LETTER: Making it easier to lose money

The photo of a smiling gaming customer in front of a bank of slot machines holding his phone that displays the Koin digital payment processing app could belie what regret he may be experiencing in short order after exceeding the limit he most likely set for himself (Monday Review-Journal). Making it easier to enjoy what arguably could be considered a vice, just as marijuana use, is, it seems to me, a recipe for more folks becoming addicted and often buried in debt.

The public will, as usual, be enthralled by the intrigue of this new Koin app, and the destruction will begin. Having been involved in the issuance of casino gaming credit many years ago, I can remember the addicted coming back again and again to the cashier’s cage to draw out more money. Often after being cut off at one casino these addicts would make the rounds at other gaming establishments hoping for another money source to tap. In fact, they were called “rounders” and typically were known as such by Central Credit, the only means of tracking them in a very antiquated phone system before computers.

I also have the personal experience of knowing those caught up in the gambling addiction trap and the havoc it wreaked on them. The enticement of hitting the big one is insidious and capable of luring any of us in. There is the potential that those, when using their new Koin app novelty, get hooked and could lead them down a trail of loss of more than money.