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Published On: Mon, Jan 22nd, 2018

Astonishing donation

By Hilbert Haar

Did anybody wonder about the astonishing donation of $46,694 the Jump Up Casino made to the Rotary Club and the Lions Club? I’m not questioning the gesture – on the contrary – but I was blown away by the sheer amount and even more by the source of this money.

And no – before anybody starts – it’s not dirty. Nothing like that. This money is the proceeds of a “progressive bingo tournament” – whatever on earth that is –  that was held in the month of December.

Remember that we had a hurricane in September of last year? Remember that, as a result of that disaster, the island will have to deal with, at least, 6,000 people without a job? Remember that, if we have to believe this, people are scrambling for money to fix their roofs, or their whole house?

Remember also that State Secretary Raymond Knops has said that €550 million ($660 million) is probably not enough to finance the reconstruction of our island?

And in between all this misery, a progressive bingo tournament played by – or so I assume maybe a bit recklessly – mostly local players is raising close to fifty grand?

Employees who got sacked after the hurricane and, if they were lucky, got three months worth of salary from they employers, must have been close to broke in December – or so I thought. But apparently this was not the case with the good citizens who took part in this bingo tournament.

Why are people doing this? For all I know, nobody walked away with a cash prize anywhere near that amount, so it is safe to say that the participants happily gambled their money away. All for a good cause of course, but still.

I would have thought that buying food and other necessities would top gambling. But it doesn’t.

The first day the Princess casino in Cole Bay opened its doors again after the hurricane – it was a Thursday, at 12 noon – the place was almost immediately filled to capacity with people playing the slot machines.

Even people with half a brain could know that playing slot machines is a fast way to lose your money; the only activity topping this is probably playing blackjack.

So again, why are people doing this? Since it is not about making money – based on results – it must be something else.

The only reason I can think of is that these people needed some entertainment badly. Hurricane Irma has made a deep and lasting impression on everybody who went through the experience and with all those shattered car windshield, collapsed buildings, sunken boats and ripped off roofs, there is an obvious need for distraction.

I have been playing some poker games – cash and tournaments – over the past couple of months (for the same reasons) and there I saw something similar. Players played for the hell of playing and some of the players seemed oblivious to the fact that they were bleeding money like crazy. The game, the distraction, that was all that mattered. With some ups and downs, I can say that up to this day I am playing with other people’s money, but that is how the poker community works: 80 percent of the players lose money so that the other 20 percent can put it in their pockets.

And to be totally honest, I at times started wondering about where all that money on the table came from – but that’s another story.

In the meantime I’m making a serious effort to wrap my mind around that image of bingo tournament players who left, between them, a small fortune on the table at the Jump Up casino. Can’t have been a very merry Christmas for them.