It's hard to talk to a five-year-old especially when his Gameboy is clamoring for the same attention. That's always my problem with my son River who's glued to his gizmo most of the day. One time, Riv asked me to help him score some "coins" using a slot machine so he could buy a virtual Pokemon. And that's when I got hooked.
Although I'm no big fan of computer games (except perhaps for solitaire), the doting mom in me readily obliged. Just like in arcade games where you save your points and exchange them later for an item, this Pokemon game had its same addicting effect on me.
I soon found myself trying to milk the slot machine with as many coins as I can until 11 p.m. and woke up at 5 a.m. to play again.
My excuse was, I wanted to surprise my son with enough "coins" so he could buy the most expensive Pokemon when he wakes up in the morning. The truth was, the game was too enticing to resist.
My husband used to say in jest that I'm such a pathological gambler whenever we played "tong-its" on rare occasions. I guess I just hate losing.
One time, we went to Casino Filipino at Waterfront Hotel in Cebu to play. It was our first time to enter a casino together and we were kinda embarrassed to exchange our P500 for some chips not when you have other players betting as much as P20,000!
We ended up fighting that evening because I really wanted to play at the slot machine yet none of us dared approach the dealer for some chips.
Maybe this is one of the reasons why families are torn apart due to gambling? Fortunately for us, we immediately kissed and made up as soon as we went back to our room. =)
P.S.
Incidentally, I just read in the news that Charles Barkley (one of my favorite NBA players of all time) owes a $400,000 gambling debt to a Las Vegas casino. While he said that he's not broke and promised to pay up, I can't help but do a mental calculation of what one could buy with such money.
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