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Front Page » Archive » Vol
2 No 47 » here
Local gambler loses $1 million, kills wife, self
It's the headline you didn't read,
and it's the story that shouldn't have happened
by Bruce Macdonald
The Republic
On September 4, local media reported an explosion and house fire in southeast Vancouver.
Reports stated that grandparents and children fled the burning house, but parents
were unaccounted for. Later, two bodies were found in the basement crawl space.
What did not make the news so dramatically was the later discovery that the father,
a Mr Tung, was a casino gambler who lost $1 million in just one year at the baccarat
tables at Burnaby's Gateway Casino.
"He started coming there about a year ago, every day, and losing his shirt every
single day" said a woman who wished to remain nameless. She added it would not be
unusual for Mr Tung to bet $500 at a time at the baccarat table.
Following an autopsy, police said they believed Mrs Tung had been murdered before
the house was set afire with gasoline, in an apparent murder-suicide by Mr Tung. Mr
Tung had lost the family fortune and had reached the end of desperation.
This awful tragedy not only endangered the lives and homes of his neighbours but
almost took the lives of the Tung's children and their grandparents. Until quite recently
this series of events could not have happened in the Lower Mainland.
For many decades, there was serious opposition to legal casinos in British Columbia.
WAC Bennett, BC's premier from 1952 to 1972, was against them. The NDP who ruled from
1972 to 1975 was not enthusiastic about them either, but compromised by legalizing
lotteries in 1974. Most of the public today accepts legalized gambling, with public
regulations.
Gambling is an interesting phenomenon. Although patrons of casinos rarely show emotion
when winning or losing thousands of dollars, it is an emotionally-based activity that
can become very additive. Every few minutes, a gambler experiences the frustration
of losing small amounts of money, followed by the much less frequent but powerful
sensation that comes with winning a larger amount. Most people lose money, but they
remain always tantalizingly close to winning, as they head all the way down to zero.
Regulated casino gambling was legalized in 1987. After taking into account public
concerns, the government allowed a maximum bet of $5, and each night a hefty 50% of
gross profits went to a BC non-profit society. Additionally, the government kept 10%
of the gross income for itself.
Even with maximum $5 bets and the casino companies keeping only 40% of the gross
gambling income, the profits were substantial enough to keep the casino companies
in business and able to expand over the years. As a non-profit society volunteer whose
job it was to attend casino nights and count the money, I remember the early days
well. Typically our take was only $2,000 or $3,000 in one night, but once it was an
incredibly high $18,000.
At $5 per bet, no one person could lose a lot of money in any one night. People could
gamble without panicking and planning to re-mortgage their home, or dashing out to
get an advance on their paycheck from the corner money store.
However, once the gambling industry had got casinos past public opposition, the system
was quietly changed over time. For example, when the BC Lottery Corporation assumed
responsibility for casinos in 1998, they ceased to operate them as charity casinos.
Since then, all permanent casinos in the province have become strictly commercial
casinos.
At the same time, the percentage of money going to charities was reduced. This was
presented to the public with a positive spin: "Government protects the interests of
charitable gaming through a guaranteed minimum funding level of $125 million to charities
annually, funded through casino, bingo and electronic bingo net income," the government
announced.
With a cap on what charities could get, however, any further increase in betting
limits became manna from heaven for the private casino industry.
Back to the tragedy that struck the Tung family. How did a local family man manage
to lose $1 million so fast? Just a few years ago, this would have been impossible
because no one gambler would have been able to make 200,000 five dollars bets and
lose every one of them.
One gambler was able to lose $1 million in one year because betting limits were quietly
raised from $5 to $500. Does anyone remember being consulted on this?
The last casino night I volunteered to work at was three years ago. As the old pro
who had done it 15 times before, I remember explaining to the new volunteers that
we probably wouldn't make very much money because we were unlucky enough to have been
assigned a Tuesday night. Not only was it not a weekend night, but it wasn't near
a pay day. Oh well, them's the breaks, I thought.
I spoke too soon. Although there were only about 150 gamblers in the casino at any
one time that night, thanks to the increased betting limits, the gross income from
a lousy night was $200,000. Counting the piles of $20s, $50s, $100s and $1,000 dollar
bills kept us up till 5 o'clock in the morning, even though we were using money counting
machines.
The sad truth was that a few hundred people quietly walked out of the casino that
ordinary Tuesday night and voluntarily left behind $200,000 of their money. The proper
term for this is "legalized robbery." It sure isn't "entertainment."
I wonder if Mr Tung was there that evening, and I wonder how many others like him
were silently handing over thousands of dollars while their unsuspecting wives and
children were at home, ignorant of their looming fate.
One of the most important functions of any government is to protect its citizens
from predatory greed. With the usurping of government powers by business interests
now underway across BC and around the globe, we are being made vulnerable again to
the excesses of the greed of a very small but powerful portion of the human race.
Front Page » Archive » Vol
2 No 47 » here
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