iety as a whole, we see the "preservative impulse" involved in gambling operate for every age and socio-economic group. Many elderly persons are passionate gamblers, called "elderly life seekers." What they seek is what most gamblers seek, involvement in the action. This is crucial to their sense of well-being in this society, which excludes them from the action of living and seeks to hide them away. Not only this, but while they play random games such as bingo and slot machines, they have an equal chance with the rest of the participants for perhaps the first time in their lives. While they play, they are wholly absorbed in the contest. The implications of this are that gambling can stimulate the elderly to renewed interest in life, and that homes for the aged would do well to allow their residents to gamble, keeping them alert and stimulated rather than dull and tranquilized. Moving from the retired to the working class, we find the importance of the gamble is still in the action. In this case, however, the working-class individual sees his participation as a means of surmounting impotence, of feeling that he has a hand in his own destiny. Having little opportunity for decision making in his job, he feels that if he wins he has in some way controlled his world; if he loses, it is simply a tough break. Some feel that gambling provides a measure of escape from unrewarding occupations. Corporations concerned with efficiency and the mental well-being of employees involved in monotonous tasks might do well to incorporate some form of gambling break, keeping people interested and alert. The prizes need not be monetary, but could include time off, a really precious commodity to many. It is not suggested that we could solve the world's problems by turning it into a giant casino. Instead, it is suggested that in a time when we need imagination and creativity more desperately than at any previous time in history, we do wrong to suppress a whol...
