Bill, 

I’m glad you admitted you had a gambling problem. Even if you’re not a gambling addict and can afford to lose the money, do you really want your money supporting the gambling industry? An industry that not only ruins lives wherever it goes, but betrayed your confidence and insulted you behind your back even though you were an outstanding customer and treated you like a king to your face. Surely a virtuous man can find better ways to spend time and money.

If you find playing video slots and video poker for high stakes relaxing, and want to continue to do so without actual gambling, then might I suggest that you can still do this at home with a casino game on a PC? To “keep it interesting”, you could donate your losses to charity, and spend the money on the wife when you win. You’d get the fun and relaxation, and other people would benefit as well.

If you want to make a clean break with gambling, but enjoy the experience of solitaire gaming, you could try computer games. In Diablo, you get to slay the forces of evil — sounds pretty virtuous to me. In Civilization, you can build a society to withstand the test of time. I’m not sure about the virtue part, but I sure find it relaxing. In Black and White, you get to be a deity for good or evil — temptation and virtue in the same package. And as far as stakes go, it doesn’t get any higher in those three games, what with the fate of the earth riding on the outcome and all. I’d mention the Sims, but you should wait since Sims 2 is coming out, and despite your detractors, I don’t think you really want to micromanage other people’s lives like the Sims has you do. Frankly, after parenthood, the Sims is too much like work.

If violent video games are on the forbidden list, I guess there’s always gardening.

Your Friend,

Kevin Murphy