What I Saw at a Local Casino

I have to share something that I witnessed last weekend when I was in Montgomery, Alabama for work and I went to a local Indian Casino (Creek Casino Wetumpka) to while away a few hours on their really tight Class II slots. I want to share it, because it’s stuck in my mind and I’m still very curious as to what the real back story was.

It was about 11:00 A.M. on a Saturday and as I got to the entrance to go in I saw a (very country looking) family of four adults loading an elderly (quite portly) lady in a wheelchair into a van via a hydraulic ramp. From all the care and trouble they were going to, I assumed she was their old Mom or at least a very close, loved relative. I know they were loading her because the ramp was going up – not that this matters. What got my attention was that the old dear seemed to have come straight out of a nursing home. Not only was she sporting the requisite oxygen canula and an IV drip complete with fluid bag hanging off a pole attached to the back of the chair, she was wearing nothing other than a standard hospital gown (hopefully with underwear on, but I couldn’t tell because she was in the wheelchair).

Why on earth, I pondered trying unsuccessfully not to stare, would this lady’s – obviously – loving and caring family take someone so dear to them out to a very crowded, public place without going to the slightly additional bother of dressing her in at least a modicum of street clothes?

I’ve been thinking about this touching little vignette ever since. Although I can never know, there is one scenario that I came up with that would make sense of what I saw: they had literally abducted her from the nursing home. Thus, having to make the quickest and least suspicion raising escape possible they had not had the time, nor was it a priority, to dress her. The family was fulfilling one last wish for their Mom who loved the slots and wanted to go the casino one last time. The nursing staff had declared her too sick for an outing but the family took her anyway, spiriting her out in the chair before anyone could notice she was gone –or at least this is what I want to think. Think of it that way and it was a wonderful, heart-warming thing to do. A touching gift from a loving family. Think of it any other way and it just starts to become too bizarre.

 

I used to go pick up my elderly aunt about once a month and take her to the local Indian casino. She was fully dressed

Anyway, she is now 92 and lives with her daughter, my cousin. They went out and bought a slot machine for her to play at home. She has no idea what she is doing anymore, but she loves playing that slot machine, even with dementia.

I had 15 aunts & uncles on my mother's side, only two still alive. On my dad's side, another 8 and they are all gone. Crap it's hell getting older.

 

When my mother was 93 she wanted me to drive her to Vegas or Reno (doctor wouldn't let her fly) so she could gamble the rest of her $ and either hit it bit and live where she wanted, or qualify for medicaid. Didn't happen. Sorry, mom.

 

I dont go to local casinos and this is one of the reasons.

I have been in the past and there seems to be lots of oddball people in there and thats saying alot coming from me.

i firmly believe that is where tuberculosis comes from ar at least there is a higher chance of getting exposed to it.

 

I bet the family tried to dress her, but the little old lady told them to piss off and to just hurry up and take her to the casino.

 

Interesting story, to say the least. Let's hope love was the motivator throughout such an ordeal.

My question, (when spotting someone in a casino with an oxygen tank) is...whatever happened to no smoking in the presence
of oxygen use?
Most casinos are a smoker's paradise and I've got no dog in that fight. Enjoy your tobacco, everyone.
However, it is a standard in hospitals and health care facilities, where...duh...multiple signs are posted: "Oxygen in use/NO SMOKING".
We've all seen them at some point in our travels, and for good reason.

I wonder how casinos get away with allowing this risk...especially with their insurance companies, OSHA, etc.?
The scariest ones are the folks who smoke while ON oxygen.
And believe me, they're out there!
Maybe not as much in Las Vegas but definitely in many Indian casinos. Happens regularly.
Amazing.

 

We were playing at the bar at Suncoast a couple of years ago. Older couple comes up, sits down next to us and start playing. He had a oxygen tank on wheels and she had a small portable unit that she set on the bar. They are both on the oxygen with the little tube in the nose and they both lit up.

We cashed out and headed to a different bar, even though I had a winning machine.

The place didn't blow up, but how stupid can some folks be? I quit years ago and it was hell, but still...while you're on oxygen.

 

I do remember one Trauma:Life in the ER episodes that featured a lady who indeed had had the oxygen blow up around her face while she was smoking and using O2 at the same time, so it does happen. Seeing those devices + smokers in casinos does freak me out a little, I admit. I'm surprised there hasn't been an accident yet.

 

Maybe the little old lady was THE MONEY cow !!!

 

I agree with the premise that they probably "kidnapped her"...they could have thrown some clothes in the car to cover her with however. I don't blame them. When someones quality of life diminishes let them have that last hurrah. I brought my neighbor to Foxwoods for her birthday 3 years before she died, I did NOT want to take her. I was afraid something would happen, she had heart problems but begged me to take her. We only stayed 2 hours and that exhausted her. I have always been glad for doing it, she rarely left the house for the next 3 years due to her frail state. She never made it to a casino again...she lived for her gambling.

This past May while playing at South Point I had an elderly gentleman scoot his wheelchair up to the machine next to me with oxygen in tow. He then proceded to yell at me because I was smoking ( I was smoking when he hauled his chair in). I was afraid of him being in the casino at all with that tank. Needless to say I cashed out of my favorite machine and left the area. I did however resent the old fart for being there WITH oxygen and coming next to me smoking (on purpose).

 

I was in The ElCo a couple of weeks ago in the area by the subway that has the video poker machines that accept coins, and there was an elderly gentleman on one of the machines hooked up to his oxygen bottle with a big FAT HUGE cigar hangin' out of his mouth.

Needless to say I skidaddled to another area of the casino. I'm afraid the bottle would explode.

 

For the life of me I can never understand why people on their last leg(if they even have one) would want to trudge through crowds and casinos to gamble? That is the last place I would want to be, esp if it was a smoking casino.

Ive been to casinos where older people are lurched over the slots trying to spend or win their last dime. Your money, do what you want with it....personally...I would hope you would give it to your kids or grand kids before dumping hundreds of dollars in a slot.....stupid.

 

Oxygen is not explosive, nor flammable, you guys really need to worry about other things. While it will enhance a fire, it's quite a reach to imagine it as a danger to anyone else.