“I know you publish in the newspaper and I would like to ask you to write about a crime,” he told me, looking into my eyes as he approached me in the middle of the street with a look I could even now can’t describe it with an adjective that would minimally describe the whole thing, the pain and anguish those students embraced. I have always been someone who listened to the pain of others and put my pen in the service of lost causes instead of gain. But that verbal approach, I confess, made my hair stand on end and before he could see me as an accomplice to any crime, I warned him that the person he needed to talk to was the police. And that I had several friends at the police station, and that if he needed help… well, I would even accompany him. What I mean by this is that I didn’t run away or evade the possible help I could give an elderly stranger to be my son if I had been a teen mom. The boy told me that he had already gone to the police. That the complaint had already been made, but that the world needed to know the crimes (other of many) that happened daily and with impunity in the eyes of the world (come to think of it, I should be flattered, she must have thought that my words had the power to reach everywhere. Hopefully these will arrive). Without waiting or asking me anything and without ceasing to give me that pleading look, he told me he was a gambler. A miserable gambler – who had feelings – who played with his hair until he lost everything, including his family. To his wife, a woman who had believed in him, in his rehabilitation, in his promises… – he then swore that he would get treatment and legally “forbid” himself from entering gambling and gambling establishments. And he did. His wife, who loves him and is able to see the good man behind the misery of addiction, gave him another chance. One weekend, after a more or less long period of abstinence, when he walked through a playroom and knew that entry was prohibited, he wanted to try it on. He tried to enter. And worst of all, they let him do it without any problem. When he complained to the gatekeeper that he was not allowed in because his accepted self-ban was recorded in the Ministry of the Interior, that man told him to go in, that nothing would happen to him, that the signature of those gamblers corridors was what important enough that nothing touched him, that there were many like him and that they were inside and having a good time. You have to be a child of Satan to do that. Besides, what are the police doing about it? I imagine this is where your guts start to turn. But it is that the strongest comes now: in the room there are dataphones to which it is enough to bring the cards to them and they spit out cold and hard bills so that you can leave them in the machines without any problem. How’s the body? And worst of all, this testimony does not stand alone. There have already been several complaints from other gamblers trying to rehabilitate themselves who not only need the help of the owners of the clubs, but rather that these… gentlemen? In any case, obey the laws. If crime is defined by the dictionary as the “voluntary action to kill or injure someone”, I totally understand that this man was talking about the crime that gambling halls and casinos commit with all those sick gamblers who lose their lives bleeding to death, so that some villains fatten their treasury without any gloating. On more than one occasion I’ve had the sad opportunity to listen to the testimonials of players, the most horrific experiences you can’t even imagine in your worst nightmares, the most horrific humiliations, and the most dangerous experiences of getting debts off the game. settle . I assure you they surpass the best horror movie. Tobacco is bad and deadly. And we know. Alcohol destroys, causes accidents and is perfect for awareness campaigns. Pharmacies have firmly established their concession. When will the same be done with gaming halls, with casinos, with the arcade machines that are installed closer to schools and in abundance? When will the crime of the game be prosecuted? Or, at least, when are they going to enforce existing minimum standards?
Source: La Verdad
I am George Kunkel, an author working for Today Times Live. I specialize in opinion pieces and cover stories that are both informative and thought-provoking – helping to shape public discourse on key issues. My work is regularly featured across the network’s many platforms, including print media and social media.
