Word: riverboats
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Sharon Willman was what the folks who run the local riverboat casino called a good customer. She played often, and she bet big. She lost many thousands of dollars. So when she stopped cruising on the Station Casino riverboat off St. Charles, Mo., the folks were naturally concerned. They sent her lots of nice invitations to parties and get-togethers to try to get her back. They kept at it. They even sent her a personal invitation to an exclusive "cocktail party" at the casino, where she and other "big winners'" would "become part of the action" in the shooting...
That may seem like an innocent enough come-on. But the unfortunate fact is that Willman, 53, is a compulsive gambler who lost so much money at Station Casino that to protect herself, she arranged to be legally barred from entering the riverboat and taken off its mailing lists. In spite of these efforts, the casino continues to send her a steady stream of solicitations--even though it is now exhorting her to commit an act of criminal trespass. "The mailings just keep on coming," she says. She was told by the management of Station Casino that its computerized database...
...industry's insistence that it's a wholesome entertainment business sometimes gets it in trouble with the public. When the Hilton Flamingo Casino participated in a job fair in March at a Kansas City, Mo., grade school, the sight of children wearing casino T shirts and singing the riverboat's theme song received critical coverage in a local newspaper. Then there was the woman who tried to have her dead husband's name removed from the mailing lists of the Station Casino, which Sharon Willman is having trouble with. She was told that the only way to have his name...
...towns that began to totter after losing a factory or military base, you can hear the debate over the price worth paying for survival: What kind of industry, what kind of zoning, how many prisons? In Rising Sun, Ind., they ask if it is worth inviting in the riverboat casino, with all the cars and all-night grocery stores and Gamblers Anonymous meetings that come with it, if that means people will no longer have to drive two towns over to see a dentist. In Hutchinson, Kans., they wonder whether the job security that comes with two new prisons...
...today wears its heritage from storefront to storefront: Krupp Florist, Schnuck's Grocery, Dueker Chiropractic. In this tidy community of Moose lodges and brick churches, even the gas stations are nicely landscaped. But look closer, and gambling seems to have sneaked in everywhere--and not just because the riverboat casino of East St. Louis is docked 14 miles away. The gambling rage has also come through the video-poker machines in the local taverns, bowling alleys and American Legion halls. Under Illinois law these establishments may install an innocuous version of the machines--one that allows the player to have...