Gamblor’s World

By ROSS ROMANIUK, SUN MEDIA, Winnipeg Sun, Wed, June 6, 2007

Charlette says thinking positively and intuitive feelings won’t help you beat very long odds. (JASON HALSTEAD, Sun Media)

If you think the bingo numbers and spinning lemons are lining up in your favour, Val Charlette has a warning for you — the gambling gods are not.

The Addictions Foundation of Manitoba consultant wants just about anyone trying their hand at bingo, video lottery terminals or other gaming machines to ultimately recognize the risks of overconfidence in “their own efforts” to beat very long odds with unproven methods or unrealistic hopes. Because the most proven science of gambling numbers is that they’re stacked against you, she said.

“When you’re playing bingo, do you think positively? Do you think that thinking positively is going to result in a win?” Charlette, a gambling prevention educator with the AFM in Thompson, asked a crowd of dozens of representatives gathered at the National Aboriginal Gambling Awareness Conference in Winnipeg yesterday. “Are there gambling gods listening to my thoughts or my prayers? Probably not.”

It was a sobering message about the dangers of wonky strategies and “looking for that power within” when shoving coin after coin into a ringing, flashing gizmo.

A long list of red-flag mindsets were highlighted — selective recall in “remembering a win and forgetting or glossing over losses,” the near-miss notion in “justifying further tries” at a game after appearing to come close in lining up numbers or symbols and “personification” with a game in believing it’s a thinking entity.

As well, Charlette pointed to superstitions in keeping possessions or clothing on hand for luck, as well as cognitive distortion in believing “that every intuitive feeling is going to give them a win.”

IT’S CHANCE

For aboriginal gamblers, such conceptions could become an issue through their “very strong connection to spirituality,” she said. And she said aboriginals sometimes have “the gift of intuition and dreams,” they shouldn’t attempt to use it when chance is a major player. “Every time someone presses a button on a VLT machine, it’s just like when you throw a die. It’s one in six, no matter what.”

Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.

The 3rd National Aboriginal Gambling Awareness Conference will provide opportunities for participants to develop a holistic balance on contemporary gambling, including the social and economic impacts of problem gambling on First Nation and other Aboriginal communities.

This conference will draw upon the experience of researchers, community & treatment service workers, and members from the gaming industry to acquire skills and knowledge about problem gambling resources and contemporary treatment approaches. Participants will also have the opportunity to learn about responsible gambling issues, including research as it pertains to problem gambling impacts on Aboriginal communities.

more information at http://www.afm.mb.ca/Partnerships/NAGAC.htm

The brochure and registration form for
the Third National Aboriginal Gambling Awareness Conference being held
from June 5 - 7 in Winnipeg is available at the following website:

http://www.afm. mb.ca/Partnerships/NAGAC. htm

The registration form can be downloaded from the website and faxed in
to the address indicated. Plenary speakers include, Harold Wynne, Mark
Anielski and Lorna Dyall from New Zealand. There are a number of
excellent concurrent sessions scheduled also.

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.”

 

By BOB HOLLIDAY, Winnipeg Sun STAFF REPORTER, Sat, November 25, 2006

Customers will decide if a native-owned gaming lounge in Headingley respects the province’s smoking ban, the chief of the Swan Lake First Nation declared yesterday.

Chief Robert Daniels said the majority of customers have told him they hope the VLT lounge remains smoke-free.

"So far our customers are pleased with non-smoking. We will do what is best for our customers, and the customer is always right," said Daniels, as the band officially opened the site, just outside city limits in the Rural Municipality of Headingley.

The band bought the land in 2000 for $650,000 under a treaty land entitlement and received reserve status from Ottawa in April.

As an urban reserve, the land falls under the federal Indian Act, giving the band the ability to pass and enforce bylaws in a number of areas that would supersede local laws and bylaws, such as the provincial smoking ban.

 

SMOKING ROOM

The band has passed a bylaw allowing for a smoking room. The bylaw comes into effect Dec. 13, said Daniels. But Daniels said he’s not sure whether the lounge will welcome smokers once the band bylaw takes effect.

The band transferred 40 of its 60 VLTs from Swan Lake to its new gaming lounge, which can be quickly turned into a smoking facility with a non-smoking room.

There are 28 machines in the large room and another 12 in a smaller room off the main entrance to the lounge.

Daniels said the lounge, as well as a 24-hour gas bar on the west end of its 25-acre property, will help the band pay down its debt. A coffee shop is also planned for the property.

"We have to provide more funding for our youth and elders," said Daniels.

In the past two years the band, located about 150 km southwest of Winnipeg, has paid down almost a third of its $2.8-million debt.

Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc.

 

By ROCHELLE SQUIRES, Winnipeg Sun Legislature REPORTER, Wed, November 22, 2006

The Manitoba government has agreed to give natives $20 million in gaming revenue over five years to help improve their standard of living.

The province confirmed a memorandum of understanding was signed earlier this month to provide $4 million per year for the next five years to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC).

Gaming Minister Dave Chomiak remained tight-lipped about details.

"When the fund is ready and if it’s established and set up then obviously we’ll provide the information, but there’s a whole number of matters we’re negotiating," he said.

Negotiations to share lottery profits from all casinos and VLTs in the province with First Nations have been ongoing since 2003. Currently, First Nations keep profits from the two on-reserve casinos and 90% of VLT revenue from on-reserve sites.

 

Ian Cramer, business adviser for the AMC, said the $20 million would help create economic opportunities.

"We’re a few months away from deciding how that fund will flow, but the intention is for First Nations economic development," said Cramer.

The $20-million fund is being dismissed as paltry by many native leaders.

"The chiefs have told us quite clearly that it’s too small a fund. It’s not nearly enough money to affect change in the economy of First Nations," said Cramer. "But it’s a good first start."

The AMC is also asking for authority over all gaming activity on reserves.

Its proposed First Nations Gaming Corp. would replace Manitoba Lotteries Corp. (MLC) as the regulating body on reserves and oversee on-reserve VLTs, bingo games and casinos.

Chomiak said that decision has not been made.

Opposition leader Hugh McFadyen said the government is keeping taxpayers in the dark about the fund.

"We would like them to table the memorandum of understanding and give Manitobans an opportunity to review it to ensure there’s accountability," he said.

McFadyen said the money should flow with strings attached. "Compliance with a universal smoking ban should be a condition of this agreement," he said.

Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.