Gambling away your money!

Ever since the Casino opened in Singapore, I have been hearing many of my Chinese friends contributing to its success. No wonder, I remember reading about them (the Casinos) posting record earnings in the papers a while back. Interestingly, none of my Singaporean friends have been into the Casino! Is this because of the SGD100 levy for locals to enter?

Where I stay, my landlord alone had lost almost SGD10,000 of his hard earned money at the Casino over 6 months (that's him below with the thumbs up despite the loss)! Instead of sending money home, he had to call home to ask his parents to send money here! It seems he comes from quite a well-to-do family, so maybe that's not too bad. But just 2 nights ago, he came home in the early morning, just as I was about to leave for work and told me he lost another SGD2,000... amazing... and here I am trying to save every penny I have to send home!

Another female colleague working at the Changi Airport told me one Sunday evening at about 8pm, when she came back from the Casino that she just lost SGD1,500. She's so upset, she is going to take a bath, have dinner and then head back to the Casino to try and win her money back! On Monday, she did not go to work as she had to take MC as she was "dead tired"! I dare not asked her if she manage to recoup her losses!

The money may not sound like a lot of money to Singaporeans. I read about a few businessmen who lost millions. But to us migrant workers, SGD800 is about the average month's pay and looking at it that way, my landlord had lost about a year of his salary!

So far, I have not been to the Casinos but maybe I might go and take a look with my sister when she has a day off. But having heard a few of such stories, I am a bit worried that I may be tempted to part with my money (not that there is much) ... thank goodness, I am not a gambler!