Queens gamblers take no chances on ballot measure

Posted November 5, 2013 By Sebastien Malo

For many gamblers at the Resorts World Casino near Kennedy Airport, video gaming machines weren’t their only encounter on Tuesday with winner-selecting technology: they had also set aside time to go to the polls for Election Day.

There among the candidates for mayor and other public office they voted on a referendum to legalize full-fledged casinos in selected locations around New York State. Currently, only slot-style machines are allowed at venues like Resorts World.

Resorts World Casino, Queens, Election Day 2013. Photo: Sebastien Malo

The referendum prompted some soul-searching among the voter-gamblers — not all of whom were inclined to vote Yes on Proposal 1.

“I have a mixed view,” Shirley, a 70-year-old Resorts World regular who said she loses as much as $1,200 a month on gambling.

“I’m losing all the time,” she said, speaking loudly in the dimly lit gaming hall over the beeps and bells of slot machines. Still, Shirley said she had marked her ballot earlier in the day in support of the legalized gambling plan.

“Make it legal,” she reasoned. “If people don’t do it here, they’ll do it someplace else.”

Astoria landlord Shah Qurishi, a 61-year-old with a broad smile exposing a few missing teeth, also appeared conflicted on how to combine into a single vote his passion for gaming with the losses he constantly witnesses at the casino.

Qurishi began frequenting the Queens casino a year ago, he said, when a former employee of his dragged him along. He’s since come every week – though at times just to observe video machines and scribble down notes on the patterns they appear to follow.

Qurishi only bets on occasion, he said, and always when he thinks he’s figured the probability that a video baccarat machine, his game of choice, will make him win. “I come to the casino, but I don’t like it; coming is wrong” he said. “The friend who brought me, he’s lost everything.”

After some mulling, Qurishi declared that he’d vote against Proposal 1. “I’m going to be leaving very soon — at 3 o’clock I’ll leave.”

Howard Beach resident Connie, 83, had yet to decide which side of the proposal she was leaning toward on Tuesday afternoon, though she wondered aloud whether the supply of casinos might have reached a point of saturation.

The retiree said she didn’t come to the Resorts World Casino often, and had limited herself to a two-hour gambling session from which she was walking out “even.”

“This particular one, I don’t really care for, it’s just that it’s convenient,” she said.

“I just think that what we have is enough,” she said, adding that she’d vote later in the day. “It’s got to the point of, ‘Where do you go?’”

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<h1>Queens gamblers take no chances on ballot measure</h1>For many gamblers at the Resorts World Casino near Kennedy Airport, video gaming machines weren’t their only encounter on Tuesday with winner-selecting technology: they had also set aside time to go to the polls for Election Day.
There among the candidates for mayor and other public office they voted on a referendum to legalize full-fledged casinos in selected locations around New York State. Currently, only slot-style machines are allowed at venues like Resorts World.
<div id="attachment_13020" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-13020" class="size-medium wp-image-13020" alt="Photo: Sebastien Malo" src="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/resortsworld-300x169.jpg" width="300" height="169" srcset="thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/resortsworld-300x169.jpg 300w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/resortsworld-352x198.jpg 352w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/resortsworld-500x281.jpg 500w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/resortsworld.jpg 568w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Resorts World Casino, Queens, Election Day 2013. Photo: Sebastien Malo</div>
The referendum prompted some soul-searching among the voter-gamblers — not all of whom were inclined to vote Yes on Proposal 1.
“I have a mixed view,” Shirley, a 70-year-old Resorts World regular who said she loses as much as $1,200 a month on gambling.
“I’m losing all the time,” she said, speaking loudly in the dimly lit gaming hall over the beeps and bells of slot machines. Still, Shirley said she had marked her ballot earlier in the day in support of the legalized gambling plan.
“Make it legal,” she reasoned. “If people don’t do it here, they’ll do it someplace else.”
Astoria landlord Shah Qurishi, a 61-year-old with a broad smile exposing a few missing teeth, also appeared conflicted on how to combine into a single vote his passion for gaming with the losses he constantly witnesses at the casino.
Qurishi began frequenting the Queens casino a year ago, he said, when a former employee of his dragged him along. He’s since come every week – though at times just to observe video machines and scribble down notes on the patterns they appear to follow.
Qurishi only bets on occasion, he said, and always when he thinks he’s figured the probability that a video baccarat machine, his game of choice, will make him win. “I come to the casino, but I don’t like it; coming is wrong” he said. “The friend who brought me, he’s lost everything.”
After some mulling, Qurishi declared that he’d vote against Proposal 1. “I’m going to be leaving very soon — at 3 o’clock I’ll leave.”
Howard Beach resident Connie, 83, had yet to decide which side of the proposal she was leaning toward on Tuesday afternoon, though she wondered aloud whether the supply of casinos might have reached a point of saturation.
The retiree said she didn’t come to the Resorts World Casino often, and had limited herself to a two-hour gambling session from which she was walking out “even.”
“This particular one, I don’t really care for, it’s just that it’s convenient,” she said.
“I just think that what we have is enough,” she said, adding that she’d vote later in the day. “It’s got to the point of, ‘Where do you go?’”

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