For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for September 17, 2016

So this stuff IS addictive…

I called a great many bingo games and “calm” is not a word I would associate with very many players.

Well, Elly, it would’ve been benign if he called B-9, but he didn’t, and so you were B-10…!(Ain’t I just too punny?)

@Jpuzzlewhiz. Your humour is a “pair o doc’s” to me,it needs some surgery! ( just kidding,I like puns)

… and so begins the addiction.

Last night at our “Phase 10” card night, several people had Elly’s attitude, including me. “All I needed was ONE card! I never got that ONE card!”

Life is filled with luck – good and bad.My stroke of good luck was on July 31, 1965. I was in Winnipeg boarding the evening train to Medicine Hat (and then RDC to Lethbridge)My seat partner was a lovely young lady (I was single)And she was well over an 8 (on the 10 scale)And very friendly.And no ring!

And getting off at Portage La Prairie – the next stop!(If she’d been 70 and snored she would have probably been going all the way to Vancouver!)

This is gambling, games of chance. Addiction comes in different guises. The addict is someone that cannot stop on their own.

Gambling preys on the poor worst of all. The poor gamble more than any other socioeconomic group. The occasional wealthy “high roller” does exist, but he is the exception, not the norm. The fact that 55% of Nevada’s gambling income comes from slot machines instead of card tables has confirmed that the poor have been dumping the most money into casinos. Ergo, any attempt to raise government revenue through legalized gambling is a regressive tax, in which the poor pay a larger percentage than the rich or middle class.

All I can think of is how bad she smells from all the cigarette smoke!

Fortunately, this has been outlawed, but at one time gambling machines were fixed such that the output of the random number generator wasn’t always displayed, but another number (also losing) close to the winning number would be displayed – thus the player was mislead into thinking he was close to winning!--At one time there was an investment group called the Beardstown (Ill) Ladies. The government cracked down on them claiming they were exaggerating (by a fraction of a pct) the return on investments. But then, the Illinois State Lottery violates the same rules!

never saw or played a more boring game.

@manzarali1965. That must have been quite an adventure for you back in 1965. Train travel is my favorite mode of transportation. My wife and I are planning a trip from Wiinipeg to Vancouver,to Seattle,to Los Angles,to Chicago,to Grand Forks,then bus back to Winnipeg,in the next year or so.

and right now you stink to high heavens of 2nd hand smoke. It’s in your clothes and your hair your purse everywhere.