Losing bet

Business | Dark economic clouds have a silver lining: Casinos are hurting | Lynn Vincent

Associated Press/Photo by Curt Hudson

Pastor John Richardson didn't want to move to Sin City. But when an affluent entrepreneur offered Richardson's wife a job managing his rental properties in Las Vegas, what seemed a wise economic move also moved Richardson into a new area of ministry: helping down-and-out gamblers.

Richardson pastors a 150-member congregation at Lone Mountain Missionary Baptist Church, about 15 minutes north of the Strip, Vegas' glittering epicenter.

"I've been down there. I've preached, I've counseled," said Richardson, a city pastor with a country drawl imported from Royal, Ark. "Most of the men and some of the women I've spoken to attribute their homelessness to gambling. The devil and Las Vegas paint this beautiful picture: 'Come here! Become an instant millionaire! Live your dreams!' Then they come here and feed that machine, feed that machine, and the next thing you know, they've lost it all."

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May 09, 2009, Vol. 24, No. 9

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