Two Bits – 29 August 2014

I once worked with a couple of fellows who were truly, truly addicted to gambling. They would bet large sums of money on absolutely anything.
One payday they bet their salaries on two pigeons on the windowsill of our building in central Johannesburg, on which one would fly off first. I thought they were joking, but sad to say they were deadly serious. It took the heated intervention of our boss to force them to cancel the bet.
Both those guys committed suicide a few years later. They had monster drink problems, plus they’d gambled away all their money, homes, vehicles and marriages. Sadly, the only solution they saw to their problems was to shoot themselves.
I don’t much care for gambling in casinos or at the races. I might have an occasional flutter on the office July sweepstake or at the club for R10 here or there, but I cannot see any future in throwing my hard-earned money up in the air and hoping it’ll come back double. The odds are dismal.
That said, I do believe in the stock exchange, which is also a gamble but you can pre-determine how much risk you are prepared to take.
We recently visited a local casino as we’d won some comps for a meal. The food was great, but the walk in and out of the casino was about as pleasureable as cleaning a grease trap. I hate the little children running around until all hours while their parents are lost in another world, the drunks, the people feeding those machines mechanically with a glassy expression that says ‘Look at me, I’m a big shot gambler,’ but underneath their stomachs are churning with some excitement, mostly fear that they could lose it all. And sorry, the odds say they probably will.
But when you head into a casino you know what you’re getting. Bad news is that the Gaming Board has approved the placing of 3000 bingo terminals in shopping centres throughout the province.
There are already more than 6000 slot machines in casinos and bars and these machines are not going to help. Bingo machines are just slot machines in disguise.
The child welfare societies say many of the domestic abuse cases reported are as a result of gambling problems. Further, the gambling population has high rates of depression, mania, drug abuse and personality disorders. Research has further shown that people living within a 30 km radius of a gambling operation are twice as likely to become compulsive gamblers. People at the bottom of the socio economic ladder are most vulnerable.
If you would like to register your disapproval of these machines, visit the website stopebt.com or Stop EBT on Facebook where there is a petition you can sign.
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Local is lekker. The annual Entrepreneur programme that has been successfully run by the iLembe Chamber for the past three years has been recognised far and wide as a great way to encourage the growth of small businesses.
The KZN Economic Council, the umbrella body for chambers throughout the province, has picked up the idea and separate Entrepreneur programmes are being launched by Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Zululand and the KZN Youth Chambers.
Working on the experience and advice of our Ilembe chamber, they will identify and provide entrepreneurs and owners of micro-businesses with a grounding to develop businesses that grow and last.
What is more, the Entrepreneur programme is the exact opposite of what I was talking about earlier – gambling.
The programme was conceived to create jobs by teaching skills to people who want to learn, who want to make money for themselves and better lives for their children.
What really sets this apart from a normal education is that it’s a university of life. The mentors, the teachers, are people who have run their own businesses successfully. They want to pass on their hard-won skills to people who can create jobs for others.
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Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in it’s weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
— Sauce unknown