And certainly not in Fishtown, where SugarHouse opens its doors today.
"If it weren't for the seduction of gambling," the rhetoric goes, "those kids never would've been in those parked cars."
No argument there. I just don't see how reasonable people can use it to push for the abolition of legalized gambling, unless they're also willing to push for the abolition of society's other legalized vice - drinking.
Talk with any addictions expert about the staggering impact of alcoholism on children and they'll haul out sobering numbers:
In the United States, one in 10 people are addicted to alcohol. Fifteen percent of all children live in a household with an alcoholic. And, before the age of 18, one in four children is exposed to a family member's alcohol abuse or dependence.
"The impact of alcoholism on children is even bigger than the impact of gambling on children, but no one is talking about shutting down corner bars," says Mylene Krzanowski, executive director of student-assistance programs at Caron Treatment Centers, which treat alcohol and drug addiction.
She tells an awful, personal tale of driving home one night, 20 years ago, and almost hitting a 7-year-old boy who, carrying a baby, had darted in front of her car. Shaking, she stopped and asked the child where his mom was. He pointed to a bar.
"I went inside, and the mom was totally under the influence. I yelled, 'I almost killed your children!' " recalls Krzanowski. "She didn't care that she'd left a young child to care for a baby. We call these children 'lost' children. They're burdened with adult responsibilities, behind closed doors. No one sees them."
And just as addicted gamblers have hurt their kids by betting away their paychecks, so, too, have alcoholics inflicted household chaos on their kids.
