Bingo player wins big
A bingo player at a Las Vegas casino has struck it rich by bagging a record-setting jackpot of more than $160,000 (£122,000).
The unnamed bingo winner won the Bingo Dual Daub jackpot amounting to $162,511 (£123,523) in the Rampart Casino at the Resort at Summerlin on March 28, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Undoubtedly, this is a tidy sum to win at a game such as bingo and will be money well received. As this lucky player walks off with their winnings, let’s remember some other big jackpot winners in Sin City?
One has to wonder, though, how these people are living now, whether they still have their winnings, and how it’s changed their lives. Have they spent it all on more gambling and lavish lifestyles or maintained their previous way of life in the knowledge that money will probably not be an issue?
Not everyone is so lucky
Of course, while some people have a lucky streak, which could mean simply being in the right place at the right time, not everyone who gambles is that lucky.
Many gamblers live for the possibility that the next bet will result in a win. Unfortunately, that possibility causes many people to lose money that they can’t afford to lose. For instance, in January, a care worker from the UK was reported to have stolen £8,000 ($10,400) from an 87-year-old woman’s bank account to fuel her gambling habit over a 10-month period.
In an attempt to solve the problem and help people, gamblers will be facing tough ID and age checks before they can place a bet in the UK. This move is part of a new self-exclusion scheme for online gamblers and is due to come into force in May. Currently, 60,000 gamblers have signed up for Gamstop’s self-exclusion scheme, meaning gambling firms will have to remove these gamblers in order to retain their licenses.
While it’s a step in the right direction to helping problem gamblers get their lives back on track, more needs to be done. According to Ronnie Cowan, a Scottish MP, gambling companies should be more proactive when it comes to helping gamblers. In a report last month, he wrote an article stating that the damage being done to gamblers by gambling companies was “tantamount to gross negligence.”
“Debt incurred from gambling creates instability, insecurity and can lead to bankruptcy and, in the extreme, result in criminal activities,” he wrote. “Relationships can be disrupted and often lead to emotional and social isolation. This can lead to mistrust and erodes cohesive relationships.”