Desperation and Gambling

The sadness of a town with a gambling problem and an economy gone to nothing. I'm on my way to the 2010 Face Painting and Body Art Convention in Las Vegas. I experienced torture and sadness when I decided to stop for gas in the last town in Idaho southbound on I-15 (I have no clue the name of this town). I figured gas might be a little cheaper and it would be quiet since it was in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't have been more wrong on the quiet part, I'm afraid. The place was crowded... I had to circle around for a pump and I got the last parking spot to go inside. The checkout line had at least 30 people in it - almost all of them buying lottery tickets. The main language spoken was Spanish, though the crowd was fairly diverse. Apparently, this was the "lucky gas station" to buy lottery tickets at (and maybe the most convenient for the Idaho lottery? Most of these people had Utah plates.). One (white just so we're clear given I mentioned how many Spanish speakers there were) clearly stressed mother was abusively yelling at her kids for, honestly, fairly innocent behavior.

I left with the distinct impression that these people were gambling away their last few dollars in hopes of getting out of economic hard times. Sadly, for most - probably all - of these people they are only digging themselves deeper. They were not a happy crowd. Normally I'd have taken a camera phone pic at least of the long line but I didn't feel it would be safe to do so - they seemed like a group on the edge ready to explode at any tiny thing. May God bless them.