Breeding a nation of chronic gamblers.

The "Integrated Resorts" are coming and with them, the temptations of casinos. Many, in the media, seem to look upon this prospect with great anticipation - but shall the opening of grand casinos in Singapore lead to more problems than they are worth?

Yesterday, I saw some evidence that Singapore might be in for troubles it is really unprepared for. I was shopping with my middle son, Fintan, five, in Toys R Us, to get an idea of what he might like for Christmas. While we browsed through the brightly coloured offerings, I noted something unexpected: a toy casino.

I looked on this box with some shock. It contained a roulette wheel and some card based games (the box proclaimed that there were four casino games contained within). What on Earth was a home casino doing in a toy shop?

It seems that either no-one has considered the effect of offering casino toys in a children's shop - or that someone has considered it and thought it a great idea for breeding life's addicted gamblers.

I noted that on the box was a little white sticker which had been affixed, perhaps in Singapore itself (it wasn't part of the box normally) with the symbols: "18+" on it. Now, that seems like nothing more than a cop-out - because how many over 18s (apart from parents) actually shop in Toys R Us? It is primarily a shop for little kids - and the majority of people who would see the casinos on offer would be little kids.

What would happen to any family that bought such a game? Well, two things: the kids would learn how to play casino games - and they would also learn the excitement of gambling. There is also something that they would not learn: that gambling can be very harmful to one's life and well-being, bringing with it, the certainty, in the long-run, of financial ruin. No gambler, apart from those of peculiar gift at card games, perhaps, can ever expect to win, long-term: everyone loses - and the longer you play, the more you will lose.

So, these casino games will breed future gamblers. The kids who have so much fun playing with their "casino" as a child, are very likely to grow up to be adults who think that they are equipped to play in the real casino with their hard-earned salaries. Indeed, if they have a lot of fun at home, playing the casino games, they may even make it a bit of an obsession and become life-long, hardcore gamblers. You see, once the excitement of gambling is felt, by some people, there is no turning back - they are addicted to the thrill of these games. Not everyone is like that. However, if enough young children get to play these casino games, it is certain that many of these natural gambling addicts will encounter the games, and become ensnared on the thrills of gambling. Such children will grow up to be adults with poor life outcomes.

I understand that Singapore's government is anxious to find sources of revenue - but sometimes some sources are just not worth the hassle they will bring.

The advent of the IRs may bring much more than additional tax revenue to the State - it may also lead to many thousands of Singaporeans ruining their lives through the consequences of gambling addiction.

I think casino games should be banned from the shop shelves. No child should be entrained into a world of gambling. There are many more fruitful lessons they could learn, than the excitements of the roulette wheel or the blackjack table. Indeed, it gave me a little shudder to see that casino game on sale in a famous children's toy shop. There seems such cynicism in marketing such a "game" in such a location - for it is sure, given the demographic of people who go to such a store, that the primary people on behalf of whom it is purchased, will be kids a lot younger than 18.

Save the kids: ban the casino games.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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On the value of Beauty

Beauty has great value, which may not be measurable in dollars and cents, but is there all the same. However, not everyone realizes this.

Last week, Wisma Atria, the Orchard Road shopping centre, announced that they were going to dismantle the landmark aquarium in their shopping mall, and send the fish to a better home, elsewhere. Instead, they said they were going to "improve our retail offering". By this, I assume that they mean to put another shop, where the aquarium now stands.

In the nine years since I first came to Singapore I have come to understand that many decisions here are made purely on numbers. No other means of thought is consulted. Indeed, it is clear that most decision makers have no other means to think, than by numerical means. The primary number they are concerned with is this: how much money they can make. The dollar is the true ruler of Singapore.

I have stood by and watched many stupid decisions be made on the basis of this excessive love for the dollar. Removing the aquarium at Wisma is one of them. Clearly, no-one in the Wisma management has given any thought to what the aquarium does for their mall, nor what it represents for their customers. The aquarium is the most memorable thing about Wisma, in fact, it is true to say it is the ONLY memorable thing about Wisma. People have used it as a landmark by which to find their way through the subterranean reaches of its shopping mall, since the day it was first built. Friends would meet there. People would take photographs with it, in the background. The aquarium was very much a little "star". Indeed, I took a photograph of my father standing before it, on his recent visit.

The management of Wisma are clearly thinking in terms of the rental foregone for the space taken up by the aquarium. I think they are not looking at the big picture. Those elegant multi-coloured fish, swimming away all day, implanted Wisma in people's minds. It was ever pleasant to see the aquarium hove into view, as one stepped out into the underground space in which it stands.

I think it likely that the aquarium drew more people to visit Wisma Atria, than the shop that replaces it will. I very much doubt whether the overall take of the mall will increase when the environment is diminished by the absence of the aquarium. I think it more likely that the take will decrease, in fact. With the aquarium gone, there will be no reason to choose Wisma Atria as one's meeting place, when convening in Orchard Road - other locations would be easier to find and therefore meet at.

Wisma Atria is well on the way to becoming a forgettable place, for they have forgotten the value of beauty.

Wisma is likely soon to discover that beauty has a commercial value, too: for where would you rather shop - a beautiful mall, with a pleasant environment, or one in which there is nothing but shops crammed together, all shouting for your money? Taking the aquarium away, is one big step away from the former, for Wisma, towards the latter. I don't see it as an improvement.

For me, now, another shopping mall is now more memorable: Takashimaya. Why? Because they have an underground fountain. That is where I am going to meet people in Orchard in future. I suggest you all do the same. It is very easy to find - and easy to remember, too.

Let us just hope that Takashimaya, don't wish to "improve their retail offering" by pulling out the beautiful fountains and replacing them with a shop. If they do, I am not going to shop on Orchard at all, anymore.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)