For a bankrupt Detroit, the gaming industry has been a steady source of income and tax revenue over the last decade, despite an unstable auto industry. But while the establishment of MGM Grand Detroit, Motor City Casino (MCC) and Greektown Casino have attracted hundreds of thousands of metropolitan residents into the city, it's no secret that the casinos have become a large stomping ground for the local Arab and Chaldean communities in recent years.
Problem gambling, while affecting a small percentage of total gamblers, is growing among people age 60 and older, a key customer base of the burgeoning casino gambling industry in Western New York. With bus trips from senior centers and casinos opening not just here, but across the country, gambling is easier than ever for retirees to pick up and, for a vulnerable minority, a hard habit to quit.
Gambling rates among Asians are higher than those of any other ethnicity in the United States, according to psychiatrist Dr. Tim Fong, co-director of UCLA’s Gambling Studies Program. “We did a survey a few years back, and at any given time, 35 percent of people in the casinos we visited were Asians,” even though Asians constitute only 14 percent of the state's population, Fong said. Fong said gambling rates are highest among Chinese, followed by Koreans and Filipinos.
The boardwalk was the empire where seaside recreation began. Today, Atlantic City retains one the world's great nostalgic walkways and a treasure trove of other activities worth mentioning. Recent improvements in infrastructure, public safety, and a business-friendly local government have transformed the old monopoly board-game into a world-class destination dubbed "America's Playground."
What drove Binh Thai Luc, 35, to be charged this week with slaying five people in a San Francisco home last week? The grisly murders have rocked the city and left investigators and the public searching for a motive. News media reports have suggested that the killer may have been trying to collect on gambling debts. Although gambling addiction affects every group, researchers have found unusually high levels among Asians.
If relatively simple songs are being underanalyzed, we also lose the power in more complicated expressions of protest in songs like Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” The song’s triumphant chorus, which chants “Born in the U.S.A.,” often overshadows its darker verse.
Professional baseball faced a similar postwar influx. More than 500 major leaguers and 4,000 minor leaguers had swapped jerseys for military fatigues during the previous four years. Two former big leaguers, Harry O’Neill and Elmer Gedeon, plus more than 100 minor-league players, lost their lives.
