of workers before Christmas saying they were having problems with the machines.
“As a branch we’ve decided to put it to the vote so it’s up to the members to decide what happens next.
“In effect we’re facing a moral dilemma.
“Should there be a concern for the 20 or 30 people who say they have a problem with the machines or for the 400 workers who use the canteen on a regular basis? The workers have a tough choice.”

Study finds clues to Parkinson’s drug gambling

Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:03 PM GMT, CHICAGO (Reuters) - Parkinson’s disease victims who become compulsive gamblers as a result of the drugs they take share some common traits including age and alcohol use, a study said on Monday.

The finding, if confirmed by more research, may help doctors identify which patients are at high risk for the drug side effect, the report in the Archives of Neurology said.

Compulsive gambling is one of several well-documented reactions to dopamine drugs, which are used to treat Parkinson’s. Others are hypersexuality, compulsive shopping and binge eating.

The study from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, looked at 63 Parkinson’s patients, 21 with pathological gambling habits after taking dopamine drugs and another 42 who did not develop the reaction after using the drugs.

They were checked at a clinic in Toronto, Canada, between June 2003 and October 2005.

The gamblers were likely to be younger when they developed the disease, have a family or personal history involving alcohol abuse and have a personality trait called novelty seeking — meaning they tended to be impulsive, quick-tempered and easily bored, among other things.

Previous studies have shown that the gambling side effect is unrelated to how big the drug dose was, an indication that some other underlying traits trigger the response, the study said.

“Screening for such features and advising those at higher risk may be warranted,” the report concluded.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.