Somehow I doubt this lady will have any luck:

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- She was an ambitious lawyer and TV commentator who starting going to Atlantic City casinos to relax, and soon was getting high-roller treatment that included limousines whisking her to the resort.

Arelia Margarita Taveras says she was even allowed to bring her dog, Sasha, to the blackjack tables, sitting in her purse.

But her gambling spun out of control: She said she would go days at a time at the tables, not eating or sleeping, brushing her teeth with disposable wipes so she didn't have to leave.

She says her losses totaled nearly $1 million.

Now she's chasing the longest of long shots: a $20 million racketeering lawsuit in federal court against six Atlantic City casinos and one in Las Vegas, claiming they had a duty to notice her compulsive gambling problem and cut her off.

"They knew I was going for days without eating or sleeping," Taveras said. "I would pass out at the tables. They had a duty of care to me. Nobody in their right mind would gamble for four or five straight days without sleeping."

Experts say her case will be difficult to prove, but it provides an unusually detailed window into the life of a problem gambler.

"It's like crack, only gambling is worse than crack because it's mental," said Taveras, 37, a New Yorker who now lives in Minnesota. "It creeps up on you, the impulse. It's a sickness."

She lost her law practice, her apartment, her parents' home, and owes the IRS $58,000. She said she even considered swerving into oncoming traffic to kill herself.

In interviews with The Associated Press, Taveras admitted she dipped into her clients' escrow accounts to finance her gambling habit. She was disbarred last June, and faces criminal charges stemming from those actions, but is trying to work out restitution agreements in order to avoid a prison term.

Her lawsuit names Resorts Atlantic City, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, the Tropicana Casino Resort, the Showboat Casino Hotel, Bally's Atlantic City, as well as the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

For those who don't spend much time in casinos, one thing you'll note here and there around a casino (at least in Nevada), is a sign saying "When the Fun Stops" and giving a brochure with contact info on the Nevada Commission on Problem Gaming...not sure if anyone has ever picked up one, but there is an actual effort here in Nevada to help the problem gambler. How good this effort is, I don't know. Whatever that may be, the clear thing is that someone, at least, understands that gaming can be a problem for the individual and figures its enough of a problem to provide - in casinos - information which can help gambling addiction. What this shows is that is is known that the product - gaming - is not an activity without any harm involved.

I have, in my time in Las Vegas, seen people cash their paycheck at a casino (such service provided, as a convenience) and procede to gamble away. Given the law of averages, most people who do this end up losing. As a general rule, no one has a right to interfere with how an adult spends his money on legal products and services - so, our initial presumption whenever we see someone blowing their paycheck on folly is to leave it alone; its none of our particular business. On the other hand, we do have a general, society-wide obligation to look after each other as much as possible. If this lady is correct and she really passed out at the tables and the casino made no effort to tell her that, perhaps, she'd had enough, then I do believe that the casino has failed in its moral obligation to be decent to those who patronise them.

Now, if a casino does cut someone off, that person - if they have a real problem - will just go next door and continue blowing money...but the fact that a person will continue to be a fool doesn't excuse a person or entity from at least trying to assist those who are in trouble. In other words, Ceasar's Palace isn't excused for failing to help a problem gambler because said problem gambler would have just gone across the street and bet the rent at the Flamingo.

On the other hand, "too much" is a subjective judgement - some people can better afford to lose a million dollars than another can afford to lose one hundred. Casinos cannot be expected to know a person's particular financial circumstances and make a hard and fast judgement of when it might be time to encourage the gambler to head home for the evening. But as a general rule, a casino can keep track (and does keep track, very carefully) of how much a regular wins and loses...and it is simple decency to at least point out to a regular patron that they've already lost $1,000 tonight, and maybe its time to go home and hope the cards come out right next week.

This still wouldn't ensure that a fool starts to be wise, but it would be a useful exercise of moral judgement on the part of the gaming industry rather than their asinine "hey, we're just offering entertainment, so its not our fault" whenever confronted with people who bankrupted themselves in a casino. This lady will probably have zero luck with her suit - but I think that the gaming industry, which makes money hand over fist, should take a stronger role in monitoring people who might have slipped from entertainment to obsession vis a vis gambling.

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